Zacchaeus

Almost eveyone knows the story of Zacchaeus. In Luke 19 we get the narrative - Jesus comes walking to Jericho. There's this guy there - not just a tax collector but a chief tax collector. He's known as that - and for being rich. But there's something odd about him - being rich and infamous, he is still very curious about Jesus. We don't know why - but he is also one other thing that makes approaching Jesus difficult - he's short.

I can just picture the scene - Jesus is walking in with a crowd around him and in the background he sees this little midget of a man running on ahead, jumping up and down trying to get a view and finally climbing up in a tree for a bird's eye view.

So Jesus comes up under the tree and amazingly looks up at Zacchaeus and tells him that he's coming to lunch at this house. I don't remember anywhere else in the gospels that Jesus invites Himself over for a meal. Luke tells us that Zacchaeus hurries down and receives Him "joyfully."

Now - here's the part that I'm interested in today. Zacchaeus says to Jesus, apparently without prompting (except by the grumbles of those around him) that he has changed - that he is giving away half his goods to the poor and if he has cheated anyone (something tax collectors were known for) he would pay it back four times.

Then Jesus responds this way: "Today salvation has come to this house."

So my question is - did salvation come because Zacchaeus mended his ways? If that's the focus then Luke's gospel really is a social gospel - Jesus as the proverb giver who wants everyone to "go out there and care more." Certainly He wants that - but I got a different impression as I read the story.

I think that perhaps what Zacchaeus did was in response to his faith in Jesus. The actions followed the committment.

That's instructive for us too. When we come to Jesus we get a new nature - a changed character. First we realize how evil we really are, and how good Jesus is. When we commit our lives to Him He gives us from that good nature by making us like Him. It's that change of nature that causes a change of character and a change of action.

The idea isn't to change the world so that we change ourselves - but to let Jesus change us and we'll find ourselves changing the world!