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Saturday
Jan282012

The Ultimate Service: to Seek and Save

AuthorPastor Marty DateSaturday, January 28, 2012 at 10:11PM

There are many different kinds of Search and Rescue Teams that exist.  They are generally differentiated by either terrain or climate.  Thus we have Mountain S&R Teams, Ground, Canine, Urban, Air-Sea, Snow, Desert and even Combat S&R Teams.  These teams have learned through trial and error procedures that will enable them to have the greatest possible chance of saving a person.   Even as dedicated and trained as they can be, they are never 100% successful in "saving" everyone.

Today, we are going to look at a story in Luke 19 about a man named Zacchaeus (Za-key-us).  We'll call him Zach for short.  Here we are going to see that Jesus is a team leader on the greatest Search and Rescue operation of all time, the Earth Search and Rescue Team.  Jesus makes this clear as he states in Luke 19:10, "The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost."

Zacchaeus was lost and captive

 The account starts out by telling us that Zach was a chief Tax-collector and he was rich.  Now men back then, no different from today, didn't like taxes.  It was probably even more resentful when a guy would show up at your door telling you that you need to cough up X amount of dollars (shekels) right now.  These guys were despised.  Also, Zach was a chief tax-collector.  He was a head ringleader of these money grubbers.  Also, the tax-collectors often lined their pockets by collecting more than was due.  John the Baptist referred to this in Luke 3:13 when he warned the tax-collectors that they needed to repent by only charging what was due.  We also see later in verse 8 that it was common to lie about what was owed, a false accusation.  The fact that Zach was rich implies that he was good at getting more out of people than was required.  People hated him for it and he was not a welcome part of their society.  In fact, it is bad enough already, but Zach was collecting taxes for a foreign, conquering power aka Rome.  He was working for the enemy, a regular Benedict Arnold.

On top of this he has a name that means, "pure one."  Yep, I'm sure Zach that was salt in people's wounds.  But Zach, no doubt, had his own wounds.  It mentions that he was so short that he had to climb a tree to be able to see Jesus.  Anyone who has gone through life with something that makes you weaker or less than most of the rest can identify with Zach.  He no doubt had his own wounds from childhood and adulthood.  All the countless ways that he perhaps had been ridiculed and pushed away by those who were "better".  Whatever he had in his life, it had prepared him to take a job that would use the power of a foreign governement to get rich off of his own people.  Zach was a lost man.  He was cutoff and separated from his people, but he was also cutoff and separated from his God.

But here was the kicker, Zach knew he was missing something.  Zach wasn't happy.  He was seeking to find out if there was anything different about this Jesus guy who was creating such a stir.  Something in Zach was crying out for help, looking for help.  He even humbled himself enough to publically come see Jesus and climb a tree where everyone would see him.

Jesus Sought Him Out and Saved Him

 Who was seeking whom that day?  Clearly Zach sought Jesus to get a better understanding of who he was.  But Jesus was also seeking Zach as he testified in verse 10.  Here is the greater point.  God's business is seeking out and saving that which is lost.  It is a Terrestrial Search and Rescue mission.  Jesus understood this and was "about his Father's business."  Jesus was on the look out and when he saw Zach he knew this was a guy who was in trouble, but wanted help.

Now this brings up the Principle of Personal Responsibility.  It is easy to see what the other guy should have done and to shift the blame to them.  But in the end we all are responsible for what we have done.  As I earlier talked about Zach's life, it would be easy to blame everything on society, or to blame everything on Zach.  If you are Zach you blame society and those who have wounded and rejected you.  If you are those being taxed then you blame Zach for all his errors and sins.   It is easy for a lost person to say, "someone should have sought me out."  That would be true, but that is not Zach's responsibility.  His responsibility as a lost person is to recognize that he is lost, stop walking and start calling for help.  Many a lost person has refused to cry out for help and though others should have sought them out, they still are responsible to recognize they need help.  Those cries are not always audible, but they are real none the less and Jesus saw the cry of Zach's heart that day.  He wanted free.  On the other hand, those who are "found" have the responsibility to look for those who are lost.  We have a responsibility to be about our father's business.

Now Jesus responds in a very tender and gracious way to Zach and I think we could learn a lot from him.

  1. Jesus SAW Zach.  It is easy to miss people because we are too busy or focused on something else.  Jesus saw Zach and that made all the difference in the world.  When you are on a Search and Rescue Team seeing the person or some evidence of where they have been is critical to saving them.  Jesus saw Zach.  Do I have personal blinders on that keep me from seeing lost people who need saving?  People who are crying out for help, but I'm to busy to notice or care?
  2. Jesus ENGAGED Zach.  Jesus didn't just see him, but then he made room in his schedule for Zach.  He stopped and talked with Zach and planned to spend as much time with Zach as Zach would let him.  Do we sometimes see people, but choose to not engage them.  Or do we sometimes engage them only on a superficial level and only say hi, barely giving them the time of day?  What business are you about anyway?  If we are to be about our father's business we have to engage people.
  3. Jesus CALLED HIM BY NAME.  The fact that Jesus took the time to get Zach's name speaks volumes to us and to Zach.  When you are used to people wanting nothing to do with you, this is a huge thing.  Jesus let's him know that he is valuable enough to him that he took the time to get and remember Zach's name.
  4. Jesus UNDERSTOOD AND FELT HIS OBLIGATION.  When Jesus said he "must" stay at Zach's house he spoke of a necessity.  He had to do the duty, job that his Father had given him.  However, I believe that Jesus was motivated by more than just an external duty that had been laid upon him.  He cared for Zach and his heart was motivated by the same things that motivated the Father.  Think of it this way.  Why does God want to seek and save that which is lost?  Is it because he has been commanded to do so by some higher god?  Of course not.  Ultimately the duty or command is coming from a heart that desires to find those who are lost and save them.  We may need to start with the external pressure of a command, but God's desire is that we will internalize the heart of that command.  That our obligation is not from the pressure of duty, but the compulsion of love.  Jesus loved Zach and knew that if Zach was to have a chance, Jesus needed to stay at his house that day.  Jesus must stay at his house if he was ever going to be found and saved.

To be saved means to be delivered from those enemies that hold us captive.  What was holding Zach?  Yes the devil had succeeded in separating Zach from the herd and was in the process of devouring him through this life.  However, Zach was just as much a prisoner to his own thinking and mind.  How often do we let the actions, words, and sins of others keep us in a place we don't want to be?  How often do we use the blame of others to stay stuck in a situation our heart cries to be free from?  Jesus broke through all of that by simply loving Zach.  He noticed him and cared enough to be a part of his life.  Zach didn't just have his sins forgiven.  He didn't just get a "get-out-of-jail-free card."  His heart had been so saved from taking advantage of others that now he wanted to make things right.  He was being delivered from that mindset that would want to make others pay for my wounds. 

God help us to see that we have been called to come alongside the greatest Search and Rescue Leader of all time, Jesus.  And, may God help us to sense the obligation we have to those who are lost, not just from the external duty, but even more from the internal compulsion of love.

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