30th Mar 26 | 13:54
Studies by Book
LUKE 19 1-10 SEEKING TO SAVE THE LOST 12 God be merciful to me a sinner
📖 Luke 19:1-10
26Nov2020 - *God be merciful to me a sinner* - _Luke 19:1-10_ - SEEKING TO SAVE THE LOST 12 – Bible reading: _Luke 18:9-14_
It was a glorious day for Zacchaeus. The Lord had reached his heart and he had responded. As he came down from the tree, in haste and welcomed Jesus to his home, joyfully, a miracle took place in his heart and Zacchaeus was a new man. Zacchaeus, who was lost, was found.
How should the crowds, who were watching and hearing all that had happened, have responded to this wonderful turn-around? Should they not have rejoiced too? The angels were rejoicing. Jesus and Zacchaeus were rejoicing. Shouldn’t the crowd too have joined the celebration?
_Luke 19:7 But when they saw it, they all complained, saying, "He has gone to be a guest with a man who is a sinner."_
This was how the elder brother responded when he heard the celebration going on in his house, at the return of his wayward younger brother.
_Luke 15:25-28 “Now his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. (26) So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. (27) And he said to him, 'Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf.' (28) "But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him._
The crowd was holding a moral high ground and judging the Lord, for his action to go as a guest to the home of Zacchaeus. The elder brother was holding a moral high ground and refusing to join the celebration at the return of his younger brother.
Without being aware, all of us, at different times tend to hold a moral high ground and look down on others in different ways.
The religious leaders were complaining about Jesus eating with tax collectors and sinners _Luke 5:30/ 7:34/ 7:39/ 15:2/ Matthew 9:11_ They were holding a moral high ground and judging Jesus and the disciples. We too take a moral high point and we judge the Pharisees and the religious leaders, for their views. Without saying so, vocally, we are saying, “I would not be like a Pharisee”
This is the reason why all of us need to learn the lesson of humility and that we stand in need of God’s mercy and His grace, all the time.
The crowd, in humility, should have accepted what the Lord had done in the life of Zacchaeus and should have joined the celebration, (just as the elder brother, in humility, should have joined the celebration of the return of his younger brother). But their moral superiority prevented them from doing so.
The purpose of the following parable was for us, who often see ourselves superior to others. This was not a parable to show the Pharisee in a lesser light than the tax collector but to teach us about humility.
_Luke 18:9-14 Also He spoke this parable to some *who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others*: (10) “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. (11) The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, 'God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. (12) I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.'
(13) And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, '*God, be merciful to me a sinner*!' (14) I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; *for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted*."_
It was the same principle of confronting people of holding their moral authority that Jesus was teaching through the incident of the woman caught in adultery. _John 8:7 So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first."_
When we hold a moral high ground, we are placing ‘our self’ on the pedestal of our hearts. We are all sinners saved by His mercy and grace.
Even as we see ourselves as sinners saved by His grace and from that perspective, reach out to seek and save the lost, we must be careful that we are not stained with their sin.
_Jude 1:20-23 But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, (21) keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. (22) And on some have compassion, making a distinction; (23) but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh._
*Thought to ponder*
```The church is called to love the sinner but to hate the sin.```