THE INHERITANCE

JEWELS OF HEAVEN, NASA

The state of North Carolina presently has over $711,000,000 in unclaimed property in the care of the state treasurer.  Like most states, they have a website on the internet where one can go to sign in and check if they have claim to a variety of abandoned property such as bank accounts, wages, utility deposits, insurance policy proceeds, stocks, bonds, and contents of safe deposit boxes that typically have been abandoned for one to five years. 

  

Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 2:9 that “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.”  And yet many more people than live in North Carolina have left this inheritance on the table and not claimed it for themselves by simply following the teachings, life and death of the Son of God who walked among us over 2,000 years ago. 

Scripture directs us not to store up treasures on earth where rust and moths will destroy them, but to live our lives so that our promised treasure is waiting for us in the kingdom of heaven.  But we must have the conviction and faith in our heavenly Father as we face the challenges of life to claim this inheritance.

When God freed the Israelites from the bonds of slavery in Egypt, he showed them their inheritance in the promised land of Canaan that was occupied by 31 kingdoms.  These people were almost immediately incapable of seizing their inheritance and wanted to return to the perceived sanctuary of the Pharaoh of Egypt.  Hence, they wandered for forty years in the wilderness desert until another generation replaced them that was seasoned to seize the prize!  The generation of slaves no longer had the courage and vision for freedom under the sanctuary of their God.  They chose the easy path, even though it came with the price of slavery.  And people can be the slaves of many things, not just a Pharaoh in Egypt!

The next generation entered the promised land under the protection of their God, defeated those 31 kingdoms, and claimed their earthly inheritance.  That kind of resolute faith can now carry all of us on a path that leads to our eternal inheritance with our Heavenly Father!   

FEED THE POOR

Sycamore Branches, Internet Domain

I’ll bet most of us growing up in church remember singing the children’s song about a wee little man named Zacchaeus who climbed up a sycamore tree “for the Lord he wanted to see”. It’s a happy little ditty reminiscent of the megahit Happy by Pharrell Williams these days. It even ends with the refrain “for he had seen the Lord that day, and a very happy man was he”. But there’s much more going on in the story of the despised wealthy Jewish man who collected taxes for the conquering Roman government.

James Martin in his book Jesus: A Pilgrimage, introduces Zach when Martin arrives in Jericho, the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world, dating back ten thousand years. He photographs a sycamore tree enclosed by a circular iron fence in the middle of a busy traffic circle. Experts confirm it could be two thousand years old and is called “the Zacchaeus tree”. Martin writes “in Jerico, en route to his crucifixion, he will meet two men. One is poor and one is rich; both seek a kind of healing from Jesus”. The poor Bartimaeus is sitting by the side of the road begging. He doesn’t cry out for money but asks the Son of David to have mercy on him. Although he is blind, he “sees” who is approaching him and his confident faith makes him well as his sight is restored.

Perhaps Zach has heard of this miracle as Jesus continues on “the way”. He clambers up a Sycamore Fig tree to seek a different kind of healing. Earlier in his three year ministry, Jesus taught that we should all be cautious of where we spend our time, treasure and talents, for there will be our heart also. To his surprise, Jesus demonstrates his practice of “table fellowship” and publicly offers to dine with the sinner. Zach responds by announcing that he will give half of his possessions to feed the poor.

Martin observes that “Jesus invites people to be free of anything that keeps them from God…Zacchaeus was free as soon as he climbed the tree and is filled with joy”. And a very happy man was he.