Back In Merida

It has been too long since I have come to this blog site. I am long overdue in giving an update on my life. I returned to Merida 31 December and started teaching classes again 2 January. My time here has been really great and the transition back has been mostly painless. God really gave me great rest and time with friends over the Christmas holidays, but I am glad to be back.

For the month of January we had Luke Ponder staying with us at our house. Luke is a youth pastor at First Presbyterian church in Huntsville, Alabama who was here to study Spanish in a month-long crash course. Normally I live with Byron and our good friend, Yimi, who also works at the school. Adding Luke to the mix made for some great times. Life here is getting back to some sense of a routine with classes and other responsibilities. I am very happy to be here.

Presently I am looking into the idea of beginning to take seminary classes through the internet from Covenant Seminary in St. Louis. The idea would be to take the first year here and then see about moving to St. Louis to complete my training. I need a lot of prayer in these life-changing decisions. My faith in God's future grace in my life is sometimes strong, but I need to learn to increase my trust in His goodness, no matter where that may take me. I have no idea if I have the discipline to be a teacher and a seminary student at the same time, but if this is God's will for my life, I will trust that He will provide all that I need to get it done.

I went to a doctor a few days ago to get tested for diabetes. Diabetes runs in my family and I have several of the common symptoms, but I am happy to say that the blood test came back negative.

In my personal Bible study, I have been studying the book of Luke. Luke is my second favorite biblical writer (next to Paul) because of his medical and Greek training. I love his diversity and knowledge of such a wide range of things. He was almost certainly an artist as well. After reading and studying the story of Zacchaeus (ch. 19) I find myself wishing that I had never learned that silly kid's song about him being a wee little man and all that. It is hard for me to separate the silliness of the song with the beauty of Luke's historical account of how Jesus changed this man's entire life just by His presence. Zacchaeus was a man despised by his own people, the Jews, because of his betrayal of them by taking his job as a tax collector for the (evil) Roman government that treated them as second (or third) class citizens. In fact, they weren't considered citizens at all.

Jewish tax collectors were widely hated for overcharging their own people for personal gain, and for supporting the evil empire of Rome. As a chief tax collector at the major crossroads of the city of Jericho, he would have been very wealthy and well-known and, therefore, even more hated by those he was robbing. We don't know what made Zacchaeus want to seek out a spot to see Jesus, but Jesus' popularity would have preceded his entrance into the city and Zacchaeus wanted to see this man that was famous for healing people and loving the unlovable. I imagine that Zacchaeus was not a particularly happy man and was willing to try just about anything to find a deeper meaning for his life than being as wealthy as a Jewish man could be. Jesus knew something about being despised by his own people, although his reasons were quite different than Zacchaeus'. Jesus was seeking out Zacchaeus more than he was seeking Jesus. I love that Jesus stops the parade to look up into a tree and call a little man down out of it, and then invites Himself to his house. I also love Zaccheus' reaction to Jesus' call. He hurries down and, in his joy, receives Jesus. That is the reaction to a call from Jesus...joy. Neither one of them cared what others were going to think. I love that about Jesus. He broke all kinds of cultural barriers. I once heard a song called "Jesus Was A Rebel" by some secular group that I can't recall the name (Squirrel Nut Zippers, maybe?). The more I study His life, the more I agree. The way he loved in such radical ways without concern for the opinions of man makes Him irresistible. It ultimately took Him to the cross. Zacchaeus encountered the living God as He was passing by and it changed his life.

You may note that after Zachaeus met up with Jesus, he immediately remembered his Old Testament and what was required of him by the Mosaic law. I doubt that he had spent much time considering the law as an adult who lied to and robbed from his own people. But after Jesus came, he announced his plan of restitution which went far beyond what the ancient law would have required. He probably would have only been required to pay back what could have been proven stolen plus one-fifth of the amount. After committing to give half (half!) of his possessions to the poor, he promised to pay back four times what he had stolen from his people. According to the law, the fourfold restitution was only for deliberate, violent acts of destruction, which was not applicable to Zachaeus' crimes. Zacchaeus was not merely interested in changing his life. He wasn't, like many of us, casually concerned with being a better person and going to church on Sundays. He encountered a love and joy that changed everything and he would never be the same. That is what Jesus does. He does not offer a mere moral upgrade, He is in the business of making new creatures.