Luke 19 : 1 - 10
My wife and I do a lot of work with people that are homeless or close to it. I get people asking me all the time, why even bother with those kind of people? Most of them are unreachable anyway.
Are there really people in our society today that we deem as unreachable? Maybe it's the politicians and the people in charge that govern our society. Maybe it's that 1%, the extremely wealthy, maybe they are unreachable. Maybe it's that homeless drug addict that comes to our community meals, they can't beat their addiction because they don't have health insurance, or anyone who can help them. Maybe it's them, maybe they are the ones that are unreachable.
I'm going to take us back to a familiar story about someone who was deemed unreachable. Yet, he was reached with what I like to call, Love Jesus Style.
Most, if not all of the people that day in Jericho had probably assumed that Zacchaeus could never be reached, but I think the truth of it all is that no one wanted to reach out. They hated him, he represented everything that they despised about Rome. He worked for their oppressors, raising the already heavy tax burden to make himself wealthy. Zacchaeus was a traitor to his people and his faith, he was not even consider a Jew any longer, he was seen as unreachable.
There are people in this world who might seem unreachable, people that we think our efforts are waste on, and that our words fall on deaf ears. Maybe we feel like giving up on them, that we can't reach them. But we need to remember that there are people who need to be reached, and we may be the one whom God has chosen to reach them. There are people you come into contact with every day that need that love of Jesus, that Love Jesus Style.
There are times that we write people off, thinking that there is no way that Jesus could ever reach them. We place a stamp on their life that says unreachable, and we just write them off. When we do this, it puts limitations on the power and grace of Jesus Christ, when there are no limits. Whom do we think is beyond hope of coming to Christ?
Is the alcoholic neighbor that you see stagger home drunk every night? Maybe it's that convict sitting, waiting to die on death row. Maybe it's that friend or family member that mocks your faith. Who is too far gone for the grace of Jesus?
There is no addict that is too far into drugs, there is no thief that has been a criminal for too long, because there is no sinner to far lost in sin. There is not one person too far gone that Jesus can't reach them, there is no one beyond the grip of His grace. I think we see people as unreachable, because we really don't want to reach them.
I think if we are honest with ourselves, we aren't much different than Zacchaeus. I mean, we have all done things that have displeased God, and some of us have done it for most of our lives. We don't have to steal from people though, to displease God. We often act like that crowd surrounding Jesus. I once saw a quote somewhere that said, "Christianity would be easy without the people in the church." Why? Because we act more like the crowd than like Christ.
The mission of Jesus is pure and simple, and a lot of times, we make it harder than it should be. Jesus came to seek and save that which is lost. Jesus sought out Zacchaeus that day, and the question is why?
Jesus was headed to Jerusalem to die for our sins, He came to die for our failures, our sins, and our mistakes. You see, Jesus sought out Zacchaeus that day because he was outside the faith, and Jesus is using us today, to seek out those who don't know the love of Jesus Christ, that Love Jesus Style.
Zacchaeus was changed that day because of his encounter with Jesus, and people are changed today when they come face to face with the love of Jesus Christ, our Risen Savior. People are changed when they encounter genuine faith that is shown through genuine compassion and love for the lost. People are changed when they see the Love Jesus Style flowing through us, His church.
Our mission is simple, we are here to reach out to those that the world has deemed unreachable. we are here to spread the love and mercy of Jesus Christ to those who are lost. It's so simple, it's like one homeless person showing another homeless where to find something to eat. That brothers and sisters is Love Jesus Style.
Every person is seen by Jesus, he ignores no one. Jesus sees the lost people, and what they will become as a result of His love and grace, even the ones we deem as unreachable.
Jesus sees everyone as valuable, because He loves us more than we could ever imagine. I think it says somewhere in Luke that there is more rejoicing in Heaven when a lost person is found, than for 99 righteous people who do not need to repent. I think that puts a pretty high value on them, doesn't it?
People are so important to Jesus, that He would die for them. Every person that we come into contact with in our daily lives, matters to Jesus, and they should matter to us as well. We look at the outside, but Jesus looks at the heart. We look where they are, and Jesus looks at where they could be.
You know what that is? That's Love Jesus Style. Peace....
Amen
