Remember as a kid standing in the pool of combatants for Red, Red Rover game, waiting to be picked by one of the two team captains?
As the pool got smaller, you waited, waited… the bigger, faster, stronger kids usually chosen first… now down to the dregs and, “oh, you can have him” choices.
It wasn’t nice being ‘that’ kid.. the last, seemingly unpopular and unliked one.
Yet when your name is called. Whew.
Now imagine if you were ‘that’ kid but your name was called out first!!
Zac was unliked. More so when older because he was wealthy and a despised Chief Tax Collector. And he was short to boot – he had to climb a tree to see over the crowd.
Yet…
When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him,
“Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” Luke 19:5
Oh! Chosen. Me, Zac, woohoo! Jesus chose me, my place, oh oh, PARTY!
When we read further on in Zac’s story, we see his response is amazing.
It is the same today, Jesus sees each of us in our own tree. And He calls you… right now… by name!
What will your response be?