Today salvation has come to this house

 This week's verses are Luke 19:1-10:

Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. And there was a man called by the name of Zaccheus; he was a chief tax collector and he was rich. Zaccheus was trying to see who Jesus was, and he was unable due to the crowd, because he was short in stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up a sycamore tree in order to see Him, because He was about to pass through that way. And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and said to him, “Zaccheus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house.” And he hurried and came down, and received Him joyfully. When the people saw this, they all began to complain, saying, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner!” But Zaccheus stopped and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I am giving to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone, I am giving back four times as much.” And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

These are beautiful verses.

Zaccheus is a traitor to his people. And when I say "traitor" I don't mean it in some abstract sense, but literally a traitor. He was giving aid and comfort to the enemy. He was an influencer for the enemy's agenda, like Jane Fonda or the American Taliban. He was like one of those prison camp Kapos in Nazi Germany, a Jew who turned on his own people in order to squeeze out a better life for himself at their expense. It was a completely despicable existence.

Jesus sees him and calls him. And not just a call, like the sandwich-board preachers call a man: "Hey you brazen hussies! Fornicators! Sinners in danger of burning in eternal hellfire! Turn now or you will be damned forever! Our church meets in the old gas station down the street." Nothing like that. Instead it's the call of a friend. "Hey there, Zaccheus. Wanna grab dinner later?"

People complain. I mean, what would you think? A famous preacher comes to town, and instead of coming to eat with the church people, he's got plans later with the local drug kingpin, the guy who has ruined the kids in the local school, the guy selling the drugs that turn the local girls to prostitution, that make the young men turn on each other and kill their own, the guy whose foot-soldiers are shaking you and your family down for money or else. Zaccheus was basically that guy to them.

But surprise, Zaccheus goes out of his way to put things right. He shows the fruit of repentance! Did Jesus' invitation change who he was? Or was he there in the tree, hoping to find a way out of the lifestyle of sin and betrayal he'd gotten caught up in? Maybe Jesus extended the call because he saw his heart and knew he was ready to make a move. We don't really know. We see who Zaccheus was, we see his encounter with Jesus, and we see who he was afterwards.

With all of this unfolding in front of them, Jesus explains that he came to seek and save that which was lost. He was looking for folks like Zaccheus, people who had lost their way from the path of righteousness. And not looking for them like the hero in an action flick looks for the people he is hunting down for justice. Jesus looks for the lost causes in order to save them.

Zaccheus had not only lost his righteousness but also his sense of belonging. He was trapped on the outside of God's kingdom but also trapped on the outside of his community. When you're a pariah, it's hard to get rid of the stink, even if you make some efforts to change your ways. It's one of the reasons criminals go back to doing crimes. "Oh, I see you have a record. Um, yeah you're not welcome here. Nobody who does that is welcome here. That's disgusting."

When Jesus calls him, it's not a call of condemnation but of reconciliation. Salvation is renovation. When you buy a house and fix it up, that door that hasn't worked in fifty years gets replaced with one that does. The man of shame becomes a man of honor. The no-good dirty thief becomes a generous advocate of justice.

Jesus says of Zaccheus (and of us) "He too is a son of Abraham." In other words, we are accepted into God's kingdom and inherit the blessings promised as part of his covenant with Abraham. We were lost from that kingdom, and that option was lost to us. But now it's back on the table. When Jesus calls Zaccheus, it's like none of the bad things he did ever happened. He gets a chance to be the man he could have been.

Do we wake up in the morning to seek and save that which was lost? Do we even occasionally see people and their circumstances through that lens? Is what is on their "permanent record" really permanent? Or can we hear their heart beating when they're looking to make their escape? Do we ourselves even know what was lost to those around us? Do we feel God's sense of loss in watching his loved ones sleepwalk their way to eternal damnation?

If we're following Jesus, we should be also looking to seek and to save that which was lost. Meditate a bit on these verses this week and see what God says to you. If you point your eyes towards heaven, maybe you'll see poor Zaccheus in the tree, heart pounding, trying to find his way to freedom.