One of my favorite slightly older worship songs is “He knows my name.” It is a song that declares “he knows my name, he knows my every thought, he sees each tear that falls, and he hears me when I call.” Can you say that today? Do you believe it? If you struggle to believe it, I hope you can begin to believe that it’s true. That you will start to hear him calling to you.

The last week I had the privilege of being the Bible story “Stellar Bible Adventure” teacher. I thought it was going to be an exhausting week. Well, I was tired at the end of it so that was true. But I’m ashamed to say that I also thought it would be a waste of my time. I was too prideful to think that I could be touched and blessed there as I served through teaching at vacation Bible school. Wow, I was very wrong.

On the second day, the lesson was about Zacchaeus, the hated tax collector in the tree. This time I saw something amazing and new in this story that I had never seen before. The story is really not about Zacchaeus at all, it is about acceptance. It is about recognizing that he sees us, and he knows us. Let me explain.

Zacchaeus is one of the main characters in the story, but it is about what he represents that makes his character significant. He was a person who was not respected by those around him, he was not loved or much adored, and he certainly was completely unwanted by others. He was a hated tax collector. He probably deserved others scorn of him because he was a man who lived very selfishly. As the chief tax collector, like all tax collectors of his day, he took money for the government, but he also kept quite a bit for himself. The tax collectors of that day robbed the people basically and the people knew it. As the chief tax collector, he had amassed a great deal of wealth off of the backs of other people. So, he was not liked, and it was deserved.

Money could not give back what he lost in the taking of it which was acceptance, respect and the love of others. So when Jesus came, Zacchaeus went to see this man everyone was talking about. Because he was so short, he climbed a tree so that he could see Jesus. He just wanted to see Jesus, after all wouldn’t Jesus hate and reject him like everyone else did? That was probably what he expected.

Maybe you are like Zacchaeus, you have made choices that have hurt others and estranged you from them. Maybe you were rejected and despised by others for whatever reason. If so, you know how Zacchaeus felt, completely unaccepted. You are in the tree just waiting to see Jesus but certain that like everyone else he will reject you too. But that’s not what happens. You see as Jesus passed the trees that Zacchaeus was sitting in he stopped and looked up. Then Jesus said (in Luke 19) “Zacchaeus, come down immediately.” Did you catch that? “Zacchaeus, come down immediately!” Jesus called Zacchaeus by name. Of course, the God of the universe knows everyone’s name and Jesus knew every name of every person in the crowd that day. But Jesus did not say or call out to everyone around him. No, he stopped and said the name of some one everyone else despised. Someone everyone else rejected. Amazing right!

He will call out to us even if we are not good enough, righteous enough, respected by others, loved by others, or even holy. The truth is he called out to all of us in our sinful diminished state. When we were in our tree unaccepted and rejected by those around us and sure of his rejection. Doesn’t it bring you peace to know that he knows your name even there. Even more significant is knowing that he calls us when we are in that state. Just like he called to Zacchaeus. 

We see this behavior of calling by name in another scripture with Paul. God met Paul on the road and a voice calls out from heaven, “Saul, Saul why do you persecute me?” God knew who Saul was before he became Paul. God gave him a new name, but he knew him before he was Paul. Amazing!

I would argue that to be called by name means you know that person. You see them and you acknowledge them. So time and again Jesus or God calls out to those who are unworthy of it. Who do not expect it. Yet there is something amazing that happens when he calls them, when he calls to us. When our soul knows that we are acknowledged, that we are seen, and that we are truly known, it wakes us up. It shakes something up inside of us. It’s transformative.

It was transformative for both Zacchaeus and Saul. It literally changed their hearts and their identity. He calls our name too. What an amazing thought. If you listen for it you will see and hear his calling to you. Yet Jesus did not stop there. With just calling our name.

For Zacchaeus he followed through and said come down immediately I must stay with you. Acknowledgement publicly and open acceptance. This totally transformed Zacchaeus’s life. He, after spending time with Jesus, changed his ways and gave back four times what he had taken as well as giving away half of everything he had to the poor. This acknowledgement and acceptance by God changed the fabric of who he was. This happened for Saul as well. The scales were removed from his eyes and he was renamed Paul. He changed from persecuting Christians to instead promoting Christ boldly, becoming a Christian, and spreading the gospel in many places. He worked to build up the very church he had persecuted originally.

That transformation is the same for us. When we hear God’s call on our life, when he says our name, it’s powerful. He’s calling to me and you – Andrea, Lily, Sean, Darius, Jenny, Ben, Melody – he’s calling to all of you. He says I must stay with you. He wants to be with us. He wants us to know that we’re acknowledged and accepted by him. He wants that acceptance and knowledge and love to transform us. We can be transformed by his love of us and his acceptance of who we are.

He doesn’t call out only to the worthy, the righteous, the talented, or the ones you see as deserving. He is calling out to us all! Praise God, what a blessing to know that he not only knows my name, but that he’s also calling out to me. What a wonder to know that he calls us and we are transformed by the very wonder of it.

Do you know that he knows your name too? Do you know he sees you as you are and still wants you to come to him? Do you know you don’t have to wait till you’re worthy or somehow feel that you deserve it to respond to his call? I challenge you to wait no longer. Quiet your soul, look and listen for he calls your name today. What will you do? Will you respond? Will you receive what are you so freely offers? Don’t miss it, listen. Do you hear Him calling?