Z is for Zaccheus

Scottish fantasy novelist, poet and pastor George MacDonald (1824-1905) wrote such well-known works as At the Back of the North Wind, Lilith, Phantastes, and The Princess and the Goblin. Many popular authors have saluted him as an influence, including W.H. Auden, Lewis Carroll, Madeleine L’Engle, C.S. Lewis, and J.R.R. Tolkien.

Zaccheus

By George MacDonald

To whom the heavy burden clings,
It yet may serve him like a staff;
One day the cross will break in wings,
The sinner laugh a holy laugh.

The dwarfed Zacchaeus climbed a tree,
His humble stature set him high;
The Lord the little man did see
Who sought the great man passing by.

Up to the tree he came, and stopped:
'To-day,' he said, 'with thee I bide.'
A spirit-shaken fruit he dropped,
Ripe for the Master, at his side.

Sure never host with gladder look
A welcome guest home with him bore!
Then rose the Satan of rebuke
And loudly spake beside the door:

'This is no place for holy feet;
Sinners should house and eat alone!
This man sits in the stranger's seat
And grinds the faces of his own!'

Outspoke the man, in Truth's own might:
'Lord, half my goods I give the poor;
If one I've taken more than right
With four I make atonement sure!'

'Salvation here is entered in;
This man indeed is Abraham's son!'
Said he who came the lost to win-
And saved the lost whom he had won.

Last year’s A to Z post: A Zillion Zigzags

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