“Then Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. Now behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not because of the crowd, for he was of short stature. So he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Him, for He was going to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and saw him, and said to him, “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house.” So he made haste and came down, and received Him joyfully. But when they saw it, they all complained, saying, “He has gone to be a guest with a man who is a sinner.” Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold.” And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham; for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.””
Luke 19:1-10 NKJV
Heres a story about a tax collector named Zacchaeus. In biblical times, tax collectors were despised and considered to be some of the worst sinners, selfishly making money from whoever they wanted. It says in Luke 19 that Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus when He came to town, so he climbed a tree because he was really short and couldn’t see over the gathering crowd. Jesus saw Zacchaeus and told him to come down from the tree and said “I will stay at your house today.” Zacchaeus encountered Jesus' kindness and later in this story, Zacchaeus says he will pay back four times the amount that has been taken from being a tax collector! Jesus replies, 'salvation has come to this house, for the son of man came to seek and save the lost!'
As Christians we are called to be like Christ. We are called to love, forgive and accept those who are lost. We are called to leave no one behind, just like Jesus did to Zacchaeus! For many of us, it would have been so easy to overlook Zacchaeus (literally and socially) but Jesus shows us a great example of how we can make sure no one gets left behind - even the most unpopular person. Let’s move towards those who need the love of Jesus the most, even if they don’t stand out from the crowd.
Prayer:
God, thank You for the kindness You always show me. I pray that Your Holy Spirit would reveal to me how I can show kindness to someone this week.
Amen
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