Short People

AM Psalm 119:145-176 • PM Psalm 128, 129, 130
Zech. 12:1-10 • Eph. 1:3-14 • Luke 19:1-10 

Songwriter Randy Newman’s “Short People” was the biggest hit on his 1977 album “Little Criminals.”

In Biblical times, being impressively tall was no guarantee of success in life. Not for Og, King of the Amorites, nor for the giants of Gath (Goliath, Ishbibenob, Saph), nor even for King Saul, who stood a head taller than anyone else in Israel. None had a happy ending. 

The only short person mentioned in Scripture—apart from the baby Jesus—was Zacchaeus. He had to climb a tree to be able to see Jesus go by. Jesus spied him up in the tree and despite having never met Zacchaeus, loudly called out to him by name. He orders him to come down from the tree, because Jesus announces to the whole crowd that He is going to be a guest of Zacchaeus that very day. This was a singular honor for those times.

The crowd is astonished to hear this because Zacchaeus was the chief tax collector of Jericho and was therefore presumed by the crowd to be a dishonest, greedy, collaborator of the Romans. But Jesus prompts Zacchaeus to tell the real story. In fact, Zacchaeus routinely gives half his wealth to the poor, and repays fourfold for any tax collecting errors.

Jesus ends the story by proclaiming “ Now this is the kind of Jew that I’ve been looking for….I did not come to save the already saved: but rather those you think are sinners.”

Written by Tony Stankus

Tony Stankus is 5 ft. zero inches tall.