Words of Worth

Need a Change?

February 15, 2013

UnknownWhat a week!  Did you cry Monday over spilt milk?  You could have, because it was “National Cry over Spilt Milk Day”.   What about Tuesday?  Did you think you had a hole in your pocket?  Nope – it was “National Lost Penny Day”.    Of course everyone knew yesterday was Valentine’s Day, but did you know it was also “National Ferris Wheel Day”!   Today is “National Gum Drop Day” in case you want to indulge your sweet tooth and you finished all the chocolates you received on “National Ferris Wheel Day” yesterday.

Maybe you noticed I haven’t mentioned Wednesday, February 13th.  It was the beginning of the Lenten season so you might be observing this special time of year leading up to Easter, but Wednesday was also “Celebrate a Different Name Day”.

Now there’s an interesting holiday – get a new name and celebrate it.   The most familiar name change comes with marriage.  In America, it is still fairly common for a women to take her husband’s last name.

Names are important, aren’t they?  I’ve never known an expectant couple that didn’t spend a lot of time deciding what to call their newborn.  Sometimes these carefully picked names don’t “stick” though.  Sometimes within days or weeks or months, the child will have a nickname – a name change!

This week,  along with reading the Hallmark Holiday Calendar App, I’ve been reading the gospel of Luke and in chapter 19, one of the most famous characters of the Bible makes an appearance and he’s given several names.  He’s short (or wee), he’s a tax collector and he’s rich.  Have you named him yet?  Yes, it’s Zaccheus.   You can stop for a moment and sing the song if you’d like.  What’s so interesting about this story to me is not the fact he climbed the sycamore tree or that Jesus called Zach down and invited Himself for dinner.  What stood out to me was another name in the passage.  The Pharisees, who excelled in rule keeping, were annoyed to see Jesus going home with a “sinner”!  So now, we have another descriptor to add to the list of names for Zaccheus:  short, tax collector, rich, sinner!

However, Jesus never mentioned any of those things although because Jesus was God, He was surely aware of them.  Instead, when Zaccheus stopped (doesn’t Jesus just stop you in your tracks, too?) and showed he had a change in heart, Jesus matched that changed heart with a changed name.

“Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham.”  (Luke 19:9)

A son of Abraham???  This short, rich, tax collecting sinner???  Yes, because when God calls you down to go home with you, what He’s really intending is to MAKE His forever home with you.  That changes everything.

For the whole story, read Luke 19:1-10.

By the way, tomorrow is “Do a Grouch a Favor Day”.  Since we’ve been reading about love this month, maybe tomorrow would be a good time to demonstrate what you’ve learned!  (ct)