The Monmouth inquirer., 1926-06-24
Great Personages
of the Bible
By
REV. LEONARD A. BARRETT


ZNCCHGuS
TINE tax-gatherer was not very
a popular person. Zaccheus was
gatherer of taxes. His headquarters
were in Jericho. His task was to esti-
mate values and make reports of all
incomes to the government. He was
very rich man and lived the life of
an aristocrat of his time. Zaccheus
was an average man. There is nothing
unique about him. Were it not for the
incident of his climbing up a tree In
order to see Jesus pass by, doubtless
we would never have heard of him.
The most interesting thing about him
is his curiosity He was an active,
energetic and ambitious man, unusual.
ly successful for a man of his times.
He will be known especially for his in
genuity and inquisitiveness.
The occasion which attracts our at.
tention to him was the visit of Jesus
to Jericho. AS usual, large crowd of
people surrounded Jesus, and FAC
cheus, because he was little of stature,
would not be able to see over the heads
of the people. He, therefore, resorted
to the ingenious idea of climbing up
in tree and from that height would
find no difficulty in seeing Jesus as He
passed by. Zaccheu5 was not prompted
to this act by any special loyalty to
Jesus, nor even by the spirit of rever-
ence. He was impelled by the spirit
of curiosity. His only desire was to
see Jesus.
The trait of curiosity Is not uncom-
mon. 1t is one of the important char
acteristics of our own age This fact,
In part, explains the marvellous sue
cess of the moving pictures of our own
time. The most important and effec-
tive method of bringing into conscious
ness an object is through the eye.
Hearing is not so effective a channel
Of information as seeing. A person re-
members what he sees far better than
what he hears An eye trained to see
the beautiful, lovely and good is
powerful factor in the development of
character. An eye accustomed to see
only the evil and grotesQue is destruc-
tive to the development of character.
Human Life is like mirror, in which
one sees reflected what lies deepest
in ones own experiences. The evil
without responds to the evil within.
Good from within answers to the good
without. Eyes are windows through
which there shines out what lies with
in. What a person desires most to
see explains the kind of disposition
and character one possesses. Fac
cheus was at heart essentially good,
as evidenced by the object of his curl
osity. He wanted to see Jesus about
whom everybody was speaking His
curiosity brought him success. He
succeeded in his unique adve4rufes
Never having seen Jesus before, he
must have been greatly astonished and
perhaps a little bewildered when he
heard Jesus asking him If he would
permit Him to be his guest. To-day
must abide at thy house" Zaccheus
lost no time in climbing down from the
tree. He FASTENED to Jesus and as
sured Him of hearty welcome to his
home. This experience worked a
change in the standards of value by
which Zaccheus judged the important
things of life. Before this experience
with Jesus he doubtless was much con-
cerned with what the opinion of the
populace might be concerning Him and
His achievements The standard of
success or failure was the opinion of
the crowd If they applauded he was
content. To obtain their favorable
judgment was his chief concern. Sue
cess or failure in his adventure was
determined by the mind Of public opin-
ion. The change which occurred in
his heart is evidenced by the effect the
visit of Jesus had in his life. This
experience also shifted the seat of the
Judgment OF values from public opin-
ion to the ideal which he recognized in
Jesus and which he accepted as his
own. Human experience has shown
that the former is evanescent and ar
tif1cial that the latter is real and
abiding, and brings to one the true
success and contentment in life
To- 1925. Western Newspaper Unfon.)