Holy Curiosity

A French painter James Tissot, who painted at the end of the nineteenth century and beginning of the twentieth imagined the scene in a watercolour picture. 

Zacchaeus is centre-stage, wearing a gold robe with jewelry and headgear. Others are in the trees alongside him, dressed simply, as are members of the crowd with Jesus on the road below.  As I look at the figure of Zacchaeus he seems to be straining to get as good a view as possible. There is nothing casual about his stance. He wants to see who Jesus is, he wants to know.

The truth is that something is happening inside Zacchaeus. Bluntly, God is at work.  I heard someone on the radio interviewed about their life who said that he was fuelled by a 'furious curiosity', not furious in the sense of being angry but with such passionate desire that he had to know.  I think I would call the happening inside Zacchaeus as 'holy curiosity' because he really needed to know more about Jesus. Whether it was the celebrity news surrounding Jesus that aroused his interest, or someone shared a story about what Jesus had done, or Zacchaeus had let his faith in God lapse and felt strangely drawn to see Jesus.  Whatever the reason, and there are tens of other possibilities, it's the way that God works in the lives of people who find themselves wanting to know more. I guess Zacchaeus doesn't realize that.

Currently a large group is on an Alpha course at our church and I guess some are there because God has been working - through a friend who invited them, or a reminder of past days of believing, or a sense of need.  One of the great mysteries of Christian life that many of us can testify to is that along the way through family, friends, needs, questions we were led to the point where we wanted to see Jesus.  God was working in our lives before we realized it.