Are You Willing?

I’ve been reading through the book of Luke this month – one chapter per day.  When I got to the story about Zacchaeus, one that I’m very familiar with, I saw some things that I’d never paid that much attention to before; and, some things I looked at differently.  This is Luke 19:1-10 (ERV):

“Jesus was going through the city of Jericho. In Jericho there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a wealthy, very important tax collector. He wanted to see who Jesus was. There were many others who wanted to see Jesus too. Zacchaeus was too short to see above the people. So he ran to a place where he knew Jesus would come. Then he climbed a sycamore tree so he could see him.  When Jesus came to where Zacchaeus was, he looked up and saw him in the tree. Jesus said, ‘Zacchaeus, hurry! Come down! I must stay at your house today.’  Zacchaeus hurried and came down. He was happy to have Jesus in his house. Everyone saw this. They began to complain, ‘Look at the kind of man Jesus is staying with. Zacchaeus is a sinner!’  Zacchaeus said to the Lord, ‘I want to do good. I will give half of my money to the poor. If I have cheated anyone, I will pay them back four times more.’ Jesus said, ‘Today is the day for this family to be saved from sin. Yes, even this tax collector is one of God’s chosen people. The Son of Man came to find lost people and save them.’”

So what are my new ”revelations” from this story? 

First, Zacchaeus “wanted to see who Jesus was” – he REALLY wanted to see who Jesus was.  Because of his short stature, he couldn’t get a glimpse over the large crowd. So what did he do?  He ran ahead of the crowd “to a place where he knew Jesus would come.”  

Instead of just giving up, which would’ve been the easy thing to do, Zac thought ahead.  Maybe he had already done his homework and mapped out the route Jesus would be taking.  To make certain he didn’t face the same issues that he had further back on the road, he climbed up into a tree to have a good view of this man named Jesus as He passed by.  His effort paid off, because Jesus noticed Zac, called him down and invited Himself to his home for the day!  I can just picture in my mind Zac standing there before Jesus looking astonished – looking around behind himself to see who Jesus was really speaking to – then pointing at himself and asking “Are you talking to me?”  I’m sure he was very happy to have Jesus in his house!

Next, you have the large crowd that observed all this interaction between Jesus & Zac.  Then,  acting all sanctimonious – complaining (I’m sure loudly) – they proclaimed Zac as a sinner!  

Oh my!  That large crowd obviously wasn’t looking at Zac through the eyes of Jesus; and, had apparently forgotten all about that casting the first stone stuff.  In this scenario I can picture Zac looking back and forth from the crowd to Jesus, wondering if after hearing their proclamation that Jesus would change His mind about spending time with him in his home.  But doing what Jesus did best, He recognized what was in Zac’s heart and wasn’t swayed by the crowd.

Then, Zac told Jesus that he wanted to do good and he was obviously willing to do whatever it took to set right things in his world.  He said:  “I will give half of my money to the poor.”   Then realizing how he had wronged people, he added:  “I will pay them back four times more.”  Jesus then declared Zac’s family was saved and that Zac was “one of God’s chosen people.”  

I had to wonder how the crowd reacted to all of those bold declarations that Zac made – were they amazed and excited that they might be getting some of their wrongly taken money back from him?  Or, were they possibly giving each other dubious side-glances doubting they’d ever see a penny once Jesus was no longer on the scene?  We don’t know whether or not Zac did follow-up or not.  But, I would venture to say that after an encounter like he had with Jesus and being declared one of God’s chosen, that he did exactly as he said.        

Lastly,  Jesus stated what should’ve been obvious to everyone that encountered Him –“The Son of Man came to find lost people and save them.”

Jesus passed that mantle of finding the lost and bringing them to salvation onto His disciples.  They then passed it on to all of us.  It’s our responsibility as Christ followers to reach out to others as Jesus did to Zacchaeus.  He knew Zac was a sinner, that he had grown wealthy off the back of others.  But He also knew that he was a chosen one – worthy to be saved, just as we all are.       

In just a few days it will be the start of another new year.  I personally don’t do “New Year’s Resolutions,” but I do try to set some goals for myself.  This year, I’m going to work on these things:  (1)  I want to do what it takes to fully know who Jesus REALLY is.  (2)  I want to continue my daily time meeting with Him, having a regular time to study His Word and speaking to Him in prayer.  (3)  I need to stay cognizant of the obvious fact that I am a sinner and do not have the right to point fingers at anyone else.  It’s easy to think someone else’s sins are worse than my sins, but plainly stated – sin is sin!  (4)  As my pastor says, we should all fill our pulpit.  We have the opportunity to be a shining example to others and to talk to others that we might introduce them to our Savior.  I need to diligently work on this.

Maybe you too need to adopt some or all of those goals – maybe you have other goals that should be added to this list.  Let’s all try to make 2025 a stellar year for seeing the lost get saved.  

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Written by Karran Martin – December 21, 2024

[All bold emphasis is mine]