Perspective: Up A Tree, Out On A Limb
This week, as we conclude our 3 part sermon series on PERSPECTIVE, we gain insight from a familiar and seemingly simple Bible story. As we move beyond our comfortable Sunday School version of this story, we learn that Zacchaeus found himself relegated to the fringe of his community — because of his stature and his status in the community, he found himself up the proverbial tree and out on the proverbial limb. All the crowd saw was this silly, short man perched in a tree — the despised chief tax collector. But Jesus saw something different than what the crowd saw. The crowd saw a vile sinner – Jesus saw a precious child of God. Jesus saw a curious, desperate man that needed a friend. Jesus’ perspective is always different than the world’s. We too are called to have a different perspective…to see the world from a different vantage point. Jesus’ grace-filled response to the tree-percher certainly caused Zacchaeus to change his vantage point. Might our vantage points be challenged by this story as well? Scripture: Luke 19:1-10