There is a well-known and widely practiced tactic in sports and in life known as "messing with your opponent's mind." They tell us that one of the most adept practitioners of this art was Dizzy Dean, the great St. Louis Cardinals pitcher of years ago. One day the New York Giants put runners on first and second with two out, and Dean intentionally walked Hughie Critz to load the bases. It seemed like a dumb move as the dreaded Bill Terry, the last National Leaguer ever to hit .400, was next up.
But Dean walked down from the mound and confronted Terry at the plate. "Bill," he said, "I'm sorry to do this to you, but I promised a girl I'd strike you out with the bases loaded." And he did ” on three pitches. (1)
Messing with your opponent's mind. So much of life depends not on what we know but how we think ” particularly how we think about ourselves.
That's why I was so happy to read about a new development in the toy industry. It's the "Happy to Be Me" doll. Cathy Meredig of High Self-Esteem Toys Corporation wanted a doll for young girls that would look like a real person. Not that Barbie dolls are not representative of real people. It's just that Barbie is sometimes accused of having an unrealistic shapeliness. The "Happy to Be Me" doll has a thicker waist and bigger feet than Barbie, and a shorter neck and legs. Plus, her feet fit sensible shoes (not just tippy-toe heels), and her arms bend in a more natural way. Will the "Happy to Be Me" doll help us teach the next generation to love their bodies "as is?" It surely couldn't hurt! (2)
I wonder if Zacchaeus was self-conscious about his body. In Luke, chapter 19, we find a man of short stature. "Vertically challenged" is the politically correct term. The Danny Devito of Bible times. Perhaps he was the butt of many jokes.
That happens, doesn't it? Any characteristic that sets us apart from others can be hard on our self-esteem. It may be because we are exceptionally short or exceptionally tall. It may be because of the size of our nose or the color of our hair. Or maybe it's the absence of hair.
The truth of the matter is that none of us are perfect. A Louis Harris poll shows that 56% of men would like to lose weight. Thirty-six per cent would like more hair. Thirty-four per cent would change their height while 27% would hide signs of aging. Nineteen per cent would like a different nose.
Women have a longer and more substantial list. Unsurprisingly, 78% aren't satisfied with their weight. Forty-eight per cent want to cover signs of aging. Thirty-seven per cent would change their teeth while 34% would like better-looking legs. Eighteen per cent would change their feet. Almost all wish they were smaller. (3)
The important thing is not how we look, but how we feel about ourselves overall. Apparently, Zaccheus didn't feel too good about himself. How do we know? Because he had taken a job with the Roman government as a district tax superintendent. Tax collectors in those days were among the most despised people in society. In fact, tax collectors were considered religiously unclean because they touched money that belonged to the emperor. They worked on a commission basis and became wealthy by collecting more than the required amount from people. They prospered at the expense of their fellow Jews.
It is entirely possible that because of his physical stature Zaccheus was determined to show everyone that he could be the most powerful man in town. No doubt, he was. He had the biggest house. He entertained all the bigwigs. He rode high and mighty over his fellow citizens. Over compensation it is sometimes called. If so, Zaccheus played the game well. But none of his success brought him peace of mind. He was a miserable man until that day that Jesus came to town.
Zacchaeus, being a known figure in town, was not unfamiliar to Jesus. Jesus knew who he was and what he looked like. When Jesus walked into Jericho he saw this short fellow up in a sycamore tree trying to see over the crowds of people who had gathered to see the Christ. Jesus called him by name and told him to come down. Then he invited himself for supper at Zacchaeus' house that evening.
I believe when Zacchaeus heard this something happened inside him. All those negative messages, his self-image problems, his possessions and his job all seemed insignificant now. When Zacchaeus realized that Jesus believed in him, he started to believe in himself. For once in his miserable life he felt believed in and it changed him. He gave his possessions to the poor and paid back everyone he had overcharged four times over. That, my friend, is change. Salvation had come to his house and it was obvious to everyone. When Zacchaeus saw that Jesus believed in him, he believed in Jesus, and in himself.
Several years ago a school teacher assigned to visit children in a large city hospital received a routine call requesting that she visit a particular child. She took the boy's name and room number and was told by the teacher on the other end of the line, "We're studying nouns and adverbs in his class now. I'd be grateful if you could help him with his homework so he doesn't fall behind the others."
It wasn't until the visiting teacher got outside the boy's room that she realized it was located in the hospital's burn unit. No one had prepared her to find a young boy horribly burned and in great pain. She felt that she couldn't just turn and walk out, so she awkwardly stammered, "I'm the hospital teacher and your teacher sent me to help you with nouns and adverbs."
The next morning a nurse on the burn unit asked her, "What did you do to that boy?" Before she could finish a profusion of apologies, the nurse interrupted her: "You don't understand. We've been very worried about him, but ever since you were here yesterday, his whole attitude has changed. He's fighting back, responding to treatment . . . It's as though he's decided to live."
The boy later explained that he had completely given up hope until he saw that teacher. It all changed when he came to a simple realization. With joyful tears he expressed it this way: "They wouldn't send a teacher to work on nouns and adverbs with a dying boy, would they?" (4)
To know that someone believes in us makes all the difference in the world. People who work with troubled adolescents ” particularly those in trouble with the law ” say that one reason it is so difficult to motivate these young people to change is that the young people have no feeling of hopefulness about tomorrow. Many of them don't even expect to live to adulthood. Nobody believes in them and thus they do not believe in themselves. To know that someone believes in us makes all the difference in the world.
Jim Burns in his book, RADICALLY COMMITTED, tells what for him was an unforgettable experience as a senior in high school. A girl named Marie had been in his classes since early elementary school. To his knowledge Jim had never once spoken to her. She was very intelligent, but not very attractive; and many of the kids made fun of her. Jim says he's sure this caused Marie to withdraw and shy away from people even more. Marie lived around the corner from Jim growing up, but they never once walked home together. In fact, he confesses with embarrassment there were times he would walk to the other side of the street because he didn't want anyone to think he walked home with Marie.
During his senior year, however, some major changes took place in Jim's life. He had become a Christian the year before, and during that next year he realized that as a Christian he was to become other-centered. He was even to love people like Marie.
One day at lunch as Jim was going to his usual spot to eat with his clique of friends, he walked past Marie, who was eating alone. Something inside compelled Jim to stop and ask her a question. The look she gave him was startling, he says. He felt that her look was saying, "Why would you, a social snob, talk to me after all these years?" The next day he decided to bring some of his friends together and eat lunch with Marie. Their little group ended up eating with Marie for a week, and then they invited her to come to Christian Campus Life Club meeting one evening. She accepted.
One evening after a club meeting Jim was about to drop Marie off when another friend in the car asked to be taken home first. This meant Jim would take Marie home last. When they pulled into her driveway, she turned the key off and asked with piercing sternness, "Why are you and your friends doing this to me?" Jim stuttered and stammered something about his new found Christian faith and she blurted out, "No one has ever eaten lunch with me from the seventh grade until the time you and your friends sat with me last month." Jim could not fathom the thought that here was a person who had eaten alone at school every day for five and a half years. His experience in school had been so different.
Eight years after Jim's conversation with Marie he was speaking at a Campus Life camp in Southern California. After his first talk one of the key girl leaders walked up to him with young high school girls hanging all around her and said, "Do you remember me?"
"You look like a girl I knew in high school," Jim said.
"That's me," she said, "I'm Marie." She was now in charge of the Women's Ministry for an entire county in Southern California. She then added, "Thanks for having lunch with me way back then.' " Jim said he cried. (5)
I can hear Zaccheus ” an outcast among his own people ” saying to Jesus, "Thanks for having lunch with me." It makes so much difference to know that somebody ” anybody ” believes in us. But to believe that God believes in us can transform our lives. At least that was Zaccheus' experience. This man who had been a taker became a giver. This man who had been a cheat became the most honest man around. This man who was shot of stature physically became a giant in his commitment to God. Not because he believed in God but because he suddenly realized that God believed in him.
In Lloyd Douglas' novel INVITATION TO LIVE we encounter a woman named Sally who has failed as an actress. She has thrown away her great opportunity because of her conceit, her disregard of authority, and her blindness to her own limitations. Defeated, discouraged, and cynical, she says to the dean, "I'm not even sure that I believe in God."
"That's not important just now," the dean replies. "I mean, it isn't quite so urgent, at present, whether you believe in God as whether He can believe in you. If you will conduct yourself in a manner that might encourage Him to believe in you, the time may come when you can feel that you should return the compliment." (6)
Believing in Jesus is of utmost importance. But that really begins by realizing Jesus believes in us. Look at all the people in the Bible that Jesus believed in. They were people like you and me. Jesus believed in them and they came to believe in him and themselves. This can happen to us too. God comes to us not to put us down but to believe in us. Let me put it this way. If God can believe in a man like Zacchaeus, isn't it possible he could believe in you as well? He does. Never doubt it. Respond by believing in him and believing in yourself.
1. Bill Lyon in Philadelphia INQUIRER.
2. Liz Curtis Higgs, ONE SIZE FITS ALL, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1993), p. 175.
3. Louis Harris, INSIDE AMERICA (Vintage Press).
4. PARABLES, ETC.
5. (Dallas: Word Publishing, 1991).
6. Charles L. Allen, POWERLESS BUT NOT HELPLESS, (Tarrytown, New York: FlemingH. Revell Company, 1954/1992), p. 28.
*Dr. Chane M. Hutton is Pastor of the Langsford Road Baptist Church, Lee's Summit, Missouri.