Here's a man who, maybe without entirely knowing it, is lost.
And Jesus seeks him out and saves him.
But before we get too much into this, I want to zoom out just a little bit
because the context is also important.
This story comes directly after chapter 18.
At the end of chapter 18, you'll see there's a story there about Jesus coming into Jerusalem.
And while he's still on the outside of the town, a blind beggar calls out to him and says,
Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.
That's in 18, verse 38.
And Jesus calls him over and he has mercy on him.
He heals him.
And Luke shows us with that story that Jesus really is the Son of David,
the promised Messiah, the Savior who would come to bring the mercy of God to his people.
And that includes blind beggars, but also blind sinners who desperately need a Savior.
And that second part is what we get a clearer picture of in this account of Jesus and Zacchaeus.
Zacchaeus was an outwardly very successful man,
very different from the blind beggar outside of the walls.
And yet both of these men were blind in their own ways.
Zacchaeus was totally blind to God, blind to the ways that his sin was destroying him and others.
So this man outside the city was blind.
The man inside the city was blind too in a different way.
Both of them are unable to save themselves.
Both of them are completely transformed when they meet Jesus.
Because verse 10 really is true.
The Son of Man came to seek and save the lost.
Maybe I think we're just maybe too familiar with the story of Zacchaeus to really see and feel the shock of it.
But this conversation plays out in some really unexpected ways.
Ways that would have been very surprising to the people at the time.
And I think it's a good reminder to us if we pay attention.
Because I think it's easy for us to say that Jesus came to bring God's salvation to everyone.
We believe that. We acknowledge that.
But when we say salvation is available to everyone and anyone who comes,
I wonder do we always really think about the implications of what that means.
Because in this story, although most people would have, you know,
they wouldn't have argued with the idea that Zacchaeus was lost.
Everyone would have known that.
But it's also very clear that they weren't actually happy about Jesus seeking this man.
But Jesus does seek him anyway.
So let's think about this.
First we'll look at this man Zacchaeus.
Who is he?
And then how does Jesus interact with him?
What the result of that interaction is?
And what it all means for us today.
So that's where we're headed.
Who is this man?
Who is Zacchaeus?
These verses tell us that Zacchaeus is a very different kind of man
from the blind beggar who was outside of the walls of Jericho.
This is a wealthy, powerful citizen.
He's a tax collector.
Well, he's not just a tax collector.
He's the chief tax collector.
And it's clear that he'd used this high position to gain a fortune for himself.
He's quite wealthy.
And also very unpopular.
He has a reputation as a sinner.
We see that in verse 7.
And why is that?
Well, we see a glimpse of why people might feel this way
later in the text in verse 8
when he says,
If I have cheated anybody out of anything.
Well, he had.
He had cheated people.
Probably a lot of people.
In fact, it's possible almost everyone in town
had been cheated by this man in some way.
He had the power to pay himself out of the taxes that he collected from the residents.
He had the authority to do that.
And the way that he had that authority was from the government of Rome,
which was the conquering government,
the oppressive government,
who had been so bad to the Jewish people.
One of the ways that they were oppressive
was through their high taxes.
Taxes that he was enforcing.
And so this man was working for the Romans
to collect these taxes.
And more than that,
he was making himself wealthy with the extra that he took
from them,
using the authority of their oppressors.
And he's a Jewish man,
supposed to be one of them,
and yet he does this for the enemy.
I mean, it had to feel like a betrayal.
It's no wonder they call him a sinner.
It's no wonder they mutter and they grumble
when Jesus is kind to this man.
This is the guy in town who not only works for the enemy,
but abuses his power,
makes himself rich off the backs of his own neighbors,
his own community,
his own flesh and blood.
I mean, of course people don't like him.
Who would?
But look how the story goes.
We see who Zacchaeus is.
It's not a nice portrait.
But let's consider what happens,
how Jesus interacts with this man.
Luke tells us Zacchaeus is a short man.
And he tells us that because he wants us to know
why he's climbing in a tree
to get a look at Jesus.
Well, it's not normal to see the rich guy in town
climbing up a tree.
I think that detail gives us a hint
that this man is drawn to Jesus.
He's open, he's interested on some level.
And he doesn't just get a look at Jesus
like that's what he's after.
But he gets a lot more than that
because Jesus actually stops
and he does something completely unexpected by anyone.
He commands Zacchaeus to come down.
He invites himself over to Zacchaeus' house.
And he says this right there
in front of the whole crowd,
in front of everybody.
What just happened?
I mean, Jesus, don't you understand
who this man is?
He's not on our side.
He's working for the enemy.
He's working against God's people.
He's working against the public good.
He's only thinking of himself in the process.
He's enriching himself
at the expense of everyone.
How on earth can Jesus honor this man
by eating with him,
spending the day with him,
when there's so many other homes in Jericho
that I'm sure would have gladly hosted Jesus.
And they probably would have been much more worthy.
I'm sure there were great citizens in Jericho at the time
who really did work hard
to look after the poor,
to build up their community,
to do good things.
And why on earth doesn't Jesus
honor one of them
with his limited time
going through this town?
I mean, Zacchaeus is very happy.
He welcomes him gladly.
But the rest of the town is not happy.
All the people saw this in verse 7.
They began to mutter,
He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.
I mean, hey, we came out to see this great prophet,
this miracle worker,
this teacher passing through town,
this good man that everyone admires,
and now he's consorting with the enemy.
This betrayer of his people.
This is not a good move, Jesus.
People do not approve.
This guy is an outcast,
and he put himself there
by his own choices.
This is not what the crowd
thought Jesus should be doing.
But what I want you to see today
is that this is what Jesus came to earth to do.
He came to bring God's mercy
to people who do not deserve it.
Jesus says in verse 10,
He came to seek and save the lost.
Was Zacchaeus lost?
Yes.
No one would deny that.
They all knew that this man was far from God.
His way of life displayed it very clearly
for everyone to see.
And Jesus seeks this man out
of the crowd that day.
He eats dinner at this man's house
because the Son of Man,
the Messiah,
the Deliverer,
the Eternal King,
He did not come to earth
to hang out
with the upper crust of people
who were able to prove
their high quality
and prove their goodness.
He came with a mission
to seek and save
those who were lost.
And He does both.
He seeks
and He saves.
He takes the initiative
and comes to sinners
in our sin.
And only He has the ability
to save us
out
of that sin.
I mean, look at Zacchaeus.
He's a rich tax collector.
And later on,
he will
give away a lot of money.
He will restore
what he's taken from people wrongfully.
He'll do good things.
But when Jesus calls him,
when Jesus says
He's coming to him,
Zacchaeus has not done
any of those good things yet.
As far as we can tell,
he hasn't even tried
to clean himself up
with good deeds.
Jesus seeks Zacchaeus
while he is still lost
in his sin.
And the transformation
that comes to Zacchaeus
comes after Jesus seeks him,
as a result of Jesus
seeking him first.
And if we're honest,
that's our story too.
If we're trusting in Jesus,
Paul says in Romans 5,
God demonstrates
His own love for us in this.
While we were still sinners,
Christ died for us.
Jesus did not wait
for us to clean ourselves up
or get ourselves presentable
before He would come
and save us.
He did not come to save us
because we're good,
lovely people
who always do and think
and say the right things.
I mean, no.
If we're honest,
that is not a good description
of us as humans.
Our sin really is ugly.
Our selfishness and pride
really are destructive.
Like Zacchaeus
was using other people
for his own advantage.
Far too often,
aren't we doing the same?
In our words,
in our gossip,
in our actions,
in our manipulations,
in our lies,
attacks and defenses,
we try to shape reality
around ourselves
at the center.
My desires,
my needs,
my ambitions,
not thinking about
how destructive that is
to myself,
to the people around me,
and how offensive that is
to the God who made me,
who actually is
the living,
loving center of reality.
Zacchaeus was doing this.
But every time we sin,
we do the same thing.
We're putting ourselves
at the center of all things.
We're pushing everyone else
to the side,
including God himself.
I think sometimes we think
that we just ignore God
and it's okay
and we can just live
our personal life
as if that's all that matters.
But when we do that,
what we're really saying to God
is, you know,
God, I wish you would just go away
or not exist
or if you have to be there,
just fall in line
with everyone else
and serve me,
serve my desires,
serve my wishes,
treat me like I'm the real God
and do my bidding.
You're my servant.
And at its heart,
that's what sin is.
It's denying God
his rightful place
as our Lord,
as our King over us,
the authority over us,
denying him his rightful worship
as the true center
of reality,
the giver of all good gifts,
the source of all
that is good.
Sin is pretending
like something else,
like me,
is the real center.
And Zacchaeus was living that way.
He was living with his own desires,
with his own self
in the center.
He built his wealth up
for himself.
He didn't care
who he harmed
in the process.
He lived with his desires.
He lived as if his desires
mattered more
than anyone else,
more than God.
And you know,
the world actually tells us
to do this,
to follow our own hearts,
to chase our own happiness
above anything
and anyone
that could get in our way.
And Zacchaeus
was just living that out.
He was following his heart,
following his desires.
And in the process,
he hurt himself.
He hurt his whole community.
And he pushed God away.
But when he meets Jesus,
everything changes.
We've seen who this man is.
We've seen how Jesus
interacts with him
in such a surprising way.
Now let's consider
the result of their meeting.
You look in verses 8 and 9.
Zacchaeus stood up
and said to the Lord,
Look, Lord,
here and now
I give half of my possessions
to the poor
and if I've cheated anybody
out of anything,
I will pay back
four times the amount.
Jesus said to him,
Today,
salvation has come
to this house
because this man too
is a son of Abraham.
For the son of man
came to seek
and to save
the lost.
What on earth
could make a man
who lived so selfishly
for so long
do something
so entirely
out of character?
Give up the one thing
he loved more
than anything else
in the world,
his money.
And not only that,
but actually
he gave his treasure,
his money,
to the very people
he'd been stealing it from.
I mean,
this man has just done
a complete turnaround.
It's as much of a miracle
as the blind man
outside the city
who can now see.
This man
was blind
in a different way
and now he can see
like never before.
Everything is different.
Back
in chapter 18,
there's another story
that Luke tells us
about when Jesus
met a rich young ruler.
he ended up
walking away
from Jesus
because Jesus
told him
to give away
his wealth.
That's in
chapter 18,
but in verses
24 and 25
back there,
Jesus tells
his disciples
how hard it is
for a rich
to enter
the kingdom
of God.
Indeed,
it is easier
for a camel
to go through
the eye of a needle
than for someone
who is rich
to enter
the kingdom
of God.
That rich man
just like Zacchaeus
had made money
his God.
He was living
for his own desires.
He was trying
to satisfy
those desires
with money.
But when it came
down to it,
when Jesus was there,
he could not
turn away
from his little
cold,
dead,
golden God
to come to
the real
living Savior
who was standing
right in front of him
inviting him
to eternal
life.
Camels don't
naturally go
through the eye
of a needle.
People with
false gods,
like money,
don't naturally
turn away
from those gods.
But Jesus
says in
chapter 18
verse 27,
what is
impossible with
man
is possible
with God.
And here,
in the story
of Zacchaeus,
just one
chapter later,
we see this
miracle
of a man
transformed.
A blind beggar
outside the city
is now seeing
and a spiritually
blind rich man
inside the city
is now seeing.
He is seeing
the value,
the treasure
of following Jesus
instead of his money.
And he's actually
willingly,
even joyfully,
giving up
so much
of his wealth.
All of a sudden
he saw
that his wealth
that he had been
living for
all of this time
was nothing
compared to
the treasure
of actually
knowing
and following
Jesus.
And Jesus
says in
verse 9,
today salvation
has come to
this house
because this
man too
is a son
of Abraham.
This betrayer
of his people,
this oppressor
who is now
the one
inheriting
all the good
and gracious
promises of God
that God
had made
so long ago
to Abraham.
Zacchaeus
did not
deserve that.
But the
son of man
came to
seek and
save
the lost
and restore
them.
Notice though
that Jesus
does not just
seek Zacchaeus
out and tell
him that
he's fine.
Tell him
that all
of his life
choices,
he just
comes to
affirm all
of that,
all that
Zacchaeus
is already
doing with
his life.
No,
he doesn't
do that.
He doesn't
come and say,
Zacchaeus,
you're good,
you're grand,
no problem.
He seeks
him out
just as
he is
before any
change happens.
But he
does not
leave him
just as
he is
in his
sin.
He seeks
him
and he
saves him.
This
transformation
that we
see here
in Zacchaeus
with joy,
but it's a
sign that
he's really
been saved
out of
his sin.
it shows
that his
heart
has actually
been able
to let
go of
his
idols
and is
now
turning
back
towards
God.
With
the rich
young ruler
in chapter
18 who
walked away,
Jesus had
told him
to give
up his
money and
he couldn't
do it.
But with
Zacchaeus,
there's no
command like
that.
Jesus doesn't
tell him he
needs to do
this.
He just
does it.
He does it
voluntarily.
He offers
it up of
his own
accord.
He gives
up his
wealth.
And why
does he
do that?
He does
it because
he is so
caught up
with a
better
treasure.
He's found
salvation from
sin, but
that's not
all that
he's found.
He's also
found a
completely
different
purpose
for his
life,
something
better to
live for
than his
little
cold,
dead,
golden
God that
he had
been giving
everything to.
He's now
turning his
entire life
around to
joyfully
follow his
living King
and Savior
Jesus.
So his
gifts of
money to
the poor,
they're not
given
begrudgingly,
they're not
given reluctantly,
out of duty or
something.
He is joyfully
letting go of
his old God
and joining
the mission of
his new Savior
to seek and
save those
who are lost.
He went from
thinking that
other people are
just stepping
stones to
use for
his own
advancement,
something that
he can use
to get more
money,
more of
what he
wants.
But now
he is
turning that
around and
he is giving
what he has
collected on
earth to
care for
others like
Jesus had
cared for
him.
He's
imitating
his Savior.
He's giving
generously to
others as
Jesus had
given mercy
to him.
His blindness
is healed.
He sees that
these people that
he had been
robbing from,
that he had
been using
for himself
are actually
people that
God has made
in his image,
that Jesus
loves,
who are worth
more than
all of his
earthly treasures
put together.
I wonder,
do we see
other people
this way?
We've looked
at the
unworthiness
of Zacchaeus,
the surprising
mercy of
Jesus,
which led
to this
complete
transformation
in Zacchaeus.
A miracle
if there
ever was
one.
But what
does it
all mean
for us?
I think
for one,
it gives
us a picture
of the
mercy that
God has
shown us.
We may
not be
blind beggars,
we may
not be
tax collectors,
but our
basic condition
is the
same.
We are
all
spiritually
blind in
sin,
desperately
in need
of God's
mercy apart
from Christ.
And like
those men,
God didn't
wait for us
to clean
ourselves up,
make ourselves
good enough,
or presentable
enough.
He just
came and
sought us
out.
While we
were still
sinners,
Christ died
for us.
That's amazing
grace,
that great
hymn says,
I once
was lost,
but now
I'm found.
I was
blind,
but now
I see.
And that's
our story
too.
If we have
come to
Christ,
we are
the lost
that Jesus
came to
seek and
save.
And if
you've
come to
him,
if you've
been found,
and if
you see
now,
then one
of the
things you
see is
the lost
that remain
around you.
The lost
that Jesus
also came
to seek
and to
save.
And will
you join
Jesus in
seeking
those lost?
lost,
and I
mean all
kinds of
lost.
Not
only the
people who
naturally
draw sympathy
from us,
or the
people everybody
wants to
show compassion
to already.
I mean,
like the
blind beggar
outside the
walls.
We should
certainly,
absolutely
bring God's
mercy to
those people.
But we
can't stop
there.
We must
also travel
with Jesus
inside the
walls of
Jericho and
follow him in
seeking all
kinds of
people,
every kind
of person,
even the
people everyone
knows are
undeserving and
unworthy,
like this
betrayer of
his people,
this turncoat
tax collector
that everyone
disliked.
Are you
willing to
seek people
like that
with the
mercy of
God?
Are you
willing to
seek after
people who
have wronged
you personally,
like this
man had
wronged so
many in
his town?
Are you
willing to
love your
enemies and
pray for
those who
persecute you
as Jesus
said,
knowing that
when you
do,
Jesus said
you are
like your
father in
heaven,
who extends
his mercy
even to
his enemies.
I think
sometimes that
we think
God's mercy,
maybe God's
mercy is a
little bigger
than we
want it to
be.
we want
it to
cover us,
obviously.
But when
it comes to
those really
terrible people
over there,
we want
justice,
not mercy.
Like this
town was so
upset with
Jesus for
seeking Zacchaeus,
or like
Jonah who
ran away
from Nineveh
because he
was afraid
that his
enemies might
repent and
they might
receive God's
mercy instead
of God's
justice.
Look,
God's justice
is real.
The fact
is it
will fall
on all
who reject
his salvation.
We need
his salvation.
We can
either pay
for our
sins
ourselves
or we
can accept
Jesus'
payment on
our behalf.
We must
come to
him to
be saved.
He is
the only
way to
be saved.
But
Jesus'
offer of
salvation
is good
for everyone
in the
exact same
way,
including
us,
thankfully,
for our
own crimes
against God.
But that
same
salvation
is offered
to everyone
else as
well.
And that
even includes
those who
have wronged
us,
those who
have hurt
us.
The Son
of Man
has come
to seek
and save
the lost
and no
one is
too lost
for Jesus
to save.
So as we
thank God
that Jesus
came to
find us
in our
sin while
we were
still sinners,
we should
also see
the deep
need of
those around
us for
the exact
same
salvation.
Whether
they're
poor beggars
or whether
they're
corrupt rich
people or
anyone else
at all,
including the
people who
have wronged
us.
Jesus did
not come
to save
good people.
Good people
don't need
saving.
He came
to save
sinners who
are lost
and that's
us and
that's
everyone else
too.
And now
we have
the privilege
to join
him joyfully
in his
mission to
seek the
lost wherever
they are to
help them to
come back
to their
savior.
So I just
want to ask
you as I
close,
who can
you seek
today or
this week
with God's
mercy,
with God's
love?
Who can
you show
forgiveness
to?
Who can
you show
kindness to
or share
the good
news of
God's
salvation
with so
that they
can stop
being lost
so they
can come
back to
the God
who made
them?
Are there
any Zacchaeus
like people
in your
life that
you need
to start
praying for
that God
will open
their eyes
and have
mercy on
them like
he did
for Zacchaeus?
Jesus did
not seek
Zacchaeus
because he
was worthy.
He was
not worthy.
Jesus did
not seek
us because
we are
worthy.
we were
not worthy
either.
The Son of
Man came
to seek
and save
the lost.
How will
you join
in seeking
and sharing
God's
mercy
with them
this week?
Let's
pray.
Lord,
we can
never thank
you enough
for your
mercy
that you
have come
to seek
and save
us
while we
were still
sinners
that you
came to
pay for
our sin
to win
us new
life in
you.
We will
trust,
put our
faith in
you.
Lord,
I pray
that if
there is
anyone here
this morning
that does
not know
you,
that they
will put
their trust
in you,
that they
will be
found
in you.
And Lord,
I pray that
you would
give us
the eyes
to see
those around
us and
how you
see them,
that you
have come
to seek
and save
the lost.
I pray
that you
would give
us opportunities,
Lord,
to share
your mercy
with others
this week.
And I
pray it in
Jesus' name.
Amen.