Changed by His love.

Who is lost and would we like them? What is the image that is portrayed of the lost? As we look at this text for the weekend, it strikes me that there is one very deep wound in this man’s heart. He’s been thwarted from typical relationships and may have a sense of intolerable loneliness. We don’t know all that drove Zaccheus to this point in his life but we do have at least some clues from the text that life is not fun, even though he is swimming in cash. 

Then comes Jesus. Jesus is making a disciple on this run into Jericho. 

“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” (Luke 19:1-3).

“And behold” - those words are great Shakespearean English. But what does that mean? If we step away and view this from heaven’s perspective as well as the context of the previous chapters, you see the Good Shepherd looking for the lost sheep (Luke 15:3-7). Jesus had told this and two other parables in order to show God’s intense determination to seek out the lost: “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10).

Zaccheus now becomes the embodiment of the lost coin, the lost son, the lost sheep. Jesus is seeking him.

What would it be like if Jesus was seeking you? Where would he search? What thoughts would he enter into so that He could show his loving, seeking character to us? Jesus entered the realm of Zaccheus’ embarrassment. Zaccheus was so hated and despised that Jesus chose to meet him publicly and proclaim God’s desire to have close, intimate fellowship (“I must stay at your house today” (Luke 19:5) with him.

Scripture states, “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” (Luke 19:4-5).

What chamber of your house, with the shame of your sinfulness and the regret of your past (even your present) sins, would he enter? Jesus is seeking the lost to reassure them (you and I) of His love, devotion, admiration and desire to be with us eternally. But most days we just exist in the kingdom of heaven assuming that God’s love is dull and mundane. Nothing could be further from the truth than that.

Why do we see Jesus’ love as dull and faded? I tend to think it is because of the crowd. We have heard too many people grumbling about our performance, our character, our faults. We let such comments shape our understanding of ourselves. It is the crowd that shapes our self-worth and sadly not the Savior’s devotion.

Luke goes on, “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’” (Luke 19:6-7).

Jesus does not follow the crowd. Jesus will not follow the popular narrative but delivers Heaven’s message: “the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10). We were lost and the Son’s desire to be eternally in our presence brought Him to earth and caused Him to commit the most amazing act of love: He lived for a perfect record that would now formulate God’s perception of us; He died an innocent death so that all infractions, all evil, all shame and guilt could be removed. He endured the most bitter humiliation and the most overwhelming hellish torment so that our sin-riddled hearts and lives could be His forever. 

In an instant Zacchaeus got that truth - it planted itself deep into his touchy, damaged, saddened heart. And Zacchaeus erupted with such joy that he now treated all his riches as if they were dust. 

“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 19:8-10).

Zacchaeus was now a changed man. Are you changed by the love and commitment of the Savior, who came from heaven to search for you, the lost? Are you equally committed to keeping your eyes open and making disciples the way Jesus made a disciple of Zacchaeus? It might get a little messy. It might not be what the crowd wants you to do. It might just change how that one person views the love of God as it comes through you. 

Blessings, child of God!