The Hebrew lexicon, compared to English, is quite small.  Its approximately 7000 words are dwarfed by the 300,000 (triple that if you include technical terms) of the English language.  Thus, Hebrew words often have several meanings.

The word, na'ar, can describe a lad, a young man, a servant, or someone of lower status.  Your 88-year-old servant is a na’ar.  Your neighbor’s toddler is a na’ar.

So, how do we settle ambiguities of meaning when dealing with the Hebrew scriptures?

In Judaism, we find “the rest of the story” in the oral tradition. 

In the case of the word, na’ar, in Genesis 22:12, we learn from the oral tradition that Isaac was 37 years old when his father led him up the slope of Mt. Moriah to offer a fitting sacrifice to the Lord. 

In Exodus 33:11, Joshua is 57, and still being referred to as a na’ar.

In Genesis 22, we read of a man of 37, carrying a heavy burden of wood, to the heights where he will die.  He does as his father commands.  He is obedient onto death.

He was spared. 

Two thousand years later.  And quite possibly in the very same spot, a man of 33 years of age climbed that slope with a heavy burden of wood.  He too, was obedient onto death. 

He was not spared.

In the Parable of the Good Samaritan, we read of a traveler who is beaten and robbed.  We are also given the crucial detail that the man is left half dead.

Priests and Levites who served in the Temple in Jerusalem were bound by many laws.  The Torah describes them in great detail.  One of them, in Numbers 19:11, prohibits touching or even being close to a corpse.

In the parable, along come a Priest and, later, a Levite.  Not wanting to be defiled for seven days, and thus being prevented from serving in the Temple, they obey the written Word of God and pass on the other side of the road from the half-dead victim.

Then comes a Samaritan.  He too believes in the Torah.  But he chooses to serve God by caring for the victim of the robbers.

Jesus gave that lawyer an extraordinary and radical answer.  Not only was he to consider the despicable Samaritan as a neighbor, but he was told to show mercy even if it meant breaking a law.

It is evening, Jesus has finished eating a meal with tax collectors and sinners.  The master storyteller rises to entertain them with food for the soul. 

The region around the Sea of Galilee is far below sea level and can be quite hot. Their supper was probably served in a well-ventilated upper room and they have now gone out to the roof terrace.  He starts with the Parable of the Lost Coin and then offers them what is surely the finest short story in any Semitic language. 

He tells them of a wealthy man with two sons and how one of them demands his share of the inheritance.  And, gesturing across the way, perhaps to the next village, Jesus states the son went to a “Far Country”. 

The listeners were not imagining the faraway place where spices come from, nor were they thinking of the fabled region, far to the east, where silk is wrought.  To the Jews living around the Sea of Galilee, a Far Country, is the name for the adjacent Decapolis.

It is so near, yet so far away spiritually; for the Greek-speaking residents of the Decapolis were pagans.

Jesus continues the story.  His audience understands that the rich Father’s house undoubtedly had many rooms, even upper rooms, perhaps even a tower above the granary.  They imagine him standing upon a high place, as they are, and seeing, as they can see, the riotous living of their neighbors.

They feel His anguish, as He watches His son’s life unravel.

They know His joy, as He, while watching one day, sees the son head back for home and runs to greet him. 

That Father is your own.  He is your heavenly Father. 

You are never out of His sight. 

Consider the Mulberry Fig or Sycamore Fig, Ficus sycomorus.  It is native to Africa and the southernmost parts of the Arabian Peninsula and is cultivated in the warmer regions of the Levant.  It is long-lived and can grow to great heights.  A well-tended specimen can yield several hundred pounds of fruit.  However, beyond their native lands and their very specific pollinator, specimens of Ficus sycomorus need the services of a “Dresser” of figs (like the prophet Amos) in order to bear fruit.

They are not native around Jericho.  Every Sycamore Fig there was planted by someone and is private property.  Since their fruit set can be so prolific and the harvest so valuable, any tree close to a road would have had its lower limbs removed to deter petty thievery.

Early in the 19th chapter of Luke we learn two facts, Zacchaeus is short and he selected a Sycamore tree as his perch. 

Ouch!

Why does Luke, in his report dedicated to Theophilus, mention the particular species of tree?  To emphasize what it would cost Zacchaeus to see Jesus.

For you see, a Sycamore Fig is repellent and well-armed.  Its coarse leaves have the texture of sandpaper and are coated with irritating compounds.  Its thin, papery bark  sloughs off in large flakes, causing a caustic latex to ooze out. Zacchaeus knew that red, raw rashes would be a consequence of climbing such a tree.  Yet he somehow knew it would be worth it!

And, why is it important to know that he was short?  Because he could not have climbed that tree situated by the road by himself.   All its accessible, lower branches would have been removed years ago.  He was facing a veritable Mount Sycomorus. 

We are told he was short so we would know he needed help to reach his goal.  It would have taken one or two bystanders to help the squat gentleman reach the first lateral branch.

Who helped you to reach the point where you could see Jesus? 

Who will you help to reach the point where he can see Jesus?