You can listen to this week’s Devotional here
Author: Lianna Campos
This year, the ARTS camp musical was “What’s Up, Zak?” and put some of Jesus’ time in Jericho to toe-tapping showtunes. It specifically highlighted the stories of Zacchaeus, a tax collector, as told in Luke 19 and Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, as told in Luke 18. To watch the musical in its entirety, click here: https://www.youtube.com/live/SyoaM2wlgdw?si=ObbX4Q2KWULbkA9w
Then Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.” Luke 19:9-10
I have always struggled with the story of Zacchaeus. I know that my feelings about this story had been driven by how this story was preached and taught to me. It had always been taught as a lesson on forgiveness, how even the “tax collectors” deserve forgiveness and restoration. I’ve encountered many “Zacchaeuses” and because of this story, have been pressured into welcoming them back into my life where they continued to inflict harm.
Forgiveness is hard. I believe that it is made harder by some of the common things we teach about forgiveness, particularly in Christian spaces:
“Forgive and forget” (Hebrews 10:17)
“Forgive seventy-seven times” (Matthew 18:22)
“Forgive because God forgives us” (Matthew 6:12)
So often, these beloved adages are used to harangue victims to let harm-doers back into their lives. We’ve conflated forgiveness with trust and with restoration of original relationship, and I believe that that has contributed to perpetuating cycles of violence.
When preparing to do a play based on Zacchaeus, I wanted to make sure those harmful lessons of forgiveness weren’t present and absorbed by our campers. I wanted to ensure they knew that while forgiveness helps us, it does not require restoration of the original relationship. It is okay to forgive and remember, it is okay to have boundaries, and it is okay to let a person’s current behavior determine how much access to you they have.
In short, I was looking for a way to teach Zacchaeus in a way that didn’t conflate forgiveness and restoration.
It wasn’t until watching the campers rehearse on Tuesday that week that I was able to do that.
In the musical, we see Zacchaeus curious about Jesus and interested in seeing him. He tries to make his way through the crowd, and the crowd blocks his way. The character “Granny” shouts at Zacchaeus “back of the line, shorty!”
…and Zacchaeus listens. He walks away and climbs a tree so he can see Jesus.
While watching the campers rehearse that scene, there was something about seeing Granny (who was played by one of our youngest and smallest campers) shout at the tax collector (played by one of our oldest and tallest campers) that resonated and begged me to ask the question: why on earth did Zacchaeus listen to her?
And God answered, “because Zacchaeus’ heart had already changed.”
You see, as a rich man, what Zacchaeus couldn’t bully his way into getting, he could just outright buy. As chief tax collector, he could go anywhere and do anything to whomever he wanted. And yet, he climbed a tree.
Hearing about Jesus made Zacchaeus curious about a new way of doing things. Zacchaeus’ heart had changed, and his behavior changed with it. When he says in Luke 19:8 that he will make amends and reparations, they are not the empty words of someone trying to curry favor with Jesus. They are a natural extension of his changed heart and I believe he went ahead and did those things.
We made the choice to have our musical character Zacchaeus hand back out the coins he’d taken throughout the play. That way, it felt safe for Zacchaeus to hug Bartimaeus. This isn’t a story of forgiveness, but one of restoration.
What does it take for restoration of a relationship to be safe?
A changed heart.