Joel M Bradshaw

5And 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.” 6So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. 7And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” 8And 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.” 9And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. 10For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”–Luke 19

Think of Zacchaeus like you might think of the political figure today you dislike most. Tax collectors collected revenues from their fellow Jewish people to give to the hated Romans. And they could charge as much as they could get away with and collect all the profits. If you were in the crowd that day you would have not been a fan of Jesus’ choice.

But wasn’t it more important that a lost person was sought and saved than everyone else feeling good about their celebrity Jesus moment? Is there anything more important than a sinner repenting and fully following Jesus? Think of what is at stake here eternally!

And frankly what happened between Jesus and that “wee little man” is something that can ONLY happen before Heaven. In Heaven, nobody is repenting and following Jesus anymore. We will have no further opportunities to share the Gospel with people then. That is why it is so important to see the Gospel message change your marriage, family, and workplace. For then you can proclaim it from experience! Big Z now could as well.

Now is the time for Jesus to seek and save the sinners. Now is the time for the lost to be found. The crowd should have celebrated and not grumbled.–JMB