FBC Morning Light – March 29, 2023

A good Wednesday morning to you. I hope your week is going well thus far. Today we're reading in Deuteronomy chapters 21 and 2, Luke 19, and the 63rd Psalm. I want to zero in on this episode that opens up in Luke 19 with this question.

The Most Despised Sinner and the Reach of Grace

Who is it in today's society is most hated, most looked down upon, despised, considered to be beyond the reach of religion, if you will. I can think of individuals, perhaps like pedophiles, for example, or those who are in violent gangs, and so forth.

You may have your own personal list of those whom you think are society's most despised. In Jesus' day, in Luke 19, we have some insight into a group of individuals that were considered to be pariahs.

They were considered to be beyond the scope of God's grace. That group is represented by this little guy, Zacchaeus. If you've grown up in church, you probably know that name from early days in children's church and in the nursery.

Zacchaeus was a wee little man, a wee little man, as he climbed up in a sycamore tree, the Savior, for to see. This is Zacchaeus. The song continues, and Jesus comes by and he says, Zacchaeus, you come down, for I'm going to your house for tea, going to your house today, and Jesus does.

Jesus Receives Zacchaeus Despite Religious Criticism

But that raises the ire and the criticism of the pious religious hypocrites, because it says in verse 6 that Zacchaeus made haste and came down and received him, Jesus, joyfully. But when they saw it, who's they?

The Pharisees, the scribes, the religious elite. When they saw it, they all complained, saying, he, Jesus, has gone to be a guest with a man who is a sinner. How dare he? How could Jesus go into this man's house and have a meal with him?

He is, after all, a horrible, wretched sinner. Why? Because Zacchaeus was a tax collector. He was a despised, hated tax collector. The Jews didn't care much for the tax collectors in general, because they were the ones who imposed Caesar's oppressive taxes upon them.

The tax collector also had the freedom to tack on a certain percentage for his own pocket. That's why many of the tax collectors became wealthy, and they became wealthy from these profits from taxing the people.

You can understand how they might not be very well liked. But it's even worse when that tax collector is a Jew. If he's a Jewish man and he's a tax collector, that just causes his Jewish brethren to hate him and despise him all the more.

No One Is Beyond the Reach of God's Grace

Certainly, he is beyond the reach of the grace of God. But no, that is not the case. There is no one that is really beyond the reach of the grace of God. The worst of sinners, the most despised of people, can by God's grace be brought to faith in Christ.

If God sees fit to call that unrighteous one to himself, he's not beyond God's grace. This is what Jesus says at the end of this passage. He says in verse 9, today salvation has come to this house, the house of Zacchaeus, because he also is a son of Abraham.

He's a Jewish man. Because he says in verse 10, the son of man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. It is Jesus that has come to seek out the sinner and to save that lost sinner. It is Jesus who in his grace seeks and saves, even ones who are most despised by the rest of society.

Praying for the Salvation of Those We Might Despise

I go back to the question. Look around you in your circle of acquaintance, in your world of acquaintance. Who is it that you may think cannot be saved? It is very possible that Jesus has come to seek and to save that one who is lost.

Time will tell whether that one comes to faith in Christ or not, but he's not beyond the reach of the grace of God. Don't think like that. Instead, pray like this. Oh God, would you in your grace, would you seek and save that sinner?

Father, give us that kind of a heart today, a heart that relishes in your grace, that saves even those whom we might be inclined in our corrupt flesh to despise. Oh Lord, glorify yourself in the salvation of sinners, we pray.

We ask this in Jesus' name. Have a good rest of your Wednesday. May the Lord bless you richly in it. Good day.