It's Never Too Late
Introduction
I like to think of myself as young. Recently, I heard that middle age runs from thirty-five to fifty-eight years of age. On that basis, not only am I not young, I am well past even middle-aged!
People often speak of being middle-aged as a time of ‘midlife crisis’. A midlife crisis can be caused by ageing itself, or ageing in combination with changes, problems, or regrets over work, career, relationships, children and physical changes associated with ageing.
Individuals experiencing a midlife crisis are often searching for an undefined dream or goal. We may have a deep sense of remorse for goals not yet accomplished. We may fear humiliation among more successful colleagues. We often desire to achieve a feeling of youthfulness.
At the root of all these things is a sense of something being missing. There is often a tragic wisdom in mid-life crises as we realise the emptiness of much of what we used to strive for (even if what we replace it with is not always particularly wise).
I have often wondered whether Zacchaeus, whom we read about in today’s New Testament passage, was going through a midlife crisis. Whether he was or not, he found the answer that so many people are searching for in his encounter with Jesus.
No matter how long you have travelled in the wrong direction, you can always turn around. With Jesus it’s never too late to make a new start and ensure that your life is set in the right direction.
Proverbs 10:1–10
Proverbs of Solomon
10The proverbs of Solomon:
A wise son brings joy to his father,
but a foolish son brings grief to his mother.
2 Ill-gotten treasures have no lasting value,
but righteousness delivers from death.
3 The LORD does not let the righteous go hungry,
but he thwarts the craving of the wicked.
4 Lazy hands make for poverty,
but diligent hands bring wealth.
5 He who gathers crops in summer is a prudent son,
but he who sleeps during harvest is a disgraceful son.
6 Blessings crown the head of the righteous,
but violence overwhelms the mouth of the wicked.
7 The name of the righteous is used in blessings,
but the name of the wicked will rot.
8 The wise in heart accept commands,
but a chattering fool comes to ruin.
9 Whoever walks in integrity walks securely,
but whoever takes crooked paths will be found out.
10 Whoever winks maliciously causes grief,
and a chattering fool comes to ruin.
Commentary
Apply ‘the rocking chair test’
A successful businessman, who is well known to be a man of extraordinary integrity, told me that he applies the ‘rocking chair test’ to all his decisions. He pictures himself one day, in his retirement, sitting in his rocking chair and looking back on the decisions that he has made. What will he decide was a good decision and what will he decide was a bad decision? He wants to ensure that the decisions he makes now he will not regret later.
This passage shows us the things we need to avoid, such as malice (v.10), foolish gossip (vv.8,10) and laziness (v.4).
Honesty and integrity are key to a life lived without regret. ‘Ill-gotten gain gets you nowhere; an honest life is immortal’ (v.2, MSG). ‘A good and honest life is a blessed memorial; a wicked life leaves a rotten stench’ (v.7, MSG).
If you live honestly and with integrity you can be ‘confident and carefree’ (v.9a, MSG). But the dishonest will be caught: ‘Shifty is sure to be exposed’ (v.9b, MSG).
Prayer
Lord, help me today to be wise and righteous (vv.3,7), to avoid malice (v.10) and foolish gossip (vv.8,10), to live a life of diligence (v.4), honesty and integrity (v.9).
Luke 18:31–19:10
Jesus Predicts His Death a Third Time
31 Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. 32 He will be handed over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him and spit on him; 33 they will flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again.”
34 The disciples did not understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what he was talking about.
A Blind Beggar Receives His Sight
35 As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. 36 When he heard the crowd going by, he asked what was happening. 37 They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.”
38 He called out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
39 Those who led the way rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
40 Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him. When he came near, Jesus asked him, 41 “What do you want me to do for you?”
“Lord, I want to see,” he replied.
42 Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has healed you.” 43 Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus, praising God. When all the people saw it, they also praised God.
Zacchaeus the Tax Collector
19 Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. 3 He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.
5 When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.
7 All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”
8 But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”
9 Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
Commentary
Set your life in the right direction
Jesus came to make it possible for our lives to be redeemed and transformed.
He takes the Twelve aside (18:31) and explains that the purpose for which he has come will involve being mocked, insulted, spat on, flogged and killed (v.32). But, ‘on the third day he will rise again’ (v.33). It is the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus that provides hope for every human being.
The blind man is an example of someone whose life is totally transformed by an encounter with Jesus. A man, whose life had ended up with him sitting by the roadside begging, is transformed when he cries out for mercy. Jesus says to him: ‘“Go ahead – see again! Your faith has saved and healed you!” The healing was instant: He looked up, seeing – and then followed Jesus, glorifying God’ (vv.42–43a, MSG).
Next, Zacchaeus encounters Jesus. Zacchaeus was probably not young. As ‘a chief tax collector’, he had reached the top of his profession (19:2). He was still able to run and climb a tree at least (v.4) – but he wasn’t getting any younger. He had become wealthy (v.2) and his work was probably his priority. As a chief tax collector Zacchaeus would have had people working under him.
He would have been promoted many times, and could look back with satisfaction upon his achievements. Yet, as a tax collector the personal cost of this work was social exclusion, rejection and unpopularity. People in Zacchaeus’ situation often resent their job and feel trapped in their chosen life.
He would most likely have had a family, and we read of his ‘house’ (v.9). Perhaps he worked very hard for them. A midlife crisis can be devastating to family life. A person in midlife crisis can become angry, depressed and resentful to those closest to them – feeling that no matter how hard they work, their family requires more than they can earn.
Zacchaeus was almost certainly from a religious home. His parents called him Zacchaeus: ‘the righteous one’. But now religious people regarded him as a ‘sinner’ (v.7) because he was collecting taxes from his own people to give to the Romans and taking a lot of it for himself.
Still, ‘He wanted to see who Jesus was’ (v.3). He must have realised he had a need. For all his money, success, family life and ‘religion’, there was still something missing. Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus without Jesus seeing him (v.4).
Many people feel that because of their sin and imperfections, God will turn away from them. But God loves imperfect people and, instead of turning away from you, he turns towards you.
Zacchaeus did not realise that you cannot hide from God. Jesus knew him and he even knew his name. Zacchaeus did not realise that Jesus loved him and wanted to know him (v.5). Whatever you have done in your life and whatever your imperfection, Jesus loves you and wants to be in a relationship with you. But he requires a response. In a dramatic moment of encounter, Jesus said, ‘Come down immediately’ (v.5).
Zacchaeus humbled himself and obeyed Jesus. He did not put it off. He came down ‘at once and welcomed him gladly’ (v.6). Jesus was not put off by the negative response of the crowd (v.7).
The result was a total transformation in Zacchaeus’ life (v.8 onwards). He decided to ‘give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount’ (v.8). His attitude to possessions changed completely. The question for us should not be, ‘How much can I get?’ but, ‘How much can I give?’ (v.8).
His whole life was transformed. Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house’ (v.9). Salvation came to his household in the arrival of Jesus. Salvation means freedom. It means a relationship with Jesus that goes on for ever. This puts even a midlife crisis in perspective.
Finally, you, like Zacchaeus, can be part of God’s transformation of society. The transformation in Zacchaeus and his household brought benefits for the poor and justice for those who had been cheated. His crucial decision to follow Jesus certainly passes the rocking chair test.
Prayer
Lord, thank you that you love me and that you often use a crisis to transform my life for the better. Help me to encounter you afresh today.
Deuteronomy 29:1–30:10
Renewal of the Covenant
29 These are the terms of the covenant the LORD commanded Moses to make with the Israelites in Moab, in addition to the covenant he had made with them at Horeb.
2 Moses summoned all the Israelites and said to them:
Your eyes have seen all that the LORD did in Egypt to Pharaoh, to all his officials and to all his land. 3 With your own eyes you saw those great trials, those signs and great wonders. 4 But to this day the LORD has not given you a mind that understands or eyes that see or ears that hear. 5 Yet the LORD says, “During the forty years that I led you through the wilderness, your clothes did not wear out, nor did the sandals on your feet. 6 You ate no bread and drank no wine or other fermented drink. I did this so that you might know that I am the LORD your God.”
7 When you reached this place, Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan came out to fight against us, but we defeated them. 8 We took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh.
9 Carefully follow the terms of this covenant, so that you may prosper in everything you do. 10 All of you are standing today in the presence of the LORD your God—your leaders and chief men, your elders and officials, and all the other men of Israel, 11 together with your children and your wives, and the foreigners living in your camps who chop your wood and carry your water. 12 You are standing here in order to enter into a covenant with the LORD your God, a covenant the LORD is making with you this day and sealing with an oath, 13 to confirm you this day as his people, that he may be your God as he promised you and as he swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 14 I am making this covenant, with its oath, not only with you 15 who are standing here with us today in the presence of the LORD our God but also with those who are not here today.
16 You yourselves know how we lived in Egypt and how we passed through the countries on the way here. 17 You saw among them their detestable images and idols of wood and stone, of silver and gold. 18 Make sure there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from the LORD our God to go and worship the gods of those nations; make sure there is no root among you that produces such bitter poison.
19 When such a person hears the words of this oath and they invoke a blessing on themselves, thinking, “I will be safe, even though I persist in going my own way,” they will bring disaster on the watered land as well as the dry. 20 The LORD will never be willing to forgive them; his wrath and zeal will burn against them. All the curses written in this book will fall on them, and the LORD will blot out their names from under heaven. 21 The LORD will single them out from all the tribes of Israel for disaster, according to all the curses of the covenant written in this Book of the Law.
22 Your children who follow you in later generations and foreigners who come from distant lands will see the calamities that have fallen on the land and the diseases with which the Lord has afflicted it. 23 The whole land will be a burning waste of salt and sulfur—nothing planted, nothing sprouting, no vegetation growing on it. It will be like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboyim, which the LORD overthrew in fierce anger. 24 All the nations will ask: “Why has the LORD done this to this land? Why this fierce, burning anger?”
25 And the answer will be: “It is because this people abandoned the covenant of the LORD, the God of their ancestors, the covenant he made with them when he brought them out of Egypt. 26 They went off and worshiped other gods and bowed down to them, gods they did not know, gods he had not given them. 27 Therefore the LORD’s anger burned against this land, so that he brought on it all the curses written in this book. 28 In furious anger and in great wrath the LORD uprooted them from their land and thrust them into another land, as it is now.”
29 The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.
Prosperity After Turning to the LORD
30 When all these blessings and curses I have set before you come on you and you take them to heart wherever the LORD your God disperses you among the nations, 2 and when you and your children return to the LORD your God and obey him with all your heart and with all your soul according to everything I command you today, 3 then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where he scattered you. 4 Even if you have been banished to the most distant land under the heavens, from there the LORD your God will gather you and bring you back. 5 He will bring you to the land that belonged to your ancestors, and you will take possession of it. He will make you more prosperous and numerous than your ancestors. 6 The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live. 7 The LORD your God will put all these curses on your enemies who hate and persecute you. 8 You will again obey the LORD and follow all his commands I am giving you today. 9 Then the LORD your God will make you most prosperous in all the work of your hands and in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your land. The LORD will again delight in you and make you prosperous, just as he delighted in your ancestors, 10 if you obey the LORD your God and keep his commands and decrees that are written in this Book of the Law and turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
Commentary
Live a wholehearted life
Recently, I sat next to an eighty-six-year-old woman at lunch. She was in a wheelchair. I soon realised that although her body was failing, her mind was not. She raised some very difficult theological issues. When I asked her what she thought the answer was to these questions, she replied with a verse from this passage: ‘The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children for ever’ (29:29).
She said she had come to realise that some things we did know the answer to, but others (such as the kind of questions she had been raising!) we would probably not know the answer to in this life. They were part of the ‘secret things’ that ‘belong to the Lord’.
There are some things, however, that do belong to us. God has revealed to us how to ‘live well and wisely’ (v.9, MSG). We need to avoid getting ‘sidetracked from God’ (v.18), thinking ‘I’ll live just the way I please, thank you’ and end up ‘ruining life for everybody’ (v.19, MSG)
The way to know you will be at peace in your rocking chair is to listen to and obey God wholeheartedly (30:2–10): ‘Obey him with your whole heart and soul... He’ll have compassion on you; he’ll come back and pick up the pieces... And you will make a new start, listening obediently to God... Nothing half-hearted here; you must return to God, your God, totally, heart and soul, holding nothing back’ (vv.2–10, MSG).
It’s never too late to start living a wholehearted life.
Prayer
Lord, help me from now on to live a life of wholehearted obedience to you. May today be a new start. Help me to obey you wholeheartedly.
Pippa adds
Luke 19:1-10
Having read Luke 19, the story of Zacchaeus, it made me think of the time I went to The Passion of Christ play at Trafalgar Square on Good Friday in London. There were so many people that it was a challenge to see. Being rather short I felt just like Zacchaeus trying to get near to Jesus. If there had been a tree I would have definitely climbed it!
I tried standing on benches, bins, walls, desperate to see. I was moved on twice by security! It was very frustrating. I wanted to see Jesus (even if it wasn’t the real one!). It must have been both exciting and nerve-wracking for Zacchaeus to be singled out by Jesus above everyone else in the crowd. Jesus sees us and seeks us out even if we feel insignificant.
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References
The Bible with Nicky and Pippa Gumbel (commentary formerly known as Bible in One Year) ©Alpha International 2009. All Rights Reserved.
Compilation of daily Bible readings © Hodder & Stoughton Limited 1988. Published by Hodder & Stoughton Limited as the Bible in One Year.
Unless otherwise stated, Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version Anglicised, Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 Biblica, formerly International Bible Society. Used by permission of Hodder & Stoughton Publishers, an Hachette UK company. All rights reserved. ‘NIV’ is a registered trademark of Biblica. UK trademark number 1448790.
Scripture quotations marked (AMP) taken from the Amplified® Bible, Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)
Scripture quotations marked MSG are taken from The Message, copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.