“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” Luke 19:10
Yesterday we meditated upon Gods great Love. Today we meditate on to whom the great outpouring of the love is? As in today’s Verse, He mentions that this love is for those who consider themselves as sinners and not for the self-righteous. If we think we are good people or of high stature and any other earthly standard, we are not worthy of receiving the gift of Salvation.
Salvation in Jesus starts with us humbling ourselves as we look unto Jesus, with repentance & belief/trust in him.
In the first 10 verses we can observe a few key truths for ourselves. Jesus was talking to Zacchaeus when he stated the above.
v2: we see Zacchaeus as a chief tax collector, and he was rich. No matter what our earthly stature is, we need to know Jesus. Rich or Poor, Good or Bad, big or small, tall or short; no one gets Salvation because of their background/status etc.
v3,4: Zacchaeus was a man of short stature and couldn’t get a view of Jesus. We see here Zacchaeus was wanting to get to know Jesus and had to try various means to look/know him. In our lives also, we may face various hurdles to know Jesus, but we must PRESS ON.
v8: While fellowshipping with Jesus, Zacchaeus gave up his ill gained wealth in order to be with Jesus.
We must also not shy away from giving up many things in order to walk with Jesus. They may be cultures, customs etc.
v9: Jesus then confirms Salvation has come to his House.
So, in short, we can say, Zacchaeus identified himself as a SINNER, then was SEEKING for truth, SEVERS conformities of his past life & finally finds a SAVIOR.
The name Zacchaeus means “pure one.” This man was anything but pure – until he received Jesus!