Ever watched a playful or panicky cat scurrying up a tree? It’s amazing how fast and how high the felines can climb. Once they ascend, they have a birds-eye view of the ground below. Some kitties go up and down trees with ease; others panic and cry out for rescue. Their owners enjoy the shade of trees and fruit they bear; yet, most curtail their climbing of trees. Neighborhood boisterous little boys find the taller the trees, the bigger their yearning to shimmy up to the top. They may skin their knees but it is worth the risk.

Zacchaeus was up a tree and bravely took the risk of ridicule by his peers. “There was a chief tax collector there named Zacchaeus, who was rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was, but he was a little man and could not see Jesus because of the crowd. So he ran ahead of the crowd and climbed a sycamore tree to see Jesus, who was going to pass that way. When Jesus came to that place, he looked up and said to Zacchaeus, ‘Hurry down, Zacchaeus, because I must stay in your house today (Luke 19:2-5 TEV).”  Zacchaeus did not turn over a new leaf. He clung to the Vine.