The Heartbeat: Drop The Stones

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The Heartbeat: I'm Coming Over

Zacchaeus the tax collector

“Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, ‘Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.’ So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. All the people saw this and began to mutter, ‘He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.’ But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, ‘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.’ Jesus said to him, ‘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 save the lost.’”

—Luke 19:1-10 NIVUK

1. We Assign Labels

“A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd.”

—Luke 19:2-3

A tax collector

Wealthy

Short

We must be very careful not to be

of people simply because of the labels we assign them.

It is possible that the very label which we may believe to

the individual from Jesus is the very thing that causes them to take interest in Jesus.

2. Jesus Comes Over

“When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, ‘Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.’ … ‘He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.‘”

—Luke 19:5, 7b

Here Jesus is assigned a label by virtue of his rapport with Zacchaeus. Jesus takes on the identity of “guest of a sinner” and becomes guilty by association. Here Jesus is

only in the eyes of the judgemental onlookers. He is