Logos Luke 19:1-10

Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, "Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much." Then Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham.  For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost." (Luke 19:8-10)

So what happened here? Zaccheaus, a tax collector, wanted to see Jesus, but he was too short to see, so he climbed a tree. Jesus found him there, asked him to come down, and told him he would stay at his house (Can you follow all of those pronouns?).

Tax collectors were no one's favorite people.  Not only did they collect taxes for Rome, but they made their living by collecting more than what was owned in taxes. I imagine no one loved Zaccheaus, and yet Jesus did, and Jesus went to his home, and treated Zaccheaus like a child of God.

Zaccheaus vows to give the poor half of his possessions and pay back anyone he has defrauded times four.  Jesus proclaims that salvation has come to the house. So what happened? Did salvation come to the house because of Zaccheaus's actions? I don't think so. I think salvation came into the house with the love of Jesus, and what we are seeing in Zaccheaus's action is the result of the salvation - not the ticket to receive it.

It's grace.