Anyone who has climbed a tree? How long have you do not climb a tree?Usually, children climb trees. Few adults usually do that. Do when they are desperate, or when in leisure time or reliving their childhood. Luke 19:1-10
Today salvation has come to (V, 9). The Gospel of Jesus Christ comes down to proclaim that Jesus Christ came to seek and save what was lost.The day that salvation came into our homes, or day that salvation will come in your house will be a day that marks the history of their lives.
Jesus makes reference to that: "This man (Zacchaeus) is also the son of Abraham. This is fantastic! A man hitherto sinner has a new life.
In this context, salvation refers to inner health, salvation of the soul. He is the son of Abraham. The blessings of the covenant God made with Abraham and those who called themselves "children of Abraham" (Gal. 3:7). Salvation came in the house of Zacchaeus not by the blood he had inherited, but because of his faith.
Change of Life (V.8). Zacchaeus had something popularly called "change of life." Look at some of his words:
"I'm giving half of my possessions to the poor." "If the cheated anybody out of anything, I restore fourfold."
He decided to give half his possessions to the poor, and did not try to keep the other part, but it uses the rest to do good (or repair what he had done.
Zacchaeus knew who he "should". We can clearly see that even though he has a second life that was not what God had taught, he was willing to try, and with that comes a challenge:
Winning people (V.7): The people saw this and began to complain. Often this is so, we hear that someone is in the church and soon after heard anything bad about her: "He was a thief and is now in the church." The bad thing is that when they speak directly to the person: "You're in the church to steal it?" As in the story of Zacchaeus, many people have been converted and restored many of them have their way of living to please God.
The people are a barrier to be overcome. In other stories we see that the people (crowd) was on the way and often hindered the search for what people were doing.
Zacchaeus was determined to see Jesus, and nothing stopped him (vs. 3 and 4). For him, mingling with the crowd was something that required courage. What we were and in some cases still are, hinders us to be like Zacchaeus. If we think: "If I change, my friends and relatives think of me?" We run the risk of never truly we change.
In Jesus, Zacchaeus met a new friend. And we also found a friend in Christ, and that can change our lives.
