What a Day

What a day!  Normally when we think of the Sunday before Easter we focus on what is traditionally referred to as the “Triumphant Entry”.  You remember the story, Jesus comes riding into Jerusalem on a young donkey and the crowds come out to greet him, yelling praises and waving Palm Branches which is where the day received the name that is certainly a part of common usage in the Church today.  Right?  Because we all know that today is “Palm Sunday”. 

But that was a just the beginning of the day, a day much bigger than the parade that started the day out.  But that is really how we are in life, focusing on the high points, on the parades and parties. 

It is interesting the Triumphant Entry is covered in all four gospels and all of the descriptions are basically the same.  But the other events of the day are included in some of the accounts and not included in other accounts. In some gospels there are things recorded as happening on Sunday and in other accounts we are told they happened the next day.   And we’ve been here before in saying that it’s easy for the critics and skeptics to point at these accounts and to say “Look the gospel writers can’t even agree on what happened.” 

But for me that is simply an argument for the authenticity of the account, if all four accounts were identical it would be easy to suspect that one account was written and then the other writers simply copied what the first writer had put down. 

Week before last the staff were booked to go away to a ministry conference in Moncton on March 20^th.  It was an event that we had all been looking forward to for various reasons.  The speaker is someone who I follow online, a Canadian pastor by the name of Carey Nieuwhof, but more than that because it was a district event we got to reconnect with friends and colleagues. 

Here is the thing, we were all planning on going to the same event, but we all saw it from different perspectives.  I had another meeting in Moncton so I went up a day earlier, on Thursday the day after the storm so I was in Moncton to start with and arrived at the event earlier than the rest of the group.  The roads were nuts, but only for me, not the rest of the staff.  Most of the staff came up the next day, and they saw an accident at the NB NS border, I didn’t see that.  Ben and Bayley had Winnie with them so things were a little different for them than for the rest of us.  Stefan and Deborah’s cul-de-sac didn’t even get plowed out until Friday so they missed the entire event.  The rest of the staff headed back on Saturday morning but I had an additional meeting on Saturday so I didn’t head back until later in the day. 

And so if you asked the staff what happened last Friday they would tell you that they attended, or almost attended a Day with Carey Niewhof, but they would all tell it from different perspectives.  We all talked to different people, we all remembered different things that Carey said, some of us were at some of the events and others weren’t for various reasons. 

And so was the day that we collectively refer to as Palm Sunday.  A lot of stuff happened that day, more than just a parade with palm branches.  We are now in the homestretch of this part of the Jesus story. There is barely a week left in this chapter of the book when it would close with the bloody and brutal death of Jesus. 

So what happened on that day and the next day, and what does it tell us about the Jesus we serve and call Lord?

Well, it did begin with a parade.  Jesus arrives in town after having spent six days in Bethany at the house of Lazarus and his sisters Mary and Martha.  I spoke about Martha a few weeks ago.  This was the Lazarus who Jesus had raised from the dead.  John 12:9-11 When all the people heard of Jesus’ arrival, they flocked to see him and also to see Lazarus, the man Jesus had raised from the dead. Then the leading priests decided to kill Lazarus, too, for it was because of him that many of the people had deserted them and believed in Jesus. Man that was harsh.  But as far as we know Lazarus wasn’t killed by the leading priests, but they thought about it and you know what they say, “It’s the thought that counts.”

So what are the lessons we learn?

And so we pick up the story in John 12:12-13 The next day, the news that Jesus was on the way to Jerusalem swept through the city. A large crowd of Passover visitors took palm branches and went down the road to meet him. They shouted, “Praise God! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the LORD! Hail to the King of Israel!”

Everyone See’s Jesus Through Their Own Eyes  There were all kinds of people in the crowd that day, people who had benefited from Jesus’ ministry, perhaps they had been healed, or had been fed as part of the crowd that experienced the miracle of the loaves and fishes.  Or maybe their lives had been changed by Jesus’ teachings.

They had finally discovered the power of forgiveness in their lives, or they had embraced what it truly meant to love God and love people.  Perhaps one of the Parables had been an “Ah Hah” moment in their lives and because of Jesus they had become better husbands and better wives, better parents and better employees or employers. 

And so for these people they were praising God for the Jesus who had impacted their life in such a meaningful way.  Life would never be the same for these people, they would always talk about and point to the moment in time that they met Jesus.

And there are folks like that here today, you are different then you were because you met Jesus.  A few weeks ago a friend of ours, the widow of one of our Pastors in the district passed away.  And at her funeral her son spoke and he referenced all of the nice things that people had said about his mother, and Pauline Fancy was truly a wonderful and gracious woman of God.  And Bud said something to the affect that many people talked about what a wonderful woman Pauline was but he said she wasn’t born that way, she was born again that way. 

And if you have experienced the life changing power of Christ in your life or the life of a loved one you know exactly what Bud was talking about.

But there were others in the crowd that day.  They were the curious, those who had heard about Jesus but hadn’t actually met him.  Perhaps they had heard the stories of blind men being able to see or crippled folks being able to walk.  Maybe a friend of a friend was a cousin of the lady who had touched Jesus in the crowd and had been healed of a disease that she had had for twelve years.

And so they had come to see the one they had heard so much about.  And maybe that is why you are here today, you are seeking to find out more about God and Jesus and you heard that he was here.   These folks participated in praising Jesus that morning but they didn’t have a relationship with him but somewhere in their heart and soul was a longing for more. We have been created to have a relationship with our creator.  There is an eternal longing in each of us to connect with God.

And I’m sure that you are here today as well, perhaps it was when you started your family that you began to look for that relationship, or maybe a crisis, the death of a family member, or a relationship struggle that brought you to this point.  But you are looking for something more than is offered by the world and a career. 

Or maybe they were curious about where this Jesus would lead the country of Israel, was he truly the Messiah? Could he be king?

But there were also the apathetic there that day, perhaps they had been dragged out to see Jesus by a spouse or a parent.  Or maybe they had just been standing on the side of the road when Jesus rode by on the donkey, but they really weren’t engaged.  They might have shouted and waved a palm branch or two but it was just so they wouldn’t stand out from the crowd, there was no significance in their actions.  Sound familiar to anyone here?  I would love to think that we are all here today because when we got up this morning the burning desire in our hearts was to worship God and to hear from his word.  But I’m sure that there are those here who are here because being here is easier than not being here. 

This Day Shows the Diversity of Who Jesus Was

A lot of things happened during those 36 hours or so, it began with Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem, but if you continue to read in the four gospel accounts the day didn’t end when Jesus got off the donkey.  Most of your bibles include headings within chapters, listen to some that I found in my bible that relate to those two days:  Jesus’ Triumphant Entry, Jesus Predicts His Death, Jesus Clears the Temple, Jesus Curses the Fig Tree, The authority of Jesus Challenged, Jesus Weeps Over Jerusalem He was a busy boy that day, but what it shows us is how multifaceted Jesus was and how multifaceted his ministry was.

It is so easy to fall into the trap of developing this one dimensional image of who Jesus was.  And so we see him as the baby in the manger, or the crucified Christ on the cross.  As the good shepherd with the lamb across his shoulders welcoming the little children to come to him.  Or we visualize him as a miracle worker, walking on water performing healings, casting out demons, feeding multitudes and commanding nature. 

But we end up being like the blind men and the elephant.  Did you learn the legend of the Blind Men and the Elephant when you were in school?

I remember learning the Indian legend in school and pretty sure that Dad read me the poem when I was a kid, today you get the Poem which was written by John Godfrey Saxe, an American Poet,  and is entitled Blind Men and an Elephant

It was six men of Indostan To learning much inclined,
Who went to see the Elephant (Though all of them were blind),
That each by observation Might satisfy his mind.

The First approach'd the Elephant, And happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side, At once began to bawl:
"God bless me! but the Elephant Is very like a wall!"

The Second, feeling of the tusk, Cried, -"Ho! what have we here
So very round and smooth and sharp? To me 'tis mighty clear
This wonder of an Elephant Is very like a spear!"

The Third approached the animal, And happening to take
The squirming trunk within his hands, Thus boldly up and spake:
"I see," quoth he, "the Elephant Is very like a snake!"

The Fourth reached out his eager hand, And felt about the knee.
"What most this wondrous beast is like Is mighty plain," quoth he,
"'Tis clear enough the Elephant Is very like a tree!"

The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear, Said: "E'en the blindest man
Can tell what this resembles most; Deny the fact who can,
This marvel of an Elephant Is very like a fan!"

The Sixth no sooner had begun About the beast to grope,
Then, seizing on the swinging tail That fell within his scope,
"I see," quoth he, "the Elephant Is very like a rope!"

And so these men of Indostan Disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion Exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right, And all were in the wrong!

MORAL.

So oft in theologic wars,  The disputants, I ween,
Rail on in utter ignorance Of what each other mean,
And prate about an Elephant Not one of them has seen!

And sometimes I’m afraid that it’s too easy to just focus on one aspect of who Jesus was and that is all we can see.  The all loving all accepting Jesus, the angry Jesus who clears the temple and curses the fig tree, the miracle working Jesus who is there to grant every wish.  But no one of those is who Jesus is. 

Have you been down at the water front and seen the artists drawing the caricatures?  You know where they focus on a couple of the physical characteristics of the person they are drawing and overemphasise those to make a point?  Here is how artists have seen the Prime Minister over the past few years.  But that isn’t really what Stephan Harper looks like.

And I’m afraid that often what we have is not a picture of Jesus but a caricature of Jesus.  You understand what I mean, if we only focus on certain areas of Christ’ ministry we don’t see the entire picture.  And so on that day, a week before his eventual arrest and crucifixion we see Jesus as a humble messiah riding into Jerusalem on a young donkey, fulfilling a prophecy made by Zechariah hundreds of years before. 

And the people are singing his praises, waving palm branches and laying down the coats for Jesus to ride on and when the religious leaders demand that Jesus muzzle his followers Christ replies by telling them in Luke 19:40 He replied, “If they kept quiet, the stones along the road would burst into cheers!”   If I said that you wouldn’t consider me very humble but then I’m not God, and so it is evidence of Jesus’ self-awareness.

And then we see Jesus enter into the temple where he sees merchants selling doves for the sacrifices and changing the foreign currency of pilgrims who have come from away into the appropriate coins needed in the temple.  And really there was nothing wrong with that, but what was wrong was that those who were doing the selling and changing were gouging those had made a sacrifice to come and worship God.  And most of you know the story how Jesus makes a whip out of ropes and starts turning over the tables of the merchants and money changers and chasing them out of the temple.   Jesus angry?  Jesus Judgemental?  Wow, that is a game changer for some. 

And then there is the story told by both Matthew and Mark about how Jesus and his disciples were hungry and they saw a fig tree full of leaves but upon closer investigation there was no fruit on the tree, no figs.  And so Jesus curses the tree and it withers and dies.  And while that in itself seems a little intense Mark tells us that it wasn’t even the season for the tree to have figs on it.  So what was with that?  I don’t know and really neither does anyone else they are just guessing. 

Some commentators have said that the trees around Jerusalem had fruit earlier than other parts of the country because it was more temperate, others have suggested that the tree didn’t even have the early buds that would eventually become fruit.  So there wasn’t even the promise of fruitfulness. 

But what we have is a little snippet of an event without the conversation or context that went into it.  That’s another one of my “when I get to heaven” questions.    But combined with the story of the clearing of the temple it would indicate that Jesus isn’t necessarily all loving and all accepting, “that’s all right at least you tried” saviour that some have embraced.  That he has certain expectations for how we act and how we behave.  He expected those outside the temple to not cheat people, he expected the fig tree to be fruitful.

But we still don’t have a complete picture of Jesus.  Let’s add another story from the day, Luke 19:41-42 But as they came closer to Jerusalem and Jesus saw the city ahead, he began to weep. “How I wish today that you of all people would understand the way to peace.”  For the past three years Jesus had taught the scriptures had pointed people toward God, had spoken of forgiveness and peace and grace and they just hadn’t gotten it.  And it broke his heart. 

Parent’s when you try to teach your kids those lessons of life and they don’t seem to get it, does it break your heart?  I would imagine that Jesus has wept for me and probably because of me as well. 

And so leading up to the arrest, trial and crucifixion of Jesus we see this multi-dimensional image of Jesus.  Not a caricature but a true picture of the one we serve and love.  His self-awareness, he knew he was God, that’s why he had told his followers in John 14:6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.

And that fact that some would still choose to ignore that reality and choose to not accept the grace and salvation that he was offering broke his heart.  And the fact that others would choose to flaunt their rejection of the love and law of God made him angry.  

Which leads us to the next point, because if we go further along in John’s account we read this note that the Gospel writer includes:  John 12:37 But despite all the miraculous signs Jesus had done, most of the people still did not believe in him.

The Reality is Not Everyone Will Get It We want to think that everyone will get it, that nobody will be lost, that at some point even if it happens on their death bed that everyone will fall in love with God and accept Christ. 

And as much as we want that to happen, the reality is that 2000 years ago people watched as Jesus performed miracles, they ate the bread and fish that were formed in his hands, they saw their loved ones healed, they heard his teaching, they saw his  tears and still most of the people did not believe in him.

And he did not force them to. The one with the power to command the wind and waves most certainly had the power to break the will of the people who listened to his teachings and witnessed his miracle 2000 years ago but he did not come to create a kingdom using force then or now. 

There is a great promise in God’s word, it’s found in 2 Peter 3:9 The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.

But ultimately it will be your choice and yours alone. 

Everyone one of us has a choice to make, will you believe? Will you choose to surrender your life or not?  As much as I pray for people and weep for people I can’t force them into a relationship with God.  I can’t and God won’t.  Are you willing to take the step yourself? 

 

Zach in a Tree

The crowd surged toward the road, pushing and shoving to get a better look at the man called Jesus.  The city was Jericho and it was wall to wall people, each one of them eager to get a look at the young carpenter from Nazareth that everyone was talking about.   It was his first time to this historic city but obviously his reputation had preceded him.  The people had come out in mass to see this man who had made the lame to walk and the blind to see, to see the one who could speak and make the winds die down, who could command and see the demons flee.

Not that Jericho was a stranger to the holy and the awesome.  It was at Jericho that Rahab the harlot hid the spies of Israel, it was at Jericho that Joshua was commanded to take off his sandals because he was standing on holy ground, it was Jericho that the people of Israel marched around seven times and when they shouted to God and blew their trumpets it was Jericho that came crashing down.   It was going into Jericho that Jesus healed blind Bartimaeus, and it was on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho that the Good Samaritan came upon the unfortunate traveller who had been robbed and left for dead. 

It was a rich city, referred to some as the city of palms, while the Jewish historian Josephus called it “a divine region”.  And so it was through Jericho that Christ came on his last visit to Jerusalem. Jericho which had the largest tax base of any city in Palestine.  It was the perfect place for a corrupt little tax collector to live, a corrupt little chief tax collector named Zacchaeus to be exact.

The bible tells us a little bit about Zach in Luke 19:2 There was a man there named Zacchaeus. He was the chief tax collector in the region, and he had become very rich.

1) Zach Was A Tax-Collector

Now that doesn't say a lot but we need to recognise the fact that Zach wasn't everybody's favourite person, as a matter of fact Zach wasn't anybody's favourite person not even his mother's.

That may seem more than a little unfair but Zacchaeus was a tax collector and Jericho was a city of great wealth and one of the greatest tax bases in the area, and it was from the wealth and the poverty of the people of Jericho that Zacchaeus amassed his own personal fortune.  You have to remember that Palestine was an occupied country under roman rule and so even if the tax collectors weren't notoriously dishonest they had taken service under the Romans and because of that they were considered both renegades and traders by their countrymen.

Let's take a moment now and have everybody visualise Joe Oliver our illustrious Minister of Finance, if you thought it was Jim Flaherty you need to catch up on your news.  Ok, If you don’t know what Joe Oliver looks like here you go, you got that picture in your mind?  Now add to that the amount of tax you had to pay this year on everything except the air that you breathe, right?  Now multiple the distaste you feel for the right honourable Mr. Oliver by 7.6543 and you may be close to how the people of Jericho felt about our hero.

The tax concessions were like franchises.  The Roman's assessed the area and what they felt the tax should be, and then they sold the right to collect those taxes to the highest bidder above that amount.  The trick being that anything the tax collector collected over the set fee was his cut that was how he paid the bills.

If you think that our tax load is high there were four distinct and separate taxes levied in Palestine at the time.  First was the stated tax and that was paid for everyman between 14 and 65 and every woman from the age of 12 to 65 and that was a flat rate that you paid simply for the privilege of being alive.  The second was the ground tax, you got it; that was the tax you paid on the ground you lived on regardless of whether you owned, rented or borrowed it.  The third tax was income tax and I’m sure I don't have to explain that to you and the last tax was something which they called duties and it basically taxed everything that hadn't been taxed up to that point.  It paid for the use of roads, harbours, the market etc.  For example there was a tax levied on a cart and it was based on a set fee for each wheel as well as for the number and types of animals which pulled it. 

In duties there were purchase taxes and import taxes and export taxes.  A tax collector could stop you on the road make you unpack your load and then charge you tax on what you were carrying in your bundles.  The rabbis spoke of robbers, murderers and tax collectors in the same breath.  Do you recall that whenever the Pharisees became critical of the company Jesus was keeping they always spoke of “tax collectors and sinners” at the same time.  That was part of the reason that tax collectors were barred from the temple.  And Zacchaeus wasn't just any tax collector he was the chief tax collector.   In every sense of the word he was the man everybody loved to hate.

Luke 19:3 He tried to get a look at Jesus, but he was too short to see over the crowd.

2) Zach Had a Problem    Now somewhere somehow this tax collector had stumbled unto news of Jesus of Nazareth, a Godly teacher who associated with sinners and tax collectors.  What type of man was this?  Why was he willing to be seen in the company of those whom polite society shunned?

And now he hears that this Jesus fellow is right here in Jericho!  And so as the crowd surges forward toward the road way to catch a glimpse of the one whispered to be the messiah, Zacchaeus joins in the attempt to view the carpenter from Nazareth.  And I’m sure that as Zach tries to get through the crowd that people begin to recognise who he was and they begin to push him this way and shove him that way..  And even as they struggle to see the prince of peace they took the opportunity to vent their frustration on poor old Zach.

You see Zacchaeus had a major handicap, he was short.  Not that being short is necessarily a handicap, unless of course you are standing on the sidewalk trying to watch a parade.  Now to be truthful we don't know how short he was, but it must have been short enough for Luke to feel like he should mention it.

Every one of us has a handicap of some sort that can keep us from seeing Jesus.  Maybe it's a cultural handicap.  If you were brought up Jewish or Muslim then you would have a predefined concept of who Jesus was and that could prevent you from seeing him for who he really is.  The same would apply if you were brought up in a home that was hostile toward the gospel and the church.  If you are only hearing the name of Christ as a curse, and always hearing that the church is this or that, it would colour your opinion and become a handicap to you accepting the gospel.

Sometimes it's just the opposite.  It's unfortunate but true that while many Christian parents are very adamant about making their kids religious they are very lax about making sure that their kids have the opportunity to become Christians.

Years ago I read a statement that warned Parents about the dangers of inoculating our children with small amounts of Christianity so they never catch a dose of the real thing.  And so what happens is that if we have been told about Jesus Christ all our lives but our parents have never taken the opportunity to introduce us to him we may not be able to see him because we think we know all about him.

Here is a little aside for the parents of children at home, the person with the primary responsibility to lead your child to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ is not Deborah and her team in the Nursery, or Marilyn and her team in junior church or Ben and his team in youth or Denn Guptill in church.  The person with the primary responsibility for leading your child to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ is you.  You see at some point in your child's life you will experience a relationship where they will exhibit the utmost trust in what you say, now that may only last for twenty minutes, but it's at that time that you as a Christian parent have an obligation to lead your child into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

Now if your response is “I’ll wait until they get older and let them decide for themselves” realize that every year they go without accepting the lord increases the chance of them not accepting him and going to hell.  Like when was the last time you let your kid's wait until they were sixteen to decide if they should go to school, or go to the dentist.  “I’ll let them decide for themselves whether or not they want a job and teeth when they are adults”.

Zacchaeus had a handicap that kept him from seeing the Lord and in that he was somewhat like each of us.  And so he decided that if he was going to overcome his handicap he would have to take matters into his own hands and so we are told in Luke 19:4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree beside the road, for Jesus was going to pass that way.

3) Zach Was a Risk Taker

I love this picture, here's short little Zacchaeus gathering all his robes, and probably very nice robes, remember how rich he was,  gathering all his robes up and racing madly down the street.

Now I might be making some unfair assumptions but I would suspect that Zacchaeus was probably very dignified and superior acting in keeping with his position.

Now I like being tall and when I want to make an impression I use every one of my 187 cm to make that impression.  But I would suspect that Zacchaeus used his air of dignity to accomplish the very same thing.  Somehow though the picture that comes to mind of Zacchaeus racing as fast as he can, picking up and putting down those short little legs, his robes gathered up in his arms.  Is not real dignified is it?

So he gets down the street and he still can't see Jesus but he sees the crowd surging toward him and he suddenly realises that it don't matter how fast he runs that when the crowd gets there he's still gonna be too short to see over them.  Off to one side he spots a sycamore tree and he rushes over, lifts his robes and starts to shinny up this skinny little tree. Ladies and gentlemen pause if you will and try to imagine yourself climbing a tree in an evening gown, quite an image isn't it.  That was what Zacchaeus had to do in his robes.

You see in order to overcome his handicap, Zacchaeus had to first overcome his pride.  I don't know what keeps you from seeing Christ as saviour, but if’n I was a gambling man I’d bet dollars to donuts that a lot of it was pride.  Don't let pride stand in your way because there won't be a lot to be proud of in hell.  The story is told of Harry Ironside, one of the great bible teachers of the last century, as a child.  One evening after the family came back from church Ironside confessed to his mother that during the invitation to come forward to accept Christ that he had felt to go but was afraid that his friends would laugh at him.  His mother told him, “Harry, your friends may laugh you into hell but they will never be able to laugh you out of hell.”  Your pride may get you to hell but it won't do you much good when you get there.

So there he is in all his dignity the chief tax collector of Jericho up in a tree watching the parade and Luke tells us in Luke 19:5 When Jesus came by, he looked up at Zacchaeus and called him by name. “Zacchaeus!” he said. “Quick, come down! I must be a guest in your home today.”

4) Jesus Found Zach

I love it, it was because Zacchaeus was willing to break with tradition and go against the flow that something wonderful happened.  Jesus came to his house for lunch.

I'm sure if Zacchaeus had any friends that they would have said “you can't do that Zach”  “what will people think” “it's never been done like that before”  “what will people say if you fall out of the tree?”, “this Jesus fellow is going to think that you are some kind of nut case” as luck would have it though Zacchaeus either didn't have any friends or there weren't any around.  I once saw a bumper sticker that sums up my approach to life, it said and I quote “no guts, no glory.”  Now I know that doesn't sound real spiritual but if we're going to get anything done for God then we are going to have to take a risk. And I get sick of little churches and little pastors who bemoan the fact that they never see any growth or any action in their church but they wouldn't know a risk if they fell over one let alone took one.

When Jesus calls people he calls them out of mediocrity and into risk taking.  If the twelve hadn't been willing to take a risk then the gospel wouldn't have spread throughout the holy land, and if Paul hadn't been ready to take a risk then the gentiles would never have heard the gospel.  And if Luther hadn't taken a risk we would still have a pope and if john Wesley hadn't taken a risk then we would still have the archbishop of Canterbury.

And if folks hadn't taken a risk then there wouldn't be a Cornerstone Wesleyan Church.  And if Zacchaeus hadn't been willing to take a risk he would never have met Jesus.

Listen to Luke 19:9-10 Jesus responded, “Salvation has come to this home today, for this man has shown himself to be a true son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.”

5) Zach Found Jesus

Salvation has come to your house, praise God Zacchaeus got saved.  The chief tax collector, one of the most hated men in Jericho had opened his heart to Jesus and Christ had washed that sin stained heart whiter then snow.  But why Zach?  Because Jesus said that he had come to seek and to save what was lost.  You don't need to save those who are already saved, you don't have to give sight to those who can already see or heal those who are already well and those who are already found don't need finding.

Zacchaeus was a sinner but then again according to Paul in Romans 3:10 As the Scriptures say, “No one is righteous— not even one.

One of the hardest steps in finding the saviour is admitting that you need a saviour, but the fact of the matter is that everybody has as much of a need of Jesus as did Zacchaeus.

Luke 19:8 Meanwhile, Zacchaeus stood before the Lord and said, “I will give half my wealth to the poor, Lord, and if I have cheated people on their taxes, I will give them back four times as much!”

Ain’t it great?  They say a leopard can't change his spots, well if he gets saved he'd better.  Not only was Zach a saved man he was a changed man as well.  Wealth was everything to Zach and he gave half of it away to the poor, and then he used the other half to right any wrongs,  he told people, if I cheated you out of $100.00 then I will repay you $400.00

You never realize how much things mean to you until you have to get rid of them, when we were on our way to Australia I couldn't understand why Angela was getting so upset over selling some old furniture, well I discovered a few flaws in my character when I sold my car and my motorcycle within seven days of each other.  My neighbour summed it up when he said “Denn you're living in an empty house and driving a borrowed car.”  I realised then just how I’d been building bigger barns and I knew that if I learnt nothing else from my decision to move to Australia that it shed a whole new light on what things I owned and what things owned me.

The truth of the matter is that Zacchaeus was a changed man because his priorities had changed.  How about it, does 2 Corinthians 5:17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!  Apply to you?