Pastor's Column: Community in a sycamore tree
By STAN BOHN
First Mennonite Church
In the Bible, Zacchaeus is the sinner who meets Jesus and goes through a miraculous transformation. Zacchaeus was up in a sycamore tree to see what was going on not expecting to be affected. Then Jesus shocks everybody by asking the despised Zaachaeus to come down from the tree so he can stay with him, probably for dinner.
Zacchaeus' bad reputation was due to his activities as a collaborator and tax collector for the hated Roman occupation. He could charge whatever the market would bear and had the Roman army to back him up. He got rich taxing harvests, livestock, business profits and charging extra for himself. For him to change to a Jesus-following benefactor of the poor and to pay back fourfold those he overcharged was just as amazing as the fact that Jesus associated with him.
When I was at a local business, a person stopped by to ask the merchant to make a contribution to a worthy cause. After the person left, I asked how frequent were such requests. There are ads in yearbooks and sports programs of several area schools, newspaper ads to honor some event, merchandise for prizes, auctions, Easter egg hunts, fund raising meals for good causes, welcome packets to newcomers, and donations to sponsor runners and walkers, and more. The merchant said the needs are many and the requests are endless.
The requests are for worthy causes and not for the requester. That is not the problem. Neither is it a problem if a prosperous business has money to budget for these expenses. It is the smaller businesses that need their profits but hope to keep the good will of the public that are caught in a dilemma. They need to keep prices low to compete with the giant chains and also not offend the many asking for donations to good causes. They can't possibly give to all who request.
So a small business might read the Zacchaeus story in Luke 19 differently than the rest of us. We do-gooders asking for donations might seem to be Zacchaeus. It is not the pressure of a Roman army that makes it hard to refuse us. It is the pressure of the requester's expectations that all businesses have deep pockets from which to help good causes. Businesses cannot afford to lose good will and be seen as unsupportive of a community's good activities, especially if a competitor is supporting the cause.
Maybe we should be ready for a surprise. The next time we ask a business for a donation to support our worthy causes, the merchant might smile and ask, "Zacchaeus, would you come out of your tree so I can come to your house for dinner?"
