Do You Feel Lost? | The Gospels | Luke 19:1–10

[music] Welcome to 10 Minute Bible Talks. Where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Jeff Parrot. Everyone is familiar with that typical, lost and found pile. You know, the pile of items that contains just a smattering of misplaced or discarded objects. But if you want to see the largest collection of lost and found items in the world, you can hop in a plane or a train or an automobile and head to Scottsboro, Alabama. There you'll find unclaimed baggage. Unclaimed baggage is not a typical lost and found pile with a smattering of items. It is a 50,000 square foot facility that holds and sells a plethora of lost objects. Since the year 1970, unclaimed baggage has bought lost and forgotten luggage from airlines and resold them at discounted prices. Unclaimed baggage has such an extensive collection of lost items that the items themselves are truly surprising and bizarre. They've recovered gold plated golf clubs, a bionic knee, a beekeeping suit, a robot, and even a meteorite that's hundreds of years old. The thing that really stands out is how many items at unclaimed baggage cannot be put in the category of junk. There are things there that really matter, things that have value, things that tell a story. These items are lost, but they should have a location. They should belong somewhere with someone, but instead they're in the world's biggest lost and found pile, dislocated and neglected by their owners. It is of course one thing to recognize the lostness and dislocation of objects. It's quite another to recognize the lostness and dislocation of people to see it within ourselves. Maybe you're in a stretch of life where you feel perpetually lost, like unclaimed baggage that has value, that has a story, but doesn't have a home. You feel lost and dislocated in relation to God. Maybe it's because of persistent shame inducing sin, maybe because of uncontrollable, confusing, suffering or doubts, that feeling of dislocation and lostness can even be experienced in relation to other people. Maybe you believe that God is beside you, but you don't feel like you belong with other people. So you're trapped in the pain of being the unclaimed baggage, while everyone else seems to have a home. Sometimes we feel like the lost, dislocated, neglected baggage, but we also might be feeling that for someone we love, someone who's drifted away from Jesus, or drifted away from the body of Jesus, cutting themselves off from community. Whether we're thinking of ourselves or someone we care about, the experience of living like unclaimed baggage is truly awful. It's not the way it's meant to be. But in the first 10 verses of Luke 19, we see how Jesus responds to people who feel like unclaimed baggage, how he responds to people who feel lost, dislocated and neglected. His posture toward those people gives us a powerful hope for ourselves and for those we love. As we approach God's Word together, let's slow down and ask for His grace to move through this time. Heavenly Father, thank you for the gift of life and breath, and thank you for the gift of your Word. We bring before you our joys and our sorrows, our anxiety and our excitement, our calendars and our contingencies. Meet us in this space. Jesus, help us abide in you as we engage with your truth. Holy Spirit, we ask you to move in and through this time and Luke's Gospel account. As we read your living Word, may it read us and restore us to new life with you. In Jesus name, amen. Before we get into our passage today, we should note that this is the final stop that Jesus makes before entering Jerusalem and Luke's Gospel account. That's significant because this encounter is a massive occasion for Jesus to show who He is and what He came to do. It's a preview of what He will accomplish through His death, resurrection and reign. Knowing that there's a ton of gravity surrounding this moment in Jesus' ministry, let's hop in and see what He's all about. Here we go. Luke chapter 19 verses 1 through 10. Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because He was short, He could not see over the crowd. So He ran ahead and climbed a sycamore fig tree to see Him, since Jesus was coming that way. When Jesus reached the spot, He looked up and said to Him, "Zachchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today." So He came down at once and welcomed Him gladly. All the people saw this and began to mutter. He has gone to be the guest of a sinner. 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." Jesus said to Him, "Today salvation has come to this house because this man too is a son of Abraham. For the son of man came to seek and to save the lost." This is such a beautiful encounter that shows us the heart of Jesus. But in order to understand the significance of Jesus here, we need to appreciate the story of Zacchaeus. As a chief tax collector who amassed wealth by working for Rome, he was despised by his fellow Jewish people. Not simply because of his financial profit, but because he collaborated with the oppressor. He was an outcast, a traitor. He was viewed as unclaimed luggage in relation to God and other people. Lost, dislocated, and neglected. Now we don't know exactly why, but for some reason Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus. So he climbs to catch a glimpse of Jesus as he passes through Jericho. But interestingly, Luke doesn't highlight Zacchaeus seeing Jesus in this encounter. He highlights Jesus seeing Zacchaeus. We read this in verse 5. "When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, 'Zachchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.'" Now notice the emphasis again on the encounter here is on Jesus looking at Zacchaeus. On Jesus' pursuit of this man, who seems neglected beyond hope. But Jesus' pursuit doesn't stop with a look. It leads to an invitation. Jesus displays an unexpected form of love by inviting himself over to Zacchaeus' house. Now some might think of this as an intrusion, but it is far from that. Jesus is meeting the deepest, truest desire that Zacchaeus has ever had. It's his desire to be pursued, to be found, to be located. That's why we read in verse 6, "The Zacchaeus welcomes Jesus into his home gladly." Because when he's with Jesus, he is truly at home. Jesus already breaks social expectations by displaying this high degree of intimate love in staying at Zacchaeus' house. But he goes even further. Notice in verse 9, he says that salvation has come to Zacchaeus' house because he is now a son of Abraham. Zacchaeus is now in a family. This lost man is loved into a location, into belonging with Jesus. He's not unclaimed baggage. He is an embraced, beloved child. And that new identity absolutely changes him. That's why verse 8 describes Zacchaeus' repentance, his turning from sin to Jesus back to goodness, back to flourishing. He reverses all of the ways that sin was wrecking his life in the lives of others, not only giving generously to the poor, but giving sacrificial justice to those he cheated. Of course, his behavior didn't cause him to belong to Jesus, but belonging to Jesus changed his behavior. His location with Jesus fueled his transformation in Jesus. He is no longer living like unclaimed baggage. He's living as if he's an embraced, beloved child. Because in Jesus, that's exactly who he is. As we observe the radical transformation of Zacchaeus' life, the spotlight is really on Jesus himself. Jesus, the king, who's preparing to enter Jerusalem and go to the cross. Jesus, the son of God, who is preparing to defeat death so he can bring others into his family. This is Jesus, the king, who is coming for the unclaimed, the neglected, and the dislocated. As verse 10 tells us, Jesus is on a mission to seek and save the lost. People like Zacchaeus, people like you and me. Let's go back and revisit those key words, those labels of living like unclaimed baggage, lost, dislocated, neglected. Maybe you feel like those words absolutely define your life right now. Maybe they're stealing your life. In the gospel, Jesus over. terms every single one of those labels. If you feel lost, you are found in Jesus. If you feel dislocated, you are now located and have a home with Jesus. If you feel neglected, you are pursued by Jesus. Why? Because you're loved. Because in Him you are not unclaimed baggage, you are an embraced, beloved child here and now. Now that's true, and you no longer carry the labels of unclaimed baggage, you get to live into the freedom of being in Jesus' family, into the flourishing of an embraced, beloved child. Remember Zacchaeus, he was loved into belonging with Jesus, and that new location, that new family, led to his transformation. So how is God calling you to respond to the pursuit of Jesus today? To live like you are no longer lost, but like you are loved and located. Maybe you're thinking of someone else who might feel like or look like unclaimed baggage, someone who seems lost beyond hope. How does Jesus' encounter with Zacchaeus reframe the way you want to talk with them? Talk about them. Pray for them. Because Jesus came to seek and save the lost, we can pray like there's real hope for people who seem lost beyond our ability to find them. Because the hope is not that we will chase them down and find them, the hope is that Jesus already is, even now, chasing them down in His love. Jesus is on a mission to tear off the labels of lostness, dislocation and neglect. He's seeking and saving the lost, transforming them from unclaimed baggage to embraced, beloved children. Do you realize that He's the one looking for you? Heavenly Father, thank you for your promises and your plan to bring more people into your family. People like Zacchaeus, people like us. Jesus, we put our trust in your love and your mission to seek and save the lost by your grace. Holy Spirit, help us to not only receive this mission, but participate in it as embraced, beloved children. We need you more than we can know. We pray all of this because of your grace, for your glory, and in your story. In Jesus' name, amen.