Jesus, a friend to the sinners

Jesus, a friend to sinners

Luke 19:1–10 ESV

1 He entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. 3 And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. 4 So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. 5 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.” 6 So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. 7 And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” 8 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.” 9 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

It is one thing for us to reach out and show love to those whom society looks kindly on but it is quite another to show love and mercy towards people that other people deem as undeserving.

While all people need to know the love of Jesus the reaction from the crowd would have been very different had Jesus said to one of the Pharisees “today I must stay at your house”.

I find it interesting that while in other passages we see people taking exception to what Jesus said, here it is not so much what he said but who he was saying it to.

There was a great prejudice against Zacchaeus but people felt justified in their prejudice because they would have argued that he brought it on himself through the lifestyle that he chose.

When Jesus saw him though, Jesus saw beyond the lifestyle and even beyond the man that Zacchaeus currently was. But Jesus saw him as a lost sheep in need of a shepherd. Saw though all the exterior, the riches, the thieving, the accusations and simply offered a hand of friendship where no one else would.

I find it fascinating that Jesus never preached a sermon to Zaccheaus, in fact we are not told of anything that Jesus said to him except the request to stay at his house. Yet, in that moment Zacchaeus dropped that whole lifestyle and made a decision to honour God in all of his living and to put right his past wrongs.

Anyone can talk love and mercy but what turns lives around is the demonstration of it. Jesus was a friend to Zaccheaus when no one else was.

We have people like Zaccheaus around nowadays, people who are looked down on and receive very little compassion because people justify their prejudices by arguing that they have brought it on themselves or that their mess is there own fault etc. I am sure that Street Pastors minister every week to these kinds of people, whether it is people living rough on the streets, a drug addict or even the person that has drunk so much that they become incapacitated. All these people get criticized for bringing circumstances upon themselves and therefore to many they are ineligible for compassion.

To Zaccheaus words would have likely made little difference if any, he’s probably heard it all before. But the simplest demonstration of compassion from Jesus turned his whole life around in a moment.

Don’t underestimate the power of compassion, it can frequently have a greater impact than words and the simplest gesture of kindness can turn an entire life around to the glory of God.