Get in the Way
He entered Jericho and was passing through. And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. – Luke 19:1-4
The point of Christianity is to know, see and experience the God and his love: “the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” (Philippians 3:8). “This is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” The book “Habits of Grace” uses a helpful illustration of the story of Zacchaeus on how we can “know”, “see” and “experience” God through the means he reveals himself. They speak of how Zacchaeus “got in the way of Jesus”:
We cannot earn God’s grace or make it flow apart from his free gift. But we can position ourselves to go on getting as he keeps on giving. We can “fight to walk in the paths where he has promised his blessings.” We can ready ourselves to remain receivers along his regular routes, sometimes called the “spiritual disciplines” or even better, “the means of grace.” Such practices need not be fancy or highfalutin. They are the stuff of everyday, basic Christianity—unimpressively mundane, but spectacularly potent by the Spirit. While there’s no final and complete list of such practices, they long tally of helpful habits can be clustered underneath three main principles: hearing God’s voice, having his ear, and belonging to his body. Or simply, word, prayer and fellowship.” – Habits of Grace
Donald Whitney says to think of Spiritual Disciplines (or Habits of Grace) as placing ourselves in the path of God’s grace and seek him as … Zacchaeus placed himself in Jesus’s path and sought him.
Just as Jesus brought grace and salvation when he entered Zacchaeus’ house (v/10), we experience that same grace and salvation when we “get in the way” of Jesus through his word, prayer and people.