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We All Need Salvation: Zacchaeus ~ a tax collector (Luke 19:1-10)
| Bro Sylvester Tembo (Mzuzu, Malawi)
I
n those days it was reckoned tax collectors
were deceitful men because many would
cheat in their business dealings. They could
overcharge taxes from people in any way
they wanted, so it is no wonder they were
well-to-do people, but sinful.
Zacchaeus, I am sure, had heard about Jesus
and he was very anxious to see who he was,
but he had a problem - he was a
short man and the crowd
following Jesus was so
large. To solve his
problem he had to
find out the exact
way Jesus was
going to pass at a
particular time -
which he did. He
then decided to
climb a sycamore
tree which was along
the way. Jesus and
those following him
reached the place and, to the
surprise of everyone, Jesus called
Zacchaeus to come down immediately. ?I
must stay at your house today? , he
said. Straightway Zacchaeus came down and
welcomed Jesus gladly.
But the people?s reaction was a different
one. They did not like to see Jesus with a
sinner. However, Zacchaeus was so happy to
have a rare visitor in his house. To show his
gratitude he offered half of his possessions to
the poor and also promised to repay anyone
he had cheated four times the amount.
Following that, Jesus told him that salvation
was in his house. In Luke 19:10 we are told
the reason Jesus had come to the world - to
seek and save what was lost.
Generally man is lost. In Romans 3:23 we
read, ?For all have sinned and fallen short of
the glory of God? . Also in Isaiah 59:2, ?But
your iniquities have separated you from your
God; your sins have hidden his face from you,
so that he will not hear?.Man is born a sinner
and it is in this sense that all men are lost.
Therefore all men need salvation; without it
they remain alienated from their Creator.
The fact is that God is a holy God, He cannot
be where there is sin. But despite that, God
loves. In John 3:16 we read, ?For God so
loved the world (men), that He gave His one
and only son, that whoever believes in him
shall not perish, but have
eternal life?.
Therefore to have
eternal life a man
has to associate
himself with
Jesus. ?For the
wages of sin is
death, but the
gift of God is
eternal life in
Christ Jesus our
Lord? (Romans 6:23).
With our nature, death is
before us, but God gave us
hope of life eternal through Jesus.
Should we lose this great opportunity because
of our laziness? It is up to each one of us to
check our personal relationship with Jesus.
Our fellow friend Zacchaeus obtained his
hope by:
(1) Realising he was a sinner
(2) Knowing the person who could help him
(3) Having faith
We are no better than Zacchaeus: we all need
salvation to enter God?s eternal kingdom
which is soon to come when Jesus will be
king. But first of all we must associate
ourselves with the promised seed of Abraham
and David which is by baptism into Jesus, the
seed. When we are dipped in water we die to
sin, and when brought out of water we live by
faith in Jesus.