KNOW: SINNERS

THE PRAYER      

• Find a quiet space.      
• Breathe deeply and recognise God with you in this moment.      
• When you are ready, speak to God about this time together.      
• After you've finished praying, go through the following passage a few times slowly and thoughtfully (preferably out loud).  
• Allow God to meet you in these words.

The Lord helps the fallen and lifts those bent beneath their loads. The eyes of all look to you in hope; you give them their food as they need it. When you open your hand, you satisfy the hunger and thirst of every living thing. The Lord is righteous in everything he does; he is filled with kindness. The Lord is close to all who call on him, yes, to all who call on him in truth. Psalm 145:14-18 (NLT)

THE FIRST READING

Read this passage slowly (preferably out loud) as you allow God to meet you in these words. Pay attention to anything God might be saying as you do.

He entered Jericho and was passing through. And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” 8 And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” Luke 19:1-10 (ESV)

RESPONSE

Take some time to respond (write down, draw, pray, etc.) to God’s prompting in the first reading of the passage. What is he highlighting and saying to you through this?

THE SECOND READING

Read the passage again (slowly and preferably out loud) through the “lens” of what The Spirit highlighted in the first reading. Listen for anything else the Spirit might be saying.

He entered Jericho and was passing through. And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” 8 And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” Luke 19:1-10 (ESV)

THE REFLECTION

Who called you that?

“Liar,” “loser,” “least likely to make it." What voices ring out from your past and settle over your heart like a wet blanket? What about those that rise up from within you pointing smug fingers at every vulnerability you’ve tried to push into the shadows?

Zacchaeus understood these voices. We know that. We’ve seen him lingering on the edges of the crowd. We’ve heard him rejoicing as love sat down at his “God-forsaken” table.

We know that Zacchaeus felt the weight of rejection, but what about the Pharisees? I wonder what hid behind their high walls of judgmental condemnation. I wonder what shame they stuffed tight into the sealed-up box of their own religiosity. I wonder if calling out the sinners around them was a way of denying the sinner within them.

In truth, we probably don’t have to wonder too much about these things. We’re all just a little more Pharisee than we would like to admit. It’s one of the ways we try to make ourselves feel better about all that we are not. How often have you found yourself standing at a safe distance from “them”- whoever “they” may be, just a little more secure in your perceived superiority? Carry no shame around this, because it won’t get you very far on your journey into love. However, do recognise that this heart posture of “us” and “them”, Tax-collector and Pharisee, the worthy and worthless, is as old as time and poisonous as arsenic for those wanting to live like Jesus.

Jesus comes for sinners, not because that is his preference, but because he knows what we deny: sinners are all there is. As is so common in Jesus’ paradoxical kingdom, it is only when we accept our deep need for healing, when we acknowledge our sickness of sin, that the great physician can make us well.

He is the only one who can. 

None of our self-salvation projects will give us the new heart we so desperately need. This is why Paul so emphatically reminds us that we are the workmanship of Jesus. Our new life is a product of his grace, not our work, so that no one can boast. The more we plant ourselves in this reality, the more we are able to join Jesus at the table of those who so desperately need his love, instead of judging them from a safe, self-righteous distance. The more we truly apprehend the grace of God, the more we become human.

Whose table is Jesus inviting you to join him at today? How will you respond to that invitation?