Jesus

Luke 19:5-8 (ESV)

And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, ‘Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.’ So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all grumbled, ‘He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.’ And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, ‘Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.’

A good friend of mine who recently gave his life to Jesus said to me that it feels like he has only just been born because Jesus has totally changed the way he thinks and how he sees life. We see the same thing happening in this story: when you meet with the real Jesus you are changed completely. This is what Jesus was meaning when he said to another seeker, Nicodemus, 'You must be born again' (John 3:7). In other words, you must undergo a complete change so that what you were before feels like a different life. 

Zacchaeus was really not a nice man; he had stolen from his own people. When I think about this, I understand where people's hostility towards him was coming from - he was ‘defrauding’ his community. I wouldn’t particularly like him either. Yet Jesus tells him to hurry down because Jesus is desperate to know him - just as he is desperate to know us. 

Let this story remind you today that no matter what you’ve done or where you've come from, the only thing that will change you today and this week - and forever - is being with Jesus, just as it was for Zacchaeus. His being with Jesus caused him to give away so much, and completely changed him and his life. I want Jesus to change me.

Today, let’s allow the Spirit of Jesus to transform us. Receive his grace and his Spirit, and as we do that, he will make us more generous, selfless and loving in everything we do. 

Prayer — Jesus, please change me like you changed Zachaeus.