Luke chapters 18 and 19 contain two stories that when considered together are quite confusing.  They are known as “The Rich Ruler” and “Zacchaeus the Tax Collector”.   I’ve never considered the stories in relationship to each other, but looking at these stories, I am convinced that people would have been pretty pissed at Jesus for acting the way he did.  What do I mean? Well, He treats good people harshly and bad people kindly. Understatement. Here is the story:

The Rich Ruler – Luke 18:18-23

A certain ruler asked [Jesus], “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

“Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.’”

“All these I have kept since I was a boy,” he said.

When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was a man of great wealth. Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

Let’s get the story straight. This rich ruler knew and kept all the Law’s commandments, even since he was a kid. That means he had never cheated anyone out of money and his riches were properly “his”, made either by simply the Lord’s blessing and a life of work in a clean conscience. Yet Jesus looks at him and gives him little hope at the eternal life.

There were people they that overheard what Jesus said and asked the natural question, “Who then can be saved?”

How many rulers and rich people get that way or stay that way by doing the right thing? This man had done everything the Law required, kept his nose clean, and Jesus still dealt harshly with him.  Who else stood a chance?

Jesus has his own way.  He is the King.  He answers the question in both word and deed.  The word is “What is impossible with men is possible with God“.  He describes how it is possible with God privately to his disciples in the next few verses. It is by his death and resurrection according to the scriptures that it is possible with God.

In fact, this power is demonstrated in an event that takes place between the two stories of the Rich Ruler and the Zacchaeus.  Jesus heals a blind guy:

As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard the crowd going by, he asked what was happening. They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.”

He called out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

Those who led the way rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him. When he came near, Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?”
“Lord, I want to see,” he replied.

⁴²Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has healed you.” ⁴³Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus, praising God. When all the people saw it, they also praised God.

Hold commentary on this bit for a while. Press on to Zacchaeus (yes this is the “wee little man”).

Zacchaeus the tax Collector

Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.

When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.

All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a ‘sinner.’ “

But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”

Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”

I’m laughing just thinking about the contrast between the story of the Rich Ruler and Zacchaeus.  Jesus pretty much denies the Rich Ruler, who had done the right thing and kept the Law, even came to Jesus asking how to get eternal life. Yet with Zacchaeus, who had made his fortune swindling and coercing, Jesus almost gives him no option but to come into salvation.  I can just imagine the frustration of the people around these two powerful men.  In their eyes, the one who had never done anything to hurt them and was a good ruler was treated like dirt, and the one who had literally stolen money from them shared a meal and salvation with Jesus! Scandal!

Not fair! By their own merits, the man who deserved grace is seemingly denied, yet the one who deserved to be condemned had his whole house saved!

Observations:

1) Jesus decides on whom to show mercy.

2) Both men were sinners.  One believed it, the other did not.  The Rich Ruler thought there was something he could do to get eternal life.  He thought himself capable.  Jesus’ direction to him to sell everything and give it away would have reduced this man to nothing in his own eyes – and the ruler was unwilling to do it.  Zacchaeus knew that he was incapable of saving himself, and had even embraced embraced his sin (he knew exactly how much he had stolen!), yetwhen the Lord came to his house that the Lord could save him and it was a game changer.  His generosity did not earn his salvation – it was a fitting response to the grace the Lord showed him.

3) The Rich Ruler sought personal gain (eternal life, even with Jesus, can be desired selfishly).  The Blind Man sought to be able to see, but knew Jesus already to be the Messiah, and therefore capable. That is why he yelled out for the Son of David. Zacchaeus went out looking for Jesus, but it never says why.  Either way, He was looking, and Jesus came to him.

4) The conclusion of Jesus’ parable in 18:9-14 explains these stories better than I have:

“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Did you make it all the way down here?

May the Lord’s will be done,

CWillZ

This line also gives a path to becoming a grateful person or a person who exhibits the virtue of gratitude.  First, it begins with realizing that life itself, no matter what the quality of that life may be, is a gift from God.  God created us and loved us.  If we have learned anything about God as humans, it is that God does what he wants.  Evidently he wants us- which is crazy to think about in itself.  The path towards being a grateful person is first to realize that you did noting to deserve life at all, let alone to be judge of the one who gave it to you for making it either “good” or “bad”.  Then, we must not take anything as expected – we are not entitled to anything. At all.

After we have stripped ourselves of the fact that we were helpless in the matter of our own creation and that therefore we simply cannot deserve anything, we are free to see how worthy we are simply because God chooses us.  He chooses humanity and humans, even killing himself to do it.  So how do we thank him?

Chesterton said that we thank him for beer and (wine) by not drinking too much of it.  For some, that might mean not drinking them at all.  We can thank God for our blessings of abundance by not eating too much and by sharing with others that are going without.  We can be grateful for his faithfulness to us as his people by being faithful to our own commitments.  We are grateful for his forgiveness when we forgive others.  We are grateful for his discipline when we accept it ourselves or we learn how to properly correct each other.We are grateful for someone bringing us food by tipping. etc.

The list goes on and on.  If you would, please leave a comment about one way you have learned to show gratitude.

May the Lord’s will be done,

CWillZ

1) Part of me really wishes I could be Catholic.  I was evangelized to by this former monk in Spain, and we got a few cups of coffee and shared about our lives in Christ.  I saw him again about 2 months later in the middle of a pretty bad day and the conversation was exactly what I needed.  BUT the transubstantiation thing bothers me.

2) I hate the fact that a couple of people stopped reading this note after I wrote “transubstantiation”, and could look it up but never will.

3) About 2 months ago I gave away half my clothes.  I still feel like I have too many.

4) When I was 16 I had dreadlocks for 6 months.  I sometimes really miss them.

5) If I wasn’t in ministry I wouldn’t go to church very often, at least not to “Sunday morning” church.  This is a general observation and has little or nothing to do with my current church’s service or style.

6) I have a fear of sewer covers / drains / grates. Each time I walk over one my heart pounds a little harder–what if it broke and you fell in the hole???

7) I can make myself sneeze by squeezing the sides of my nose repeatedly with my finger and thumb. It makes a funny noise and somehow builds up, then I sneeze.

8) I become easily annoyed by voice mail. I am the guy who calls but does not leave a message, because in my mind it is the loving thing to do.

9) I made my brother pee blood once because then I was mad at him I tied a rope between two trees while he was riding our dirt bike (he totally had overridden his turn in addition to whatever made me mad to begin with).  He ran into the rope and wrecked.

10) Kids should have mandatory outside time each week.  I still would rather climb a tree or skip rocks than play video games.

11) I want to write a book someday, and the title will have the word “underwear” in it.

12) Once a professor passingly called me “the irrepressible Chris Williams” and it is changed the way I see myself. Still deciding if that is good or bad, but leaning towards good.

13)  I wish I never knew how to get the stats for my blog. I used to just write “for what it’s worth”, but now I secretly judge myself based on the hits. lame. yes, I will check over the next few days to see if this note somehow had an effect.

14) Getting mail is one of the best parts of the human experience.

15) When I started at Taylor I felt like I was a “bad kid” there while I was a “good kid” at home.  I realized sometime over those 4 years that I was me.

16) I dream of having two dogs named Killer and Digger, respectively.

17) Being the world’s strongest man used to seem like a realistic goal, but now that just seems silly.

18) Beets make me gag.  Instant gag / probable vomit.

19) Fish used to make me gag, but now I can eat it and actually enjoy it sometimes.  Sushi changed my life.

20) All of my golf clubs have been given to me. Most of them came from the lost and found at the country club I where I worked. Some are womens.

21) Whoever put tampon commercials on during football games should serve jail time.  Where are the values in society today? Football = good, safe, manly.  Tampons = gross.  Why can’t they just air them during “The View”, “Grey’s Anatomy” or whatever…. LEAVE FOOTBALL ALONE.

22) I am more likely to watch C-SPAN than ESPN.

23) Trees are one of the few things that I like to draw.  I really get into making all the little branches and stems.

24) I have only told two or three people the most evil thing about me and they probably don’t even realize that it is the part of me of which I am terribly ashamed.

25) Recently, I discovered the game Risk and find it very enjoyable.  I do much better in real life than online.

That is enough of that.

May the Lord’s will be done,

CWillZ

Down to it. What I have been learning in a very real, very meaningful way over the last few months is that each and every moment of our lives is an opportunity for us to trust in the goodness of God. By “goodness of God” I mean that He loves us and I have no clue how. More on that the “goodness of God” means later (see C.S. Lewis’ “The Problem of Pain” Ch. 3 for more). What it means to trust in the goodness of God for me right now is this:

The next phase of my life will be spent teaching, pastoring, preaching, or learning how to do those things better in the following location: right where I am, the Czech Republic, China, Spain, any one of a smattering of communities new to me across the United States, seminary, or itinerant preaching. Also, don’t forget to account for variable change.

So today I was a little fried about trying to imagine what the next step may be. After requesting that my fellow staff members at church pray for wisdom and discernment, and then venting for about 20 minutes to a close friend, I finally came to the point where I took it to God in prayer. (this is backwards and frankly stupid, but real).

I have been learning to pray with child-like faith. Today that child was a little girl. With my face on the floor, a pouty lip and erratic kicking of the legs I asked God the question. “Where do you want me?”

If you have ever asked this question you may at first, like me, be proud of yourself for making yourself available to God. This is a good thing, but for me it contains some pride. Just because I am talented, available, and stunningly good looking doesn’t mean that God has to want me to do anything for him. Where did I get this entitlement from?

God’s answer, which I barely heard through my erupting case of LGS, was humbling and loving at the same time.

“Right here, in My arms.”

Please pray that my heart would be open, warm, and vulnerable enough with God to be able to be right where he wants me. However and whenever that may be.

May the Lord’s will be done,

CWillz

An abridged list of things for which I am thankful:

• My students, volunteers, and fellow staff at CCC.

• Friends that tell me the truth bluntly and lovingly.

• That people pray for me.

• Continued understanding and growth from relationships in my family.

• To have people who believe in me.

• That God has given me a love for His people and has not let me get away with despising some of my truest brothers and sisters.

• That pain isn’t always bad.

• Provision of every kind.

• I learned how to budget.

• Even though my best friends are scattered across the country I still hear from them.

• I got to travel to Jamaica with some great people and be encouraged by the faith of the people we met there.

• I got less fat.

• There were people genuinely interested in hearing why I voted for who I did even when we made different choices.

• I graduated! That last paper almost did me in.

• That I learned how to fly fish.

• This blog keeps going.

Life is a gift and blessing.

May the Lord’s will be done,

CWillz

You can submit your own 6 word memoir, read others, and submit your own at http://www.smithmag.net/sixwords/

I submitted one:

“FS: College Degree take over payments.”

Yes, I know FS is shorthand for two words. Get over it.

Here at Taylor I have been given a very good, Christ-centered education. My practicum for a degree in Christian Educational Ministries took me to Juarez, Mexico where I facilitated high school mission trips in basically a squatter colony. There I learned what it looked like to not have enough resources to feed your baby properly, and to watch across a fence as another bank building goes up, waving Old Glory. As those people shared Christ and many gifts with me, I felt like I learned much more about the reality of God during my first few weeks there then I did as I was writing research papers at length for my Bible or Christian Ed classes.

My frustration is not against Taylor, but that I feel trapped. It takes a lot of effort to break myself of consuming, wasting, entitlement, and just plain ignorance. Oversimplified but not nearly as expressive as it is within me it is this that I am frustrated at: It cost me over $100,000 to realize that I don’t want this kind of life– and I have to retain my privileged place in society just to pay (a good portion) of it back.

I hope that I can find someone who can show me what it truly means to become like Christ.