This free church bulletin article was written by Brian Humek from Irving, TX. You are free to use this in church bulletins, church emails and on church websites. No credit needs to be given. Simply clicking the book link at the end of this free bulletin article will help more content to be placed on this site. Donate your own church bulletin article here.
Bible Passage: Luke 19:1-10
Zacchaeus was a wee little man. If being short is considered a problem, it was the smallest of his problems. He worked for the Roman government as a tax collector and he cheated the people. Even with these problems, he was interested in Jesus and Jesus was interested in him. But the people watching his incident in the sycamore tree and Jesus’ interaction with him were a little upset. They said “…What business does he (Jesus) have getting cozy with this crook?” (Luke 19:7 -The Message). Other Bible versions simply call Zacchaeus a sinner.
What right did Jesus have to eat at Zack’s house? All the people there would be sinners. Jesus answers this objection with the claim, “For the Son of Man came to find and restore the lost.” It’s a good thing Jesus would eat with sinners. There weren’t any other kind of people in Jesus’ day. There were folks who thought they were perfect, but they weren’t.
It’s sort of like today. We’ve got people in this world that think Jesus isn’t interested in them because of some extremely judgmental church experience. Some think Jesus wouldn’t want them because of how the media portrays all Christians, you know, as hypocrites. I sit here today and say it’s untrue. There are plenty of Christians who love and accept people no matter their status or lack thereof. Jesus did this and I see this as a growing trend in the Christian world. More and more congregations are modeling themselves after Zach’s house than as a sanctuary for perfect people.
You’re right, this idea of loving people no matter what hasn’t always been the case, but I sense a change is coming.
—> Support our free church bulletin article ministry by purchasing the 5 Star rated Leave it to God on Amazon today.
Related posts:
I often get a yearning for more. When I was planning my honeymoon to Denver, Colorado so many years ago, I looked at the map and saw that Cheyenne, Wyoming was just up the highway. So we went. When lo...
My mouth fell open the day I heard a student in a Christian campus ministry pray, "Dear father God, we are terrible people." I thought that person was incorrect and then had to go to the Bib...
God knows it was not good for man to be alone. Because of this, he created woman. God knows it’s not good for anyone to be alone. Because of this, he created friends. Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 says so much ...
Words, words, words, we hear a lot of them at this time of the year. A lot of people are wishing us well, but not everyone. Have you heard some unkind or impolite words lately? I have, and you may hav...
Near the beginning of the movie Say Anything the female love interest, Diane Court gives her valedictorian address. In her speech, she states, “I have seen the future, and all I can say is … go back.”...
Sometimes things become so piled up that a person can’t find their way through life. Demands from the office, school, friends, church, and family sometimes look like mountains of commitments. There ar...
How many who read this actually play Scrabble? I love to play it, but rarely do I find someone who shares my enthusiasm about it. A couple of the rules in Scrabble are that you cannot use the dictiona...
In a column on art restoration, Robert Fulford writes, “A scholar came upon a striking fact: in the year 1516, the Brancacci Chapel in Florence burned half a barrel of oil every day, just to keep its ...
