Facing Jesus

Our family has done our best to abide by current guidelines and have not visited with many outside of digital meetings.  Last Sunday evening as I sat on my deck, a few familiar faces appeared in my driveway.  It was my older sister and her family.  They carried a gift with them to honor Kim’s birthday this week.  We invited them up for a visit as we kept our social distance.  It was such a blessing to have company in that moment.  It took me back to memories of my sister and I being excited in our childhood when company would come to visit.  Time spent with others is a gift that reminds us of our value to the visitors and their value to us.  Made me look forward to more time with loved ones and friends when conditions allow again!           

In this week’s passage, Jesus tells a chief tax collector named Zacchaeus that He is coming today to Zacchaeus’ house to stay.  We’re told that he receives Him joyfully.  And in that visit with Jesus, Zacchaeus experiences the gracious love and salvation of the LORD.  This was no chance encounter; Jesus had sought out Zacchaeus in the midst of a great crowd.  

In the previous chapter 18, we see Jesus encountered by a rich young ruler that wants to find salvation.  Jesus extends an invitation similar to the one he’d given to the disciples around Him that were now considered close friends.  That rich young ruler was too attached to his worldly security and it inhibited him from following Jesus.  Instead of walking with Jesus, he walks away from Jesus.  Yet in chapter 19 of Luke’s Gospel, we see Zacchaeus, also a rich man, when he looks squarely in the face of Jesus and is willing to let go of his worldly security for Jesus’ sake.  I believe Zacchaeus found the treasure of heaven that his heart desired in Jesus as his Friend and Chief.

Today, all of us face the choice of where to look for our greatest security and hope of salvation.  While the temptation to trust in worldly security is alluring, the rock solid security and hope for Christians is in Christ Jesus alone!  As a church, we have made it our mission to make much of Jesus for this reason because it is very easy to misplace our trust in something less.  Today, let us joyfully welcome Jesus as our great Friend and Chief.  May we seek His face as Zacchaeus did.  May we find joy in the knowledge that Jesus seeks us even more intently.  May we revel in His visitation.  And may we find our salvation, security, and leading in the indelible grace and unshakeable friendship of Jesus.   And while I miss you all and look forward to gathering again with our church family, I rest in the reality that nothing can separate us from the love of God that we have in Christ Jesus.

Grateful and hopeful in Christ,

Jon