“Zacchaeus was a wee little man, a wee little man was he.”

Annoying tune. Catchy, but annoying. An ear worm that seemed to come out of nowhere, but one he had dealt with most of his life. Even Sunday School children could make the connection with a boy named Zack. With time, he had learned to deal with what people remembered about someone who lived two thousand years ago.

With the tune circling between his ears, he climbed the stairs to a second story apartment. An aide waited at the landing.

“Hello, Governor. We’ve been waiting for you. Martha is inside. She’s so excited to have you come to her little apartment.”

“Well, she’s been my staunchest supporter since I ran for City Commissioner 20 years ago. This seemed to be a perfect time to visit.”

The political answer was better that the practical one. Martha’s balcony looked over the route the Pope-mobile would take in an hour. He could watch the Pope drive by without mobs of people interfering. Even his body guards had agreed with this plan.

People had already gathered on the street below, but he had been able to slip out of his Governor’s limousine without attracting much attention. The bullet-proof vehicle had then maneuvered through traffic back to the Governor’s Mansion. After the Pope had passed and the crowd had dissipated, it would return. With his low approval rating, the Governor did not relish spending time with the general public.

Martha rose from her older recliner to greet him. Her 85-year-old body radiated enthusiasm and excitement at meeting personally the politician she had supported for two decades.

“Skin and bones,” he thought as he reached out his hand to her. “It goes with the age. What would she have looked like when she was younger?”

The touch of his hand sent shivers through the elderly woman, and she struggled to keep her balance.
“Oh, Governor Dawson. I’ve dreamt about this moment, but I never thought it would come. When your secretary called, I was so excited I dropped the phone! Did she tell you?”

Her smile was reflected on his face. “Yes, she laughed about it for three days!”

Admiring her grip on his hand, he realized that, frail though she was, she should not be underestimated, physically or mentally. The sparkle in her eyes and the strength of her voice revealed a much younger person inside.

“May I get you some coffee? Some tea? Some cookies?” She was off to the tiny kitchen and then back, pushing a small wheeled cart with a platter of cookies, a pot of coffee, a pot of hot water, several tea bags, and enough cups for the Governor, his aides, and the one lone reporter allowed to participate.

“You’ve been working all morning, getting everything ready, haven’t you?”

She blushed and began filling cups with hot water and coffee. The reporter and the aides were not bashful; the cups disappeared from the cart, and the pile of cookies was quickly reduced. The Governor reluctantly limited himself to two cookies.

Conversation flowed easily. Beginning with the cookies, the weather, her apartment, the Pope’s visit, even some politics.

“I don’t understand why so many people are angry with you.”

So many thoughts ran through his head. He remembered his campaign promises, the reasons she had supported him all along. They had sounded so good in the beginning: minimum wage, health care, more jobs, better education, all apple-pie-in-the-sky ideas. But when he took office … it wasn’t just the money that had supported his running for office. It wasn’t opposition from the state legislature. He tried to remember. Had he really changed, or had those been empty promises all along?

“It’s not so simple. Politics …”

A loud murmur outside the window interrupted him.

“Let’s go out on my balcony,” she suggested. “He must be coming.”

They followed her to the double doors and stepped out into the fresh air. Down the street, a few blocks away, they saw the motorcycles, several abreast, leading a small caravan of cars. The people below watched eagerly.

Unexpectedly, the Governor felt a lump appear in his throat. The Pope! Not just A Pope, but Pope Francis! A man who has challenged not only the church he heads, but world leaders. A man who stands on his convictions, who dares to ride through the streets of any city with no bullet-proof glass around him, a man who walks what he talks. Something in the politician’s head added, a Man of God. And then the thought, Does he stand for what I had hoped to be in the beginning?

As he stood silently, almost reverently, a commotion gathered below.

“The Governor!”

“What’s he doing here?”

An angry murmur rolled up and down the street, and people gathered in front of the balcony. Voices flung unflattering names and oaths upward. “Cheater!” “Liar!” “Scoundrel!” “Thief!” “Traitor!” were among the least obnoxious.

By the time the Pope-mobile reached the intersection below them, the chanting and fist-waving turned everyone’s attention away from the approaching Pontiff. The Pope-mobile stopped in front of the balcony, and a body guard slipped out onto the street, through the noisy crowd, and into the apartment building. The Pope called out, “Zack! Come out! I want to visit with you!”

Heads turned toward the man in the street.

“Let me talk with him,” the Pope pleaded, and what had been an angry mob became silent and still. When the Governor appeared on the sidewalk with the body guard, silence reigned and nobody moved. The two men entered a car behind the Pope-mobile and the caravan pulled forward.

As the cars veered off their prescribed route, crowds and police on the designated streets scrambled to position themselves for the new direction. After someone recognized that they were heading for the Governor’s Mansion, sirens and flashing lights quickly reorganized themselves.

When the aides, panting and puffing from the unscheduled two-mile jaunt, arrived at the Mansion, they found the Governor on his knees, head bowed, being blessed by the Pontiff. When he rose, the expression on his face surprised everyone.

“I have betrayed the people who voted for me, especially people like Martha. They trusted me with their ballots, and I turned my back on them. The bills I vetoed, that I refused to let go forward: an increase in the minimum wage, a bill to improve health care, to help with nursing care, … and oh, so many other …”

He looked at his aides, one by one. “But things are going to be different now. Tomorrow morning I want on my desk a list of programs that were scheduled to have their budgets reduced, and a schedule of what each of those programs had requested. I want to see a copy of all the expenses for the mansion, for the parties, for the trips I have taken, for anything that was not spent for the good of the people. We’re going to change things around here.”

The Pope smiled as he walked toward the door. “You’re on the right track, Zack. You’ll do fine.”

As the Governor focused more on improving living conditions in the state, reducing the unemployment rate, funding the schools adequately, and health care for the sick and elderly, his approval rating sky-rocketed. But most importantly, he slept better at night.

For consideration:
General Questions
1) How does this story follow its Scripture?
2) How does this story expand its Scripture for you?
3) What is the message of this story?
4) How does the message apply to us today?

Specific Questions
5) Why did the Governor want to visit Martha?
6) The New Testament Zacchaeus wanted to watch Jesus pass by. Did he think that would have been like watching a gorgeous sunset? It’s pretty, you admire it, and then … nothing changes?
7) Is that what the Governor thought about watching the Pope pass by?
8) What changes someone? Why do some people impact our lives in a way we would never have thought possible?