Why did Jesus come to this world? What was his purpose? The answer to that question is found in today’s reading, which includes this verse we should all memorize: “the Son of Man came to seek out and save the lost” (Luke 19:10).

It happened when Jesus was passing through Jericho. The streets were crowded as Jesus came along, because his reputation had grown strong and everyone wanted to see Jesus. As it turned out, Zacchaeus the chief tax collector was too short to see over the heads of the people in the crowd, so he climbed a tree in order to get a view of Jesus (19:2-4). Then Jesus looked up in the tree, called Zacchaeus by name, and said that he had decided to have dinner that day at Zacchaeus’s house (19:5).

This caused some harsh feelings among the crowd. People grumbled that Jesus had “gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner” (19:7). There are some brief details about the conversation between Zacchaeus and Jesus (19:8-9), but the key point is the way Jesus responded to those who complained about his visit to Zacchaeus: it’s all about seeking and saving the lost (19:10).

The complainers seem to have had a hard time getting that. We today often have the same difficulty. It’s as if we figure that it’s fine for Jesus to save people who have some moderate sins, like us for example, but not a good idea for Jesus to save people whom we judge to have worse sins than ours. But what if, as followers of Jesus, we decided our primary concern was not judging how bad people’s sins are – or how much worse than ours their sins are – but instead focused on helping everyone find their way to salvation?

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After all, Jesus, it is only because you came to seek and save what was lost that we ourselves ever found salvation. Give us the same eyes of mercy and compassion: seeking blessing and restoration for all the troubled people around us, rather than their condemnation.

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