Lawn Chairs By the Curb

When there is a parade in my town in the summertime, the folks here will set up their lawn chairs at the curbs along the streets of the parade route very early in the day, hours before time for the parade to pass by. This saves them a good spot for viewing the parade. They don't want to miss it.

No, nobody steals the lawn chairs or moves them out of the way. That is just the way it is here. I live in a small town where pretty much everyone knows everyone else. The chairs just sit there saving a place for those who are coming. For those who don't plan ahead, they will have to sit or stand behind those lawn chairs to see the parade and perhaps not have quite as good of a view.

I was reminded of summertime parades in my town by the sermon presented by the minister of my church this morning.

He was talking about the story of Zacchaeus. This is the Bible passage that it was based upon.

Luke 19: 1-10

Zacchaeus the Tax Collector

¹Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. ²A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. ³He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd. ⁴So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.

⁵When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today." ⁶So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.

⁷All the people saw this and began to mutter, "He has gone to be the guest of a 'sinner.' "

⁸But 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."

⁹Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. ¹⁰For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost."

Zacchaeus had heard that Jesus was coming, and he wanted to see him. There were too many in the crowd who had arrived before him. (The early bird folks in the crowd waiting to see Jesus are the ones that reminded me of the lawn chair people in my town.) Because Zacchaeus was too short to see past them, he climbed up in a tree so that he could see Jesus.

During the children's sermon, today's leader sang the song, "Zacchaeus Was a Wee Little Man" and did the accompanying finger play motions with the kids. These are the lyrics for those who aren't familiar with them.

Zacchaeus was a wee little man,

And a wee little man was he.

He climbed up in a sycamore tree

For the Lord he wanted to see;

And as the Savior passed that way,

He looked up in the tree,

And he said, Zacchaeus you come down

For I'm going to your house today.

For I'm going to your house today.

She explained about the story a little bit to the children. Then she asked them the question, "What does it mean that Zacchaeus was a wee little man?" She was looking for the answer that he was short. What she got was a lot of blank stares and total silence from the kids.

Finally, one brave boy about the age of four, piped up and said, "It means he was puny."

That unexpected answer provided us all with a laugh.

Although, Zacchaeus was considered to be a sinner, Jesus wanted to go and be with him at his house. Many in the crowd thought this was wrong, but, of course, this is one of the foundations of our faith. We are all sinners, aren't we? It is all summed up best to me by the last verse of that passage, "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost."

We are all of us included in the "lost" that he came to seek and save. All of us, no matter who we are or what our station is in life or what he have or have not done. All of us are worthwhile, all of us are worth saving, even if we are "puny."

Puny is defined as: Of inferior size, strength, or significance; weak. I think we have all felt like that at one time or another, that we were insignificant, weak, or small in the big scheme of things. It is reassuring to me and a good thing to know that we the "puny" are the ones that Christ came to seek and save.

Back to the story of the lawn chairs by the curb. In my mind, it is kind of like Jesus has gone ahead of us and set out lawn chairs for us by the street to save us a place to see the wonderful parade that is coming. It is sure to be an amazing parade indeed, and I don't want to miss it.

I hope you all have had a blessed and peaceful Sunday today.