Who Are We To Our Friends?
Luke 19:1-10 tells us a story about how Jesus met a man who did not have many friends. By being a friend to him, Jesus won his heart.
Being interesting
Luke 19:1-4 (NIV)
Zacchaeus became curious about Jesus, simply because of His presence. This rich tax collector must have heard of Jesus before, and he wanted to see who He was with his own eyes. In order to do that, he had to climb a tree, which says a lot about his commitment.
Do people also want to see us this badly, whenever we are near? Is our life with Jesus influenced by Him in such a way, that the people around us want to climb metaphoric trees in order to meet us?
Making friends
5 When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.
Luke 19:-5-6 (NIV)
Jesus became a friend to a man with no friends (see verse 7). Someone who does that can expect criticism and opposition from the social environment. The Lord did not pay attention to that. The question is: would that be important to us? When we become friends with someone, do we pay attention to the consequences for only ourselves? Does it matter to us what others might think and if the new friend is reliable, do we take that into account? Do we, just like the Lord Jesus, want to be a friend to someone who does not (yet) serve Him and might not even be nice?
Showing the way
7 All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”
8 But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”
9 Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
Luke 19:7-10 (NIV)
As soon as Jesus entered Zacchaeus’ house, Zacchaeus shows his willingness to change his life through his deeds and new resolutions. People are not necessarily supposed to change, just because they talked with us. The point is that they should be able to see Jesus, through us. We should show them who Jesus Christ is, simply by being who we are, by what we do, and by what we say.
Every single one of us can become a friend to someone who needs Jesus!
The 10th verse tells us why Jesus Christ came to earth. It was to seek and to save the lost. Why are we here?
