To Seek and to Save
Luke 19:1-10

I wonder if Levi, aka Matthew, and Zacchaeus ever hung out at tax collector conventions. They pretty much stayed within their own group, known by the religious as the tax collectors and sinners. They were Jews collecting tolls for the occupying Roman government while extorting whatever else they could for themselves. Thus, they were thieves and traitors. A nasty lot, ostracized from Jewish life. And hated.

Yet Jesus takes note of Levi and Zacchaeus. He sees Levi at his toll booth and spots Zacchaeus up in the Sycamore tree, “for the Lord he wanted to see.” (After all, Zacchaeus was a wee little man, and a wee little man was he.)

Why did Jesus take note of people like Levi and Zacchaeus? Why would Jesus open himself to criticism by identifying with such men, even dining at their homes with their sinner friends?

Because, Jesus said, “The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

The well don’t need a doctor. Sick folk do. The righteous don’t need a Savior. Sinners do. And since we’ve all fallen short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23), we all need a Savior. We all need Jesus.