It’s that time of year when homeowners receive their final tax papers and fight back, um, less than warm-hearted feelings about them and the tax collector. Multiply that many times over and that’s how first century Jewish people would have viewed Zacchaeus. He isn’t by anyone’s standard an obvious first candidate for renewal. He’s not only a tax collector, but a chief one at that, most certainly despised by everyone around him.
 
But, as is so often the case, Jesus takes a different road and stops beneath the tree.
It’s easy to glide right past that small moment. Jesus sees the one everyone else has relegated to a category. What’s more, He calls him by name and goes to his house! In the presence of Jesus something happens no amount of public shame or ridicule could ever accomplish; Zacchaeus begins to loosen his grip. His profound greed gives way to generosity, his exploitation to restitution. Outward signs of a hardened life slowly begin to show the marks of a changed heart.

What we see here isn’t moralism. Jesus doesn’t stand in the street and demand Zacchaeus become worthy so He can draw near. No, Jesus seeks him out and draws near first, long before any change, lasting or not, has taken place. The resulting transformation is real, visible, and, to Zacchaeus, costly.
 
The promise of Ezekiel is taking shape before our very eyes. God’s renewal isn’t abstract. In Jesus, God walks into the lives of the lost, seeking them first, moving towards sinners. Not because sin doesn’t matter, but because saving sinners is His mission. He’s not here to improve reputations, He’s here to restore people from the inside out.
 
To follow the Way of Jesus means we stop believing anyone is beyond the reach of grace … including ourselves. It also means we learn to welcome the piercing nature of His presence. He hasn’t come to leave us unchanged, He’s come to save, restore, and renew the inward parts so they are outwardly visible in the way we live.

Where do you see yourself in this story? Are you hiding, curious, resistant, exposed, or ready to receive Jesus? How does Jesus’ pursuit of the lost help you to view people who seem unlikely to change as neighbors and prospective family rather than enemies?

Father, I’m so glad you sent Jesus to seek and save that which was lost. I know I still have places in which I hide … come near to those places and let your grace grant true repentance and visible renewal. Amen.