Worship

Welcome Home Series                              November 9, 2025
Luke 19:1-10                                                 Pastor Ryan Wolfe

Ours is a family of forgiveness

The Bible account we have in front of us today is one that I think is both familiar and forgotten. I don’t think as adults we talk very often about Zacchaeus and this little event, but it’s a popular one with kids. It even has its own little song. Kids love the idea of a short little man climbing a tree just to see Jesus. I think they connect with that. And I have to admit, the picture of a grown man, and a wealthy one at that, climbing up into a tree like a little kid is a fun little mental picture.

It’s kind of a shame that this account gets lost in the shuffle as we get older though because we as adults know even better how this short moment of Jesus life connects to us. Zacchaeus was a man who needed more than just a view of Jesu. He needed forgiveness from him. And while Zacchaeus was busy trying to find Jesus, Jesus was the one who found him. As we think of this family of faith in our “Welcome Home” series Zacchaeus reminds us that the heart of our relationship is forgiveness. It’s the heart of our relationship with God and the heart of our relationship with each other.

We find Jesus here, not passively waiting for the lost to stumble across his path but actively looking for Zacchaeus. The last verse of our helps explain one of the middle ones. “The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” Those are action words. Jesus came into the world with a mission. He didn’t sit back and wait for sinners to find him. No, he broke into our world of sin and then sought us out. God doesn’t wait for us to come to our senses. He doesn’t hold off on his grace until we invite him into our lives or fix ourselves to a point where he can tolerate us. He has a plan to jump into the fire of our broken lives and rescue us.

That mission helps us understand why Jesus tells Zacchaeus in verse 5, “I must stay at your house today.” If you read the Meditations devotional books one of last week’s readings went into this point at length. God MUST do nothing. He’s the almighty creator of all. He can do whatever he wants. But in order to save Zacchaeus, Jesus knew he HAD to stay with him. He had to put himself into Zacchaeus’ life, Zacchaeus’ orbit, so that he could speak to him. To save him.

Maybe it’s because I’ve worked with little kids so much in my ministry, but Zacchaeus has always seemed a bit like a cartoon to me. A wealthy man who probably had a lot of power and influence, but also a man short in stature. Not tall enough to see over the crowds of people that had gathered to see Jesus as he was passing through the city of Jericho. Zacchaeus had heard about Jesus and wanted to see him for himself. So our little man Zacchaeus climbed up into a tree to see Jesus as he passed by. Now imagine a celebrity today in Jesus’ place. Walking down the red carpet he sees a fan hanging from a streetlight just to get a glimpse. While those other A-listers would probably just pass right on by, Jesus went right to Zacchaeus, called him down, and said, “I need to stay at your house.” Again, not because he needed a place to stay but because he knew that this is what he HAD to do to give Zacchaeus just a glimpse of the Savior, but a full view of the salvation he brings. In the second to last verse Jesus tells him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a Son of Abraham.”

That’s the blessing of this family of faith. We may not all be short but we are all short of God’s demand to be holy. And if we think we can take care of our problem of sin on our own, we end up looking as foolish to God as Zacchaeus did to that crowd. But Jesus doesn’t laugh at our shortcomings or walk past us because of them. Jesus says to each of us, “Today salvation has come to this house, because you too are sons of Abraham.” Ephesians 2 and Romans 9-11 all tell us that Abraham’s descendants are no longer determined by blood, but by faith. In Jesus, God tore down the barrier between Jews and Gentiles and brought us into the same family through him. Every believer, like Zacchaeus, has a clear view of our Savior, not by our attempts to see him, but by his coming to us through the word of God that is the power of God to save all people, Jews and Gentiles.

Do you think Jesus knew what kind of a man Zacchaeus was? What he did for a living? Of course he did! And he still went to him. Others in the crowd didn’t like it. They muttered to one another, “He has gone to be the guest of a ‘sinner.’” And in a sense they were right. Zacchaeus was not only a tax collector, he was a chief tax collector. He was a traitor to his people, working for the oppressor Romans. Zacchaeus himself admits that some of the wealth he had (Much? Most?) was made off the backs of the people. My wife Jessie noted in our devotions this week that Zacchaeus had so much that he could give away half of all he owned and STILL had enough to pay back four times what he had cheated people out of. No wonder the crowd looked at him as chief sinner, not just chief tax collector!

But Jesus loves the lost. This is why Paul wrote in Romans 5, “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” I repeat myself, but I’ll never tire of saying this – We are saved because Jesus came to us! He came as man to save all mankind. He lived a life of holiness so that we could be judged by that life instead of ours. He died in innocence, so that terrible price could be paid by him and not assessed to us. We are no better than Zacchaeus, each of us “chief of sinners” ourselves. But Jesus wants to be with us anyway. He comes to us here in his house when we hear his Word and receive his supper. He stays with us when we read his Word at home. This is what our family of faith is about – forgiveness together in Jesus. And a continuing opportunity to remind each other of that forgiveness week after week. You don’t have to go to church to believe and be saved, but what believer would choose to stay away from Jesus? The fellowship we enjoy with each other is built on the fellowship we enjoy with him.

And being a part of this family of forgiveness changes us. It changed Zacchaeus. Look at how Zacchaeus responds to Jesus’ welcome. “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.”

Have you ever had friends help you with a big project? Maybe they helped you move or fix your roof. Maybe they took care of you when you were really sick. It doesn’t matter what. If you’ve ever had a person help you in that kind of above and beyond way, you know what Zacchaeus was feeling. How much he wanted to say thank you. He recognizes that Jesus has saved him and he responds with reckless joy. Half my possessions! Four times what I’ve stolen! Zacchaeus realized his real shortcomings in life, and vows to change his ways.

Friends in Christ, recognize this part of being in Jesus’ family as well. If you’re a believer, Jesus has changed you. The sinful person you see in the mirror? The one that lies, curses, lusts and envies? The one that refuses to forgive? Thanks to Jesus, that person is not “us” anymore. We are called to something better. We’ll never be free of that old sinful self, but God has given us a new life in faith. A new path to purse. A new heart of forgiveness and love that is moved to act by the new future we have in heaven because of Jesus.

And that’s the second half of this family of forgiveness. Moved by what God has forgiven in us, we forgive one another as well. This church is a place where grudges are not held. Where slights and ill-spoken words are not remembered. Where every new day brings a new and clean slate to speak and love and serve with one another as children of a perfect father. I urge you, if sin and Satan are holding your forgiveness back, let it flow from you as freely as the blood of Jesus that forgives you. The Church on earth is meant to be a pattern of the Church in heaven. Let’s each do our part to make that more true here at Salem every day.

This is a family of forgiveness. Forgiveness for us in Jesus. And forgiveness from us in the same. God bless us as love and encourage one another in this family of faith. To God be the glory. Amen.