What Jesus didn’t do?
Luke’s gospel record this incident in the life of Jesus,
“Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy.
He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd.
So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.
When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today."
So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.
All the people saw this and began to mutter, "He has gone to be the guest of a ‘sinner.' "
But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, "Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount."
Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham.
For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost." Luke 19:1-10.
“For the Son of man has come to seek and save what was lost.” those are the words of Jesus not mine.
As Christians we must remember this statement. This is the reason Jesus came to this earth. In the gospel of John we read Jesus speaking of himself saying,
“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:17.
Zacchaeus was a tax collector. Tax collectors were considered among the worst of sinners at the time. They got their job by bidding on it. The one who bid the highest promising to get Rome the most money got the job. The tax collector then got his money by charging more than he promised Rome.
Jesus knew who Zacchaeus was. Yet look what he didn’t say to him,
Jesus did not tell Jesus to him to change his profession.
He did not tell him to change his lifestyle.
He did not tell him to give back any money he had stolen.
Yet Luke records,
“But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, "Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount." Luke 19:18.
That is the way it should be with Christians. We are not to judge anyone. Jesus did not Judge Zacchaeus yet he changed his ways.
Billy Graham the American evangelist wisely said,
Please think about it.
Luke’s gospel record this incident in the life of Jesus,
“Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy.
He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd.
So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.
When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today."
So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.
All the people saw this and began to mutter, "He has gone to be the guest of a ‘sinner.' "
But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, "Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount."
Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham.
For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost." Luke 19:1-10.
“For the Son of man has come to seek and save what was lost.” those are the words of Jesus not mine.
As Christians we must remember this statement. This is the reason Jesus came to this earth. In the gospel of John we read Jesus speaking of himself saying,
“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:17.
Zacchaeus was a tax collector. Tax collectors were considered among the worst of sinners at the time. They got their job by bidding on it. The one who bid the highest promising to get Rome the most money got the job. The tax collector then got his money by charging more than he promised Rome.
Jesus knew who Zacchaeus was. Yet look what he didn’t say to him,
Jesus did not tell Jesus to him to change his profession.
He did not tell him to change his lifestyle.
He did not tell him to give back any money he had stolen.
Yet Luke records,
“But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, "Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount." Luke 19:18.
That is the way it should be with Christians. We are not to judge anyone. Jesus did not Judge Zacchaeus yet he changed his ways.
Billy Graham the American evangelist wisely said,
“It is the Holy Spirits Job to Convict,
God’s job to judge
and my job to love,”
Billy Graham.
This is the way it should be with us. We should be looking past the sin in someone’s life and loving them as God loves them, unconditionally. For love, true love, is the only thing that will bring a person to Christ.Please think about it.
No comments:
Post a Comment