Lost and Loved

“For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.” – Luke 19:10

A key idea in the spiritual teachings of Saint Ignatius is that of magis or, in English, more. The sense of the word Ignatius wanted us to understand is a greater way of loving, a deeper way of living out the great mysteries of life, a more wholehearted way of following Jesus. With this in mind, as I consider the text at the header, I seek to more deeply know and respond to the call of Christ who sought out and saved the lost.  

In my time of prayer with this text I first considered its context. Basically, a field preacher who had become widely popular for his teachings with authority and healings had attracted large crowd. In this particular crowd, on this particular day, a man short in stature named Zacchaeus joined the crowd. The text tells us, “He was trying to see who Jesus was…” (vs 3). It is not simply that he wanted to get a glimpse of Jesus, as if he was waiting for a Hollywood star to appear on the red carpet. He wanted to see who Jesus was.  

Zacchaeus, a wealthy tax collector, widely known to have unethical practices in the collection of taxes, despised by the locals, wanted to see who Jesus was. A man who had become rich on the backs of others came to see who Jesus was. He did not come to gawk at the show, but was motivated to see who this field preacher from Galilee really was.  

The text creates a scene that is nearly comedic; a short man trying to see Jesus through the crowd but he can’t. He climbs a sycamore tree. Imagine him walking along trying to see but not being able. I doubt many would have offered him a better place from which he could see given that he was so reviled by the people. At any rate, Zacchaeus finds a sycamore tree from which he can see Jesus but he has yet to see who Jesus was. The rich, prideful, unethical, sinful man must have been shocked to his core when Jesus invites himself to stay with Zacchaeus! He wants to discover who Jesus was and, all of a sudden, Jesus comes more closely. Perhaps shockingly close at first.

That the invitation shocks Zacchaeus is self-evident, but the invitation not only shocks but scandalizes many of the others gathered. “All who saw began to grumble and said, ‘He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.” (vs 7) How about that for scandal, even disgust?

Last summer I hired a contractor who ripped me off. Just imagine how I would initially feel if this contractor was singled out in a crowd and invited to dinner among a crowd in which I was present along with many of my friends and family who had also been ripped off by this contractor. Just imagine, this contractor invited by Jesus to join him for dinner, not to be scolded or shamed, but simply to be loved.

I might like to think of the many people in the crowd who had striven their whole lives to follow God’s holy ways, but here Jesus chooses a man who has made a living by ripping people off. At first glance it is scandalous. But as we know through the text it brings Zacchaeus to have some sort of change of heart; he wants to make things right again, in spite of his past. Jesus delights in his host for, “…the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”

Jesus loves the lost. He seeks them out only to love them, not to coerce them into submission but to bring them alive in the freedom of being fully human, fully alive in the beautiful knowledge and mystery of God’s self-giving love.  

Jesus delights in showing mercy; loving the sinner.

Go Deeper: Bring to mind someone in your community who has acted unethically. Imagine Jesus inviting himself into this person’s home in a desire to enter into mutual friendship. Imagine the conversation between Jesus and that person.