God of Mercy

Tom Barnard

ow merciful is God? How far will God go to seek and save the lost? Is there any limit to his love? No. Will he tear down all barriers to find lost people and win them to himself? Absolutely. Check out the story of Zacchaeus, the tax collector. It’s found in Luke, Chapter 19.

Zacchaeus not only collected taxes, but he was a chief tax collector. He was in charge of the tax collectors—in Jericho and possibly beyond. He and his gang of scoundrels had one major assignment: meet the demands of the Roman authorities—to whom they were accountable—by extorting sufficient money from their fellow Jews to meet Rome’s expectations. But they had a more important personal goal: to overcollect from the people so they could pocket the difference between what they collected and what they owed to Rome—insuring that they would be rich, powerful, and feared everywhere in Palestine.

 According to Luke’s record, Jesus had come to Jericho on his way to Jerusalem, where he would be arrested, tried, and crucified. This was the last time he would visit Jericho in his lifetime. (Zacch’s last chance for mercy). It was also in Jericho that blind Bartimaeus was healed. As Jesus (along with a huge crowd that followed him) was leaving Jericho, he spotted Zacchaeus sitting in a Sycamore tree along-side the road. Zacchaeus was short, and he had climbed the tree in order to get a better look at the healer from Nazareth. When Jesus reached the spot in the road by the Sycamore tree, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” So Zacchaeus climbed down and welcomed Jesus. The crowd was shocked. Some of them said, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner!”

 Are you ready for what happened next? First, Zacchaeus said to Jesus, “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.” Talk about a revival! Second, Jesus responded by saying to Zacchaeus, “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 what was lost.”  Zacchaeus was not only about to be saved, but he was about to be restored to full status as a son of Israel. Pretty powerful stuff. And that was before lunch!

 Suppose Jesus had looked up at Zacchaeus and said to him, “You up there—you child of Satan. You have cheated these good people of their earnings. You deserve to be punished for your deeds. And I’m here to do that. For their sake, I condemn you.” If Jesus had denounced the man, the crowd would have cheered, and Zacchaeus would have continued his selfish, sinful way of living. Instead, Jesus reached out to him in a totally unexpected, unprecedented way. Everything changed that day. For Zacchaeus, and for you and me.

 There are at least three very powerful truths here:

·        Jesus demonstrated the extent to which God will go to restore the lost to Himself. Is there any reason not to believe that God treats us today with the same level of mercy when we get carried away with our self-importance?

·        Jesus took the initiative to reach out to Zacchaeus, not waiting for Zacchaeus to take the first step toward him. Is there any reason not to believe that Jesus still reaches out to us today in the midst of our failures, our ugly attitudes, our selfishness, and our sins?

·        The name Zacchaeus means “pure.” Ironic, isn’t it, that Jesus would invite himself to the home of Zacchaeus, the publican, the sinner, who was anything but pure? The truth is this: Jesus saw him for his potential, not for his past! Is there any reason not to believe that God sees us for our potential, not our past, and that His ultimate goal for us is purity of life, of relationships, of spirit?