Seeking Savior
Art - the Zacchaeus Tree
Duccio, di Buoninsegna, -1319?. Zacchaeus, detail from Entry into Jerusalem, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN.
Hymn - Gather Us in, Oh Love That Fills Us All
We are about to read a conversation between God and the seventh century prophet, Habakkuk. It takes place shortly before the Babylonians laid siege to Jerusalem in 586 BC. We know little about the prophet himself, but we think he was probably a temple prophet. He was most likely a singer and this was possibly a song.
Babylon was a brutal power when they overthrew nations. There is dread in the prophet's voice. We can hear it over 26 hundred years later.
But there is also faith, the steady kind, the kind that makes us just before God.
Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4
The oracle that the prophet Habakkuk saw.
O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not listen? Or cry to you "Violence!" and you will not save?
Why do you make me see wrong-doing and look at trouble? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise.
So the law becomes slack and justice never prevails. The wicked surround the righteous-- therefore judgment comes forth perverted.
I will stand at my watchpost, and station myself on the rampart; I will keep watch to see what he will say to me, and what he will answer concerning my complaint.
Then the LORD answered me and said: Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so that a runner may read it.
For there is still a vision for the appointed time; it speaks of the end, and does not lie. If it seems to tarry, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay.
Look at the proud! Their spirit is not right in them, but the righteous live by their faith.
Here the words of the hymn:
Though vine nor fig-tree neither,
Their wonted fruit shall bear,
Though all the field should wither,
Nor flocks nor herds be there;
Yet God the same abiding,
His praise shall tune my voice,
For, while in Him confiding,
I cannot but rejoice.
— William Cowper, 1779
God's word, and faith in God's word, steadies the soul.
The just live by faith in that the man or woman planted in God's truth is anchored in hope.
Hear and pray the words of the psalmist from Psalm 119, Tsade,
Psalm 119:137-144
You are righteous, O LORD, and your judgments are right.
You have appointed your decrees in righteousness and in all faithfulness.
My zeal consumes me because my foes forget your words.
Your promise is well tried, and your servant loves it.
I am small and despised, yet I do not forget your precepts.
Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and your law is the truth.
Trouble and anguish have come upon me, but your commandments are my delight.
Your decrees are righteous forever; give me understanding that I may live.
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Whatever oppression or injustice we face in this world, it cannot shake us from the sound foundation of God's truth and God's promises.
We rejoice in you, Oh God.
We trust in you.
We place our lives, our hopes, our fears, and our sorrows in your hands this day.
Your commands are our delight.
Amen
Isaiah 1:16-18
Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow. Come now, let us argue it out, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be like snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.
In the epistle today, Paul invites us to look over his shoulder and pray for the believers of our time and for our churches as he prayed for those in Thessalonica.
2 Thessalonians 1:1-4, 11-12
Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We must always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of everyone of you for one another is increasing. Therefore we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith during all your persecutions and the afflictions that you are enduring.
To this end we always pray for you, asking that our God will make you worthy of his call and will fulfill by his power every good resolve and work of faith, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
David Day. Zacchaeus Up a Tree, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN.
Luke 19:1-10He entered Jericho and was passing through it. A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way.
When 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."
So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him.
All who saw it began to grumble and said, "He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner."
Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, "Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much."
Then Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost."
Seeking Savior
“For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” – Luke 19:10
This simple word from the Master answers the criticism of stale religionists that He was spending too much time with sinners.
“Of course I am” is his implied reply.
“That is why I came!”
The news is good for sinners and bad for those who fancy themselves above such a call.
First, for the sinner, touched by God’s grace, it is the assurance that something better awaits our lives, that we are not beyond the reach of the gospel, and that we can change. The Lord is entirely ready to remove our defects of character when we are entirely ready to have him do so.
He comes to our table as the friend of sinners and waits for our agreement with him in prayer and for our humility in the asking. He is our friend, but he wants to make us his friends through conversion.
He is patient and compassionate and understands the frailty of our faith and commitment. He does not demand a great eruption of energy or resolve from us, but the humble act of petition through surrender.
If we will present our lives to him where we are and as we are, He can work a miracle of grace. Are you ready to ask?
Second, it’s bad news if we are complacent and self-assured, if we feel we are better than everyone else, or if we sense no responsibility for bearing the cross of a witness. He has sent us as the Father sent him. That means that our hearts must beat as his beat – for the lost. It also means that when he sits at our table, it is not because we are worthy; it is because we too are needy and he came to seek and to save us as well.
Humbling thought, isn’t it?
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