Luke 19:1-10
1 Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. 3 He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd.4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.
5 When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.
7 All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”
8 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.”
9 Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
Through today’s bible study of Luke 19:1-10, I received a lot of grace from God.
First is about the first step of receiving salvation. It is the desire of Jesus Christ. I am very thankful that through this sermon, I could understand the heart and the situation of Zacchaeus. I deeply felt how precious the heart of desiring salvation is inside the tax collector:
He was short. He was a collector who collected money from his own people for the empire. And sometimes he may have even cheated others for his own gain. According to his situation, he was very lonely.
But the precious thing is that he still wanted to see Jesus Christ. How can Zacchaeus relate to us? Through this sermon, I could relate more to me. Nowadays, more and more people seek money, food, or some other things to satisfy themselves, including me. However, Zacchaeus is very honest with himself and chose to seek and look at Jesus Christ.
And even though he could not be like others crying loudly to Jesus Christ, he still had the precious desire. The Bible tells us that, when we have such desire, even we are afraid to cry loudly like others, He still can hear us and call us and live with us. I think this really helps me understand the love of God.
When listening to this point, I thought of my experience. Sometimes I am really in the situation of Zacchaeus. I may not be very wealthy like him, but I did have similar situations that limited me from crying loudly to our Lord. But I know now that I should have courage and confidence to come to the presence of our Lord. He never looks down on me. And when I have such desire, he will know and still live with me and give me his grace and peace.
And when he climbed a tree that can help him see from higher, the Bible records in Luke 19:5 that Jesus
looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.”
Through this sermon, I was touched by how our Lord Jesus Christ wants to live inside of us. Zacchaeus had the desire to see Jesus. But Jesus already desires to meet us and live inside of us. It means Jesus Christ wants to be with us. And this place can never be replaced by any other thing, like wealth, which Zacchaeus already possessed. For us, it is the same. This is what I want to meditate on more.
The last point that touched me is that we are the channel to help others see Jesus Christ. The last step of salvation is change. Changing my life. First is accepting Jesus, and when we accept, our lives change. At that time we should remember the heart of God. As Luke 19: 9-10 said, 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 the lost.”
We were the lost ones. But there are still many many lost ones. Jesus Christ comes and the reason is to seek the lost. Zacchaeus and I were once lost. But there are still many who are lost. Tonight when I called my younger brother, I felt sadness within me. I felt my heart crying. I really hope that he can know Jesus Christ. I know that it is the heart of God. It is from God. I hope God can help me know Jesus Christ deeper and deeper and let me be his channel of blessings and love forever so that my younger brothers and others who are around me can meet Jesus Christ earlier.
- Sophia Wang
Sophia is a Master of Divinity student in her second year, currently studying at the New York extension campus. This reflection was written after a group Bible Study.
