A sermon preached by the Rev’d Dr Daniel Dries Pentecost 5 (Evensong) Christ Church St Laurence – 9 July 2017
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight: O Lord, our strength and our Redeemer. Amen. ‘…there was a man named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector, and rich. And he sought to see who Jesus was… but could not, on account of the crowd, because he was of small stature.’ Apart from a few dramatic exceptions, such as David and Goliath, Scripture makes very few references to height. The most notable exception is to be found in Luke, Chapter 18. Of the character of Zacchaeus, it is said, ‘…he could not see, because he was of small stature.’ The last time I preached on this passage, I suggested that visibility issues for Zacchaeus could have resulted from the fact that Christ may have been the one of small stature. This is certainly one possible interpretation of Luke’s words as they are translated for us. Nobody in the congregation three years ago seemed to buy this. Although, I hasten to add that this hypothesis concerning a diminutive Jesus of Nazareth was not my own theory. It is true that the most likely meaning implied by Luke’s words is that Zacchaeus was significantly below average height, which is why Sunday School lessons continue to depict Zacchaeus as a dumpy little man, who has overindulged in virtually every way. However, it is unlikely that Luke’s intention is to poke fun at a portly man with an inexplicable ability to climb trees. Being physically small in the first century world implied other things, which I very much hope no longer apply in our own time. Ancient Greek philosophy suggests that small physical stature implies smallness of spirit. Greek writings of the time claim that, diminutive physical stature indicates ‘a small-minded person.’ [such a person] ‘is small-limbed, small and round, dry, with small eyes and a small face, like a Corinthian…’ There’s nothing racist in that. In contrast, great physical stature was seen as a sign of wisdom, integrity and spiritual magnitude. What applied in the first century has been shown to be quite untrue. Great spiritual leaders and social reformers, such as John Wesley, Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. were all below average height. And coming in at just 4 feet 9 inches, even I would have looked down on Mother Teresa of Calcutta… at least physically. In the person of Zacchaeus, Luke presents us with an image of a man who was very far from God. In addition to the fact that he was vertically challenged, Zacchaeus was probably greedy, small minded, vain and corrupt. In the first century world, this made him a hated figure. In our own time, Zacchaeus may have become a democratically elected head of state. Spiritual greatness does not seem to be venerated in our society. Instead, physical greatness and wealth have become the sought-after trophies of the western world. Despite the fact that Zacchaeus has probably achieved everything he set out to gain, there is within him a yearning for something else. Realising how far he is from God, Zacchaeus climbs out of the mire of his own existence, striving to catch a glimpse of another dimension. He may be a pitiable figure, but even this detestable man is not without hope of redemption.
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