Seeking and saving the lost

Luke 19:1-10
by Brian Knitter

In Luke 19:10, Jesus states his mission purpose: “to seek and save the lost.” What does that mean to us today? As Jesus’ “hands and feet,” who are we to seek and save today?

The story is a familiar one – it even has its own children’s song! It’s the story of Zacchaeus, the tax collector. As the song goes, “Zacchaeus was a wee little man, and a wee little man was he,” and so on. OK, so he was short in stature, and Jesus found him up in a sycamore tree. What mattered to the people was that he was also a chief tax collector. He was not merely any tax collector; he was the tax collector in charge of the town of Jericho – the man who reported directly to the Romans. He was both a traitor to his country and a thief (for tax collectors had an unsavory reputation as thieves). Tax collectors, prostitutes and lepers were the lowest people in Jewish society, so Zacchaeus was an outcast. Why then would Jesus want to have dinner with this man? I see several reasons, but here are two: 1) this man was a sinner and an outcast. Few would have reached out to help such a man. 2) Zacchaeus repented, making him moldable and useable for God’s purposes. Zacchaeus was a poster boy for Jesus’ mission statement: “to seek and save the lost.” Jesus was able to both seek and save this man.
This story also shows me that Jesus found value and usefulness in everyone, and so should we. No one should be exempt from God’s purposes; no one is too much of a sinner to be saved. No one! Not you, your neighbor, or people you consider sinners. All are in need of saving. All need to be sought. You see, “to seek and save the lost” is also our mission statement.