Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10)
It is hard
Being on the edge
Even if you placed yourself there.
Easier to keep from
The glare of others
Than look to see
If they offered
Something different;
Put yourself
Where you expect nothing.
And so that day
I anticipated little:
Hiding just to see him;
Curiosity overcoming fear
But experience ensuring
I kept from view.
But not from his.
He saw through
Not just my hiding place
But all my layers of self-deception
And self-protection.
And so it was
Later at the celebrations
I realised it was not me
Had welcomed him that day
But he who’d welcomed me.
By Jeannie Kendall