Christianity Oasis Forum

[cimi]

July 25
Friday


LOOKING FOR
ZACCHAEUS

READ:
Luke 19:1-10
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Today salvation has
come to this house.
__Luke19:9
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Alf Clark walks the city streets looking for zacchaeus. Well, not the actual one in the Bible__Jesus already found him. Alf and some friends who serve with an urban ministry do what Jesus did in Luke 19. They go purposefully through town to meet with and help those in need.

Alf walks house to house in his neighborhood, knocking on doors and saying to whoever peeks out, "Hi, I'm Alf. Do you have any needs I can pray for?" It's his way of opening up communication and__like Jesus did with tax_collector Zacchaeus__seeking to supply needed counsel and spiritual life and hope.

Notice what Jesus did. Luke simply says that Jesus "passed through" Jericho (Luke 19:1). Of course, a crowd gathered, as usually occurred when Jesus came to town. Zacchaeus, being "height challenged," climbed a tree. Jesus, while passing through, walked right over to his tree and told him He had to visit at his house. That day salvation came to Zacchaeus's house. Jesus had "come to seek and to save that which was lost" (v.10).

Do we look for Zacchaeus? He is everywhere, needing Jesus. In what ways can we share Christ's love with people who need the Savior? __Dave Branon

`````````````````````````God, guide our steps toward and not away`````````````````````````
``````````````````````from those who need You. Then guide our words``````````````````````
````````````````````````and our actions so that we can be purposeful```````````````````````
````````````````````````````````in our encounters with others.````````````````````````````
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God's good new is too good to keep to ourselves.

*************************************Today's Bible Reading __ Luke 19:1-10**************************************

1 Then Jesus entered and
passed through Jericho.

2 Now behold, there was a
man named Zacchaeus who
was a chief tax collector,
and he was rich. 3 And he
sought to see who Jesus
was, but could not because
of the crowd, for he was of
short stature. 4 So he ran
ahead and climbed up into a
sycamore tree to see Him,
for he was going to pass
that way.

5 And when Jesus came to
the place, he looked up and
saw him, and said to him,
"Zacchaeus, make haste and
come down, for today I
must stay at your house."

6 So he made haste and
came down, and received
Him joyfully.

7 But when they saw it,
they all complained, saying,

He has gone to be a guest
with a man who is a
sinner.


8 Then Zacchaeus stood
and said to the Lord, "Look,
Lord, I give half of my
goods to the poor; and if I
have taken anything from
anyone by false accusation,
I restore fourfold."

9 And Jesus said to him,
"Today salvation has come
to this house, because he
also is a son of Abraham;

10 for the Son of Man has
come to seek and to save
that which was lost."

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>INSIGHT<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

When Zacchaeus said he would "restore fourfold" (v.8), he
followed the highest pattern rather than the one required under
Jewish law. While fourfold restoration was required for sheep
stealing (see Ex. 22:1 and David's response to Nathan, 2 Sam. 12:5-
6), the restitution for normal theft was a return of the principal
plus an extra 20 percent.