Jesus knows your name

Luke 19:1-10

Jesus knows your name, now I hope that captivates you.  For we live in a time where young people in college are shown pictures of past and current leaders and they have no clue about who they are, but shown a hip-hop star, a singer, or a movie star they seem to know all kinds of information about their lives.  These same young people often do not know the persons name sitting in the next row to them in class and may not care to know, but it is clear something special happens when a person knows our name.  It is our brand; it is a representation of our identity.

So as Jesus entered Jericho there was a man named Zacchaeus, you may have sang the song about him as a child, he was small in stature and yet he wanted to see this new rabbi whom everyone was speaking about, so not being able to see Jesus in the crowd he ran ahead on the route and climbed up into a sycamore tree so he could see Jesus.

And as Jesus came to the place He looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.”  Something happened at that very moment in Zacchaeus’ life and in the life of the crowd, and yet there is information I did not share that is very important to the story.  Zacchaeus was the chief tax collector and was extremely rich, and as a tax collector his employer was the hated Roman government, and in Israel, the tax collectors were viewed as traitors and thieves.  “Publicans were Jews who bought tax collection franchises from the Roman government. Any amount that they collected over and above what Rome required, they could keep for themselves.” (By Dr. Paul M. Elliott)  So rightly these tax collectors were seen as traitors and thieves, in that their pay came not from Rome, but from what they could steal from their fellow countrymen.

When Jesus acknowledged Zacchaeus the politically correct thing the crowd wanted was for Jesus to treat him with the contempt they had for any and all tax collectors.  But that is not what happen; Jesus knew all about him, and Jesus knew this man was searching for the peace and joy of knowing God the Father.  When calling Zacchaeus’ name he understood Jesus this holy man knew him, and wanted to have a relationship with him, and this is what took place: “And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

(Luke 19:8-10 ESV)

How did the crowd react, “And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.”  (Luke 19:7 ESV)  If you are part of the crowd it is time to leave, the crowd has a historical record of being wrong.  If you are searching for truth, Jesus is very near, look up and remove from your life greed and hate and seek Him while He is near.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice