TO SEEK AND TO SAVE THE LOST

Luke 19:1-10                           

Key Verse: 19:10

“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”

          Today’s passage is a beautiful story about Jesus and Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector and Jesus was the Son of God. The Son of God  came to the world to seek and find Zacchaeus who was lost in sin. May God teach us Jesus’ love and compassion with which he came to the world to seek and to save the lost.

I. Zacchaeus, the chief tax collector (1-4)

          Look at verse 1. “Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through.” Now Jesus passing through Jericho. At that time Jericho was considered to be an important city because it had a rich historical and cultural background. During the Old Testament time, the people of Israel conquered this Jericho, the enemy’s fortress. Jericho also lay in the Jordan Valley and Jerusalem was 27 km away from the city. This city was  known as “the city of perfume” or as “the fortress of palm trees” because many palm trees were growing everywhere in the city. It was a prosperous city and because of economic importance, the Romans put their major taxation center in it.  And in this beautiful city of Jericho, there was a man named Zacchaeus. 

          Look at verse 2. “A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy.” In Jericho, Jesus met a man whose name  was Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and therefore, he  was very rich. The name Zacchaeus means “sinless” or “righteous.” Probably, his parents named him in this way hoping to raise him up as a great servant of God, whose heart is full of God’s righteousness and holiness. However, contrary to their expectation, the name Zacchaeus became a symbol of wretchedness.

          We do not know exactly what has happened in his past. Certainly, Zacchaeus wanted to grow as a great man of God as his parents were expecting him to. However, as time passed on, he became a  changed person. The moment he saw his own people’s devastating poverty situation under the Roman regime, he decide to be rich by becoming a tax collector. At that time the Jewish people hated the tax collectors so much because they were collaborating with Romans. They also hated the tax collectors because the tax collectors  manipulated them by increasing their taxes in order to make themselves richer. They treated the tax collectors  like robbers or prostitutes calling them public sinners.

In order to become a tax collector, Zacchaeus studied hard and after becoming a tax collector, he worked harder until he could defeat all his peers and become a chief tax collector. This means that he became top in is field. As we know well, in an area, be it the president of a company or the chief of robbers or a leader of beggars, reaching the top is not an easy thing to do. In order to be number one, a person has to work harder and better that others. Also Zacchaeus had a short height. In the world, people care about man’s outward appearance, his short height could be disadvantage. But Zacchaeus overcame even his physical shortcoming through his effort. Now as a  chief tax collector, he lived in a luxurious mansion with a huge swimming pool and a beautiful garden. He also drove a BMW. .

          Was he happy with all his human success? No. because in this world, there is no one who can buy happiness with money. As someone said, “Man is a social animal.” So to man, other’s recognition is very important. Zacchaeus thought that if he became rich, many people would respect him. But no one respected him. Instead, they hated him unconditionally calling him, “betrayer” and “the dirty tax dog.”  All men have a longing desire to be holy and righteous because God created man in his image. But when he lived a selfish life as a tax collector, he became a kind of person whom even himself would not like to associate with. He became the type of person whom he had disliked the most. Because of this, he suffered with a sense of guilt and condemnation every day and every night.

          But one day he heard the good news of great joy; he heard that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by Jericho. When he heard these news, he leaped for joy because he saw his only hope in Jesus. This wretched man Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus. Look at verse 3a. It says, “He wanted to see who Jesus was…” This short phrase tells us that Zacchaeus did not come to Jesus not just out of curiosity but with a strong spiritual desire to know who Jesus was. When he heard that the good Jesus of Nazareth welcomed everyone and everybody and that this Jesus welcomed even sinners like tax collector, he really wanted to see Jesus. And when he met Jesus, he wanted to confess all his sins before him and receive his grace of forgiveness. 

          But there was a problem for his coming to Jesus. There were  barriers which Zacchaeus had to overcome in order to come near to Jesus. What are they?

Firstly, he had to overcome the barrier of crowds. As Zacchaeus was trying to  come near to Jesus, there were already so many people. How nice it would be if these people were kind to him! But they were not kind to them. They hated him so much that they might try to beat him when they found Zacchaeus trying to come near to Jesus.

Secondly, he also had to overcome his short height as a barrier in coming to Jesus. Now he was among the many people who were taller than him. These people gave him a nudge and even a kicked him  or pushed him intentionally in order to hinder him from coming to Jesus. When he saw many tall people around him, Zacchaeus could have given up his coming to Jesus out of despair and fear. But he did not give up. Instead, in his helpless situation, he looked around and found a sycamore fig tree standing near. Then he ran with a full speed toward the tree and climbed it. It  was an awesome act of faith and humiliation. The people could have ridiculed him as they saw him climbing on the tree, but he did not care anything but climbed the tree like a monkey.  Zacchaeus must have had a chubby body with a pot-belly. But he just climbed the tree with all his might in order to see who Jesus was.

Here from Zacchaeus,  we learn that there are many kinds of obstacles when we try to come to Jesus. Sometimes people around us try to hinder us from coming to Jesus. Usually people are not interested in us. However, when w come to Jesus, they violently hinder us from coming to Jesus. Sometimes our sinful natures or our human character such as fear, pride and sense of despair hinder us from coming to Jesus.  Sometimes we think that we are too sinful to come to Jesus. Zacchaeus might have thought like this. But he overcame all obstacles and came to Jesus. May God give us such a holy and spiritual desire. God honors those who see him with all their hearts. May God also give us as we wait for the upcoming Perdue International Bible Conference.

II. To seek and to save the lost (5-10)

          Look at verse 5. “When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, ‘Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.’” There were so many people around Jesus. But Jesus paid his full attention to Zacchaeus only because he saw Zacchaeus’ strong spiritual desire  to meet Jesus. Jesus also called him by name. In the Bible, knowing one’s name means knowing the whole person and inner character. When Jesus called Zacchaeus by his name, this means that that Jesus knew Zacchaeus personally.. Jesus knew his life problem as well as his earnest spiritual desire and  Jesus understood him deeply. Jesus understood him  that he had done his best to be a good man. But in the course of living in the world he became lost.

          What then did Jesus do for him? Jesus invited himself to Zacchaeus’ house. Jesus said, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.”  Nobody wanted to invite Zacchaeus or to be invited by him. Everyone hated him. But Jesus invited himself to Zacchaeus’ house. Actually he wanted to invite  Zacchaeus to his house but as we know Jesus did not have his own house on earth. So Jesus invited himself to Zacchaeus’ house so that he could have a fellowship with him. Jesus is God. As God, Jesus is worthy of all honor and praise from men. But now he came to the world to seek and to find Zacchaeus. This Jesus is full of grace and truth.  Jesus loves each of us too. He also wants to invite us to his kingdom. In  Revelation 3:20, Jesus says, “Here I am I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and open the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.”

          What was Zacchaeus’ response to Jesus’ invitation? Look at verse 6. It says, “So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.” Zacchaeus’ heart was so much touched by Jesus’ love that he came down from the tree at once and welcomed Jesus gladly.  Probably at that moment he was crying because of Jesus’ marvelous grace upon his life. A sudden gush of tears was dropping from his eyes and Zacchaeus felt like he was dreaming because such an overwhelming joy in him. Bu when the people saw Jesus entering Zacchaeus’ house, they began to criticize him. They muttered, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.” To them, Zacchaeus’ house was not a place Jesus should have visited.  But see Zacchaeus!

          Look at verse 8. “But 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 have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.’”  Here we see Zacchaeus’ changed life in Jesus.  When he was touched by the beautiful love of Jesus, he was changed completely and began to sin a song of thanks:  “What a wonderful change in my life has been wrought since Jesus came into my heart! …. Since Jesus came into my heart. Since Jesus came into my heart….” What did Jesus say after he saw change in Zacchaeus’ heart?

          Look at verse 9. Jesus said to Zacchaeus who had repented his sins. “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham.”  Jesus proclaimed salvation to Zacchaeus.  In his word, Jesus said,  “Today”, this one word shows that our salvation is the salvation of the present, not the salvation of the past or the future. At the very moment Zacchaeus accepted Jesus as his Savior, all the elements of darkness disappeared from his heart and the life and the light of God came into his heart. Zacchaeus became a new person. Also from Jesus’ word “Today salvation has come to this house,…”, we learn that the moment Zacchaeus accepted Jesus as his Savior,  God’s salvation reached to all his family members. In the past he was a source of unhappiness for his family. But now in Jesus, he became a source of blessing for his family, not only for his family but for all the people of the world. 

          Look at verse 10. In this verse Jesus told the reason why he was so happy in seeing Zacchaeus’ changed life. He said, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”  Here Jesus proclaims the purpose of his coming. Why did Jesus has come to the world. Jesus came in order to seek and save what was lost. In this verse, the phrase, “what was lost” has deep meaning. When we see a Ph.D. or rich and powerful people, we do not think they are lost. To Jesus, however, all people are lost unless he or she does not live according to God’s truth. It is because these people do not know the true meaning and purpose of their lives. These people lost their true identity as God’s children and have become a wanderer like Cain in Genesis.  And Zacchaeus was one of them. Even though he had a secure job and a position as a chief tax collector and was wealthy. Jesus had compassion on his soul and helped him to be restored in God’s hope and image by finding him.

May God help us to serve many campus students on campus with Jesus’ love and compassion.

TO SEEK AND TO SAVE THE LOST

Luke 19:1-10                           

Key Verse: 19:10

“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”

1.   Read verses 1-4. Where was Jesus going? Who was Zacchaeus? What kind of man was he? Why did he want to see Jesus? What did he do in order to see Jesus? What does this tell us about him?

2.   Read verses 5-6. What did Jesus do when he reached the spot where Zacchaeus was sitting in the tree? What did he tell Zacchaeus to do?  What did he invite himself to do? How did Zacchaeus respond? What does this show about him?

3.   Read verse 7. How did the townspeople respond to Jesus’ plan to go to the home of Zacchaeus? Why did they grumble? What does this tell us about Jesus? About the townspeople?

4.   Read verse 8. When Jesus came to his house, what new decision did Zacchaeus make? Why?

5.   Read verses 9-10. How did Jesus respond to Zacchaeus’ repentance? Why did Jesus call him a son of Abraham? What does Jesus teach about himself? What does this mean to us?