I’ve never been one to buy front-row tickets to events; instead, I usually look for the best seats in the cheapest sections. This especially annoyed my children when they were younger because they noticed that people with front-row seats at the circus or ice-skating shows usually received special attention from the performing characters while we sat in the nosebleed sections. People who pay extravagant prices for front-row seats know they’re likely to get noticed by performers or receive some extra perk. We may sit far away from the action, but we can still see the show, which is really the purpose of attending an event anyway.

I thought about this as I read the Bible story about Zacchaeus.

Jesus was passing through Jericho, and a crowd came out to see him. Zacchaeus, being a short man, couldn’t see past the all the people, so he ran ahead to where Jesus would pass, and climbed a tree so he could see. Now, Zacchaeus was a tax collector (otherwise known as a crooked, rich man), and I suppose if he had wanted to see Jesus up close badly enough, he could’ve paid his way to the front of the crowd. Instead, he sat in a tree just to get a glimpse of him.

When Jesus reached the tree where Zacchaeus sat, he could’ve walked right past it, and Zacchaeus probably would’ve been content just to have seen him. However, Jesus looked up into the tree and told Zacchaeus to climb down because he intended to go to his home. Zacchaeus, of course, was surprised and delighted, and hurried to receive Jesus into his home. Immediately, the crowd began to complain, questioning why Jesus would dare spend time with a sinner. Zacchaeus, taken aback by the crowd’s complaints, told Jesus that he’d give half of all he owned to the poor, and that if he cheated anyone, he’d pay back four times as much. Jesus proclaimed that he’d found and restored the lost.

Religious crowds are too often the very people keeping others from seeing Jesus up-close and personal. They say that people who long to experience Jesus’ lavish grace are those who ignore truth and seek to scratch their itching ears. They block the view, claiming sinners must repent to be acceptable to Jesus. In addition, religious crowds who block the way for others are usually the crowds who want to be seen and noticed for their importance and righteousness. Similar to the crowd grumbling about Jesus’ interest in Zacchaeus, religious people still want to believe Jesus shouldn’t tolerate crooks and cheaters. However, Jesus wouldn’t have done anything different even if Zacchaeus hadn’t offered to give to the poor or repay with interest what he’d taken. Remember: Jesus didn’t ask Zacchaeus to change; he simply told him to come down from the tree and take him to his home.

Here’s what I know: Jesus goes looking for the lost. We settle for seeing him at a distance, but he comes to see us. We are seen, we are known, and we are loved just as we are.