For the committed Christian, each day of our lives should be spent seeking Jesus, not in some perfunctory or habitual way, but with a sincere desire to replicate His complete pattern for our lives. In all of our seeking, we will never cease to find new ways to serve Him more fully.
We should position our lives in order to see Jesus every day, when witnessing to others we should allow the Sprit of the Lord to flow through us so others can see the power of Jesus in us and hear the power of the gospel in our words, and not be concerned about others seeing us.
Zacchaeus was a sinful man converted and should stir up hope in every heart that truly sense a need and wants to meet God for him/herself.
Zaccaeus was a chief tax collectorand a very ricjh man during Jesus days. Yet, in spite of all his wealth, which afforded him great financial security, he was desperate to see Jesus... so desperate that because of his short statue, he climbed in a sycamore tree just a see Jesus as He was coming into town.
This is such a beautful story as how Zaccaeus with all his wealth and comopfrts, humbled himself and was determined to get a glimps of Jesus because he had heard all about the good things Jesus had done. Zacchaeus is our perfect axample. He was despaerate to see Jesus, so he struggled against all the odds and found a place where he coould see Him, he climb up in a tree...
And as Jesus was passing by the tree, he called out to Zacchaeus, saysing, "Zacchaeus, come down in a hurry, because tonight I must saty at your house."
Jesus wants to call every one of us by our name, but we must first let him. We must first seek to find a place where we can see Jesus, then Jesus will see us and call out our names.
Jesus went to Zacchaeus house for dinner, repented of his sins, and was converted, and his whole life changed.
The crowd around Zacchaeus demonstrated self-righteousness. They did not like Jesus eating and associating with a known and confessed sinner as Zacchaeus. They murmured and grumbled and complained, which was committing the same sins that Israel had been guilty of in the wilderness. They misunderstaood Jesus' purpose fpr coming to earth.
Zacchaeus changed his life arounf by accepting Jesus into his life and turned from his sinful life to God and His ways of righteousness. It is recorded that he gave half of everything he owned to the poor. He did exactly what Jesus had taught..."If any man (person) come after Me, let this man(person) deny him/herslef and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whosoever will save his/her life will lose it... but whosoever will lose his/her life for My sake this same person will save it. For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose him/herslef, or be cast away." Luke chpater 9:23-25.
Only after Zacchaeus sought after Jesus and received Him, did Jesus save him...
I get a different lesson from this story: They didn't TV, Internet or theme parks back in the day of Jesus. Therefore seeing a celebrity like Jesus was definitely on the days agenda of things to do. Zac was a short guy, unable to see over the crowd so he went on ahead and climbed a tree so he could see when Jesus passed by. Jesus looked up and called him by name and invited himself to Zac's house.
So allow me to ask the reader; 'Who sought out who'?
It was Jesus who sought out Zac, just as Scripture teaches, Jesus came to save sinners, not the righteous.
Firstly, I would like to say that I wrote Luke chpater 9, instead of Luke chapter 19: 1-10... usual typos...LOL
Thank you two for your response, but you're incorrect in your information, Zac sought out Jesus, Jesus did not go in search of him...
This is what we are told from God's word:
Luke 19:1-10:
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 statue. So he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree TO SEE JESUS , for He was going to pass that way.
And when Jesus came to the place, HE LOOKED UP AND SAW HIM (ZAC), and said to him, "Zacchaeus, make haste and come down for today I must stay at your house." So Zac made haste and came down, and RECEIVED Jesus joyfully.
But when the crowd saw this, they all murmured, saying "He (Jesus) has gone to be a guest with a man who is a sinner."
Then Zac 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."
Adn Jesus said to him, "Today salavtion has come to this house, becaseu he (Zac) is also a son of Abraham, for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost."
Jesus seeks or desires to save those who cannot save themselves, and uit was God's divine plan for Jesus to come Zac's way so that repentance and salvation might take place.
You know ET, all I said is I get a different message from this story. I never said you had "incorrect information". However since you choose to argue and declare me wrong, allow me to point out that your own words betray you:
Copied and pasted from your post : "And HE SOUGHT TO SEE WHO JESUS WAS,"
Ummm...ET, Zac didn't even know who Jesus was, guess you missed that?
Also in your post : "for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost."
Opps!
ET, you are not arguing with me, but with the Bible.
Bahira, thank you, these are Sunday School Lessons, I have used, they are usually long, but I have made them shorter for teaching classes. There are serveral teachings on servants God used in the New Testament, don't know who wrote them, but I have used some of my own words to break them down for people to better understand...
I believe when we read this by breezing through,we can miss a lot that is going on.
Luk 19:3 And he sought to see Jesus who he was;
Zac,had no idea who Christ was.
The word for sought could also imply demanded, Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the publicans, and he was rich.
Maybe Zac. pridefully thought that his position demanded his knowing who Christ was.
Maybe Zac.had an attitude for being short in stature.
Luk 19:3 And he sought to see Jesus who he was; and could not for the press, because he was little of stature.
Let's see Christs attitude towards Zac.
Luk 19:5 And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up, and saw him, and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for to day I must abide at thy house.
To Christ it was of importance for Him to stay at Zacs house,even though Zac was a turncoat against his own people.
Remember Zac.was working for the Roman authorities collecting taxes,and at the same time extracting more then necessary so that he could gain from the misfortune of the people being under Roman rule.
Now the attitdue of the people towards Christ and Zac.
Luk 19:7 And when they saw it, they all murmured, saying, That he was gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner.
The people calling Zac.a sinner,yet not realizing their own position before GOD.
The pot was calling the kettle black.
Now Zacs.reaction/action and attitude.
Luk 19:8 And Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord; Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.
Restoration,Zac.was doing as the Scriptures had stated to be doing.
Exo 22:1 If a man shall steal an ox, or a sheep, and kill it, or sell it; he shall restore five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep.
The purpose of Christ entering into this life/dimension.
Luk 19:10 For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.
There is more,yet this is what i have been given from this Scripture.
Thank you POIC, for your correct observation of this encounter and recap of what I had written.
Being that Jesus was known thoughout the region, the Bible tells us that He had fame and favor with the people and many sought to see Him in person. And although people had not seen Him in person, but had HEARD about Him... one would know that Zac had heard about Jesus and all the miracles He was doing in the region therefore, he was curious to see who Jesus was. Even Herod had heard about Jesus and desired to meet Him.
Therefore, when the crowd was gathering and Zac knew that Jesus was coming to Jericho, we are told that he sought, which only means he too wanted to see Jesus, and who He was along with everybody else.
And because the crowd was large, and he was short, he could not see over the crowd, so he ran ahead of the crowd and cilmb into a tree... no different if someone very famous came to your town and although you don't know the person, you would still seek an opportunity to see who this very famous person was that everybody was making a fuss over. And you would no doubt, try to get the best spot or seat you could find to get a close up look at the person... as do many people do today, they camp out to be the first in line, or search out the best spot to get a glimps of a famous person...
Zac was curious and desired to see who Jesus was...becasue of Jesus' known reputation in the region.
And yes, Jesus comes to seek, which mean God provides open opportunity to make known to us who Jesus is, and makes it possible for everyone who is interested in knowing who Jesus is and knowing Him, or desires, or is curious to know who He is, or to know more about Him available... and this is what happened with Zac, he responded to the opportunity God had provided.
