Manna Moment - Loving the Unlovable

[Rev. Lyn Bell]

Luke 19:5  …“Zacchaeus, come down immediately.  I must stay at your house today.”

Good morning it’s Tuesday after a three day weekend, the last of the summer party it down times.  Hope you were able to do something special with your friends and family.  The beach crowds are gone and kids are all back in school.  We race forward to the winter holidays of Thanksgiving and Christmas.  I know you thinking what already.  Yes, I saw some of this in the stores.   What a world we are in today.  Saw the movie “The Help” this weekend.  WOW is all I could say at some points.  I grew up in coastal Georgia during the 1963 era when this movie takes place.  It was a movie that made you cry and laugh. 

 

Today’s text is about a person in society that is an untouchable or unlovable.  Zacchaeus was a tax collector and they were not very popular in Jewish culture as they worked for the Romans and often charged more taxes and took kickbacks.  What a character, but when he heard Jesus was in town, he wanted to know who he was with such popularity.  He was short in stature and had to climb a tree to see Jesus through the crowds. When Jesus chose his home to visit, the people was shocked, taken aback proclaiming he is gone to eat with a sinner!   Often as Christians we turn our back on the very people we should embrace as they are considered cast outs from our pristine social circles.  Just as in the movie “The Help”, the employees (the maids) were not allowed to use the same bathrooms they cleaned and one employer proclaimed that she was a Christian.  Do we look down our noise at those that are less fortunate than us, have immoral behavior or lifestyle choices.  Do we embrace them and love them as Jesus did.  So often we turn our backs on sinners because of social situations and standards.  I wonder what Jesus thinks about us?  We proclaim we serve a living God, so what do you think is pleased when we mistreat sinners?  Well what a way to start the week!   I hope this provokes your heart and soul this morning, as it has mine.  Have a blessed one.