Good Things Come in Small Packages #1

Good things come in small packages

Which would you rather receive as a gift?

1. A huge monstrosity of a lamp packed in a huge wrapped box or…

2. A small thin envelope with your name on it discreetly stuffed with many one hundred dollar bills

Good things do come in small packages and ironically, the short story of the smallest man in the bible, Zacchaeus, is loaded with theological treasures.

I’ll try to unpack a few of them in these blogs. Here is one;

1. When we try to rise above our own sin in our own strength, we end up becoming far worse sinners

Zacchaeus was very short. He was probably reminded of this everyday as he walked the streets of Jericho. This is possibly the reason he made the horrible choice to become a tax collecting Roman collaborator. But he was not content to become just any tax collector for Rome, but Zacchaeus became the Chief Publican of Jericho!

This is sort of a metaphor for what I wrote before. When we try to compensate for our own sinful shortcomings in our own strength, we usually end up worse off than before. Zacchaeus never found freedom from his own inadequacies until he humbled himself by climbing a tree in an undignified way. In that humbled state, he saw Jesus...and Jesus saw him. And as he literally looked to Jesus and focused on Him, Jesus spoke freedom into his soul.

Everything changed that day for Zacchaeus. Everything.

Suddenly, he wasn't "short" anymore. All that he needed was standing in front of him, and instead of relying on himself, he surrendered his brokenness to Jesus.

That day, the small became tall.