Saving the Lost

This Sunday's reading is from Luke 19:1-10,

He 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 sycomore 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.’

The story of Zacchaeus is commonly used by revisionists to justify their argument that, "All are welcome at the table." Which is to say that the LGBTQ+ are welcome to come as they are, and that the people who need to change are you, me, and the Church. Nothing could be farther from the truth of the story of Zacchaeus. In it, he is the one who is transformed. The same should be true for the LGBTQ+ who come to church. Sadly, many churches have abandoned this teaching in favor of full "acceptance" of what the Bible teaches is sexual immorality.

It does more harm to let the lost continue to wander in the wilderness when Jesus is waiting to lead them to salvation.

Sit down with Jesus and you will be changed.