The Son of Man Came to Seek and Save the Lost

Can God actually save someone I've already written off?

Jesus picks the man the whole town had ranked last. Zacchius ran the tax franchise, took a cut of everyone else's taking, and was the name people said with a sneer, and Jesus stops under his tree and calls him by name. The crowd outside the house mutters that the wrong man got picked.

He entered and was passing through Jericho. There was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was, and couldn’t because of the crowd, because he was short. He ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was going to pass that way. When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and saw him, and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house.” He hurried, came down, and received him joyfully. When they saw it, they all murmured, saying, “He has gone in to lodge with a man who is a sinner.” Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, half of my goods I give to the poor. If I have wrongfully exacted anything of anyone, I restore four times as much.” Jesus said to him, “Today, salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost.”

Luke 19:1–10

Those who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?” But he said, “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.”

Luke 18:26–27

The saying is faithful and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.

1 Timothy 1:15

Why do I keep putting off the thing I know I should do today?

Jesus says he must stay at Zacchius's house today, not next week. The sermon pointed to the shut door of the ark and the shut door at the wedding, and to the way Zacchius could have answered with a list of things to do first. The day of salvation is spoken in the present tense.

When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and saw him, and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house.” He hurried, came down, and received him joyfully.

Luke 19:5–6

Those who went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God commanded him; then Yahweh shut him in.

Genesis 7:16

While they went away to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast, and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins also came, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us.’ But he answered, ‘Most certainly I tell you, I don’t know you.’ Watch therefore, for you don’t know the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.

Matthew 25:10–13

Working together, we entreat also that you do not receive the grace of God in vain. For he says, “At an acceptable time I listened to you. In a day of salvation I helped you.” Behold, now is the acceptable time. Behold, now is the day of salvation.

2 Corinthians 6:1–2

If Jesus has really changed me, what should it look like on the outside?

Zacchius does not stay seated. He stands up at the table and starts talking about half his money and fourfold repayments, and the sermon called it the fruit John the Baptist demanded. The change inside shows up in his ledger.

Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, half of my goods I give to the poor. If I have wrongfully exacted anything of anyone, I restore four times as much.”

Luke 19:8

Therefore produce fruits worthy of repentance, and don’t begin to say among yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father;’ for I tell you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones!

Luke 3:8

Jesus said to him, “Today, salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost.”

Luke 19:9–10

Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead in itself. Yes, a man will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without works, and I will show you my faith by my works.

James 2:17–18

Do I still see myself as lost, or have I started looking down on the people who are?

The sermon turned the crowd's muttering into a mirror. The pastor said he brings no pedigree, no church attendance, no catechism, no ministry years, only the fact that he was lost and got found. The people outside Zacchius's house thought their résumé made them the obvious choice.

When they saw it, they all murmured, saying, “He has gone in to lodge with a man who is a sinner.”

Luke 19:7

Jesus answered them, “Those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but those who are sick do. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

Luke 5:31–32

The saying is faithful and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. However, for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first, Jesus Christ might display all his patience for an example of those who were going to believe in him for eternal life.

1 Timothy 1:15–16

As it is written, “There is no one righteous; no, not one. There is no one who understands. There is no one who seeks after God. They have all turned away. They have together become unprofitable. There is no one who does good, no, not so much as one.”

Romans 3:10–12

Who around me is lost, and when did I last actually go looking?

The sermon said seek is an active word, and that Jesus did not seek the world by staying in heaven. It asked how much of the week gets spent seeking the lost and how much just filling the saved. The pastor named the desk next to him and the lunch every day as the field.

For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost.”

Luke 19:10

“Which of you men, if you had one hundred sheep and lost one of them, wouldn’t leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that was lost, until he found it? When he has found it, he carries it on his shoulders, rejoicing. When he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ I tell you that even so there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, than over ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance.

Luke 15:4–7

Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest indeed is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Pray therefore that the Lord of the harvest will send out laborers into his harvest.”

Matthew 9:37–38

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You will be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth.”

Acts 1:8