Yesterday I wrote about Jesus and Salvation. Today, I want to begin that journey that Jesus spoke to his disciples of and look at how it began.
“He entered Jericho and was
passing through. And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief
tax collector and was rich. And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on
account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature.
So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he
was about to pass that way.
And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, ‘Zacchaeus,
hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.”
So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully.
And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest
of a man who is a sinner.”
And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my
goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore
it fourfold.”
And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he
also is a son of Abraham.
For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” Luke 19:1-10
As Jesus set out for Jerusalem he
had to go through Jericho – it was on the way.
I don’t believe that anything Jesus did was coincidental, and thus this
passage through Jerusalem was purposed by Jesus – all because of one person’s
need – a tax collector named Zacchaeus.
We taught our kids the song, “Zacchaeus was a wee little man…” It
probably explains why he climbed up into a sycamore tree to get a glimpse of
Jesus. Luke, writing from the memoirs of
the disciple described him – “He was a chief tax collector and was
rich. And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd
he could not, because he was small in stature”. What Luke does not write is that tax
collectors were hated by the rest of the Jews, who saw them as selling out to
the Romans for money. In Jericho,
Zacchaeus was despised by everyone.
It might be possible that
Zacchaeus climbed the tree to escape the notice of those in the street who
found out, like him, that Jesus was passing through, and perhaps he was
thinking that Jesus would want nothing to do with him. It must have surprised him, even shocked him
that Jesus not only noticed he was up in the tree, but he knew his name and
invited himself to join Zacchaeus in his home.
“If a man loves me, he will keep my word and my Father will love him,
and we will come and make our home with him.”[1]
The reaction from the crowd that saw both Jesus and Zacchaeus together was as
expected – shock and anger.
Why did Jesus do it? He saw someone who needed to know God’s
love. Zacchaeus was a sinner, to be
sure, but he repented of his ill-gotten riches immediately. In the presence of Jesus, sin cannot
stand. Zacchaeus was well aware that he
had broken God’s law, but he justified it when hated by those around him. Now Jesus comes to him to tell him he is more
than a sinner, he is a child of God, loved by God, even though he sins. The enemy told Zacchaeus he was justified in
stealing, for they hated him, but once Christ showed him love, the enemy lost
his hold on a person who has Jesus as His friend. Now, the sinful Jewish tax collector becomes
a “new creation” in Christ.
We opened the subject of salvation
in yesterday’s blog. Today, we witness
an example as Jesus journeys to Jerusalem.
Zacchaeus is repentant and confesses his sinfulness, and his willingness
to obey the Law. Jesus smiles, and
speaks of what just happened:
“Today salvation has come to this
house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and
to save the lost” (Luke 19:9-10).
This is salvation…Jesus comes
seeking the lost and when he finds them, they are restored in repentance,
redeemed from their lost state, and reminded that they belong to the Son of Man
from God. We should recognize that many
of those who are despised, broken, and unwelcome are desperately in need of the
knowledge of God’s love for them.
Peace
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