Nancy K. Grace tells the following story in her book Just Between Us. It’s dinnertime and the family is called to the table. The kids have been outside playing in the sandbox, and are starved. They bolt into the house, sit down and start to fill their plates to eat while Mom is still getting things on the table. She notices they have not washed their hands, and sends them to go wash their hands before dinner. Grudgingly they do, but return with grumpy attitudes because they managed to get in a fight while washing their hands.

Rewind. Take two. It’s dinnertime, and the family is called to the table. The kids have been playing outside in the sandbox and are starved. They bolt into the house and remember to go wash their hands before sitting down at the table to wait for everyone. The meal begins and pleasant dinner conversation follows.

Which scenario can you identify with? The children ignoring their dirty hands and rushing to the table or the children willingly washing their hands before a meal? It’s better for us to approach our heavenly Father with the attitude of knowing we have dirty hands and seek his cleansing, than rushing into his holy presence without being clean. While the Lord lovingly accepts us as we are, our part is to continually seek his forgiveness.

I share this story because it is an excellent parallel to Jesus’ story about the crowd and Zacchaeus. Jesus’ story is controversial. It is controversial in the sense that forty years ago the movie, “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” was controversial. For those younger then forty here is a quick synopsis. The movie was about a white young woman who meets an African American male doctor while vacationing in Hawaii. Nine days later they are engaged and planning a move to Europe after their wedding. The young doctor had graduated from a top school, begun innovative medical initiatives in Africa, and refused to have premarital sex with his fiancée despite her request. The only possible objection to his marrying his white fiancée would be his race, which back in the 1960's was indeed a serious issue.

When Jesus told Zacchaeus ‘Guess Whose Coming to Dinner’ he was being controversial. It was controversial because the Romans levied very heavy taxes on all nations under their control to finance their world empire. The Jews greatly opposed these taxes because they were used to support a secular government and its pagan gods.

Tax collectors, like Zacchaeus were without a doubt the most unpopular people in Israel. Zacchaeus, a Jew by birth, chose to work for Rome and was therefore viewed as a traitor. To make things even worse it was a known fact that tax collectors had a habit of making themselves rich by gouging their fellow Jews.

So you can understand the uproar the people made when Jesus said to the cheating turncoat Zacchaeus,

“I must stay at your house today.”

So why Zacchaeus?

The answer I had earlier this week is not the answer I am giving to you this morning. The reason for that is that I did not know Greg or Zane or D Grey until this weekend. They were the leaders of the Dare 2 Share Youth Conference we attended Friday and Saturday. Greg grew up in the ghetto and described his family as the ghetto’s version of the Soprano’s. D Gray was a professional football player who enjoyed the NFL party life style. Zane had no problem with sexual immorality or making the decision with his girl friend to abort their baby.

I have a feeling that if the parents of our youth knew this about the conference leaders they may have had some problems with letting their teens go.

The reason why Jesus went to Zacchaeus and said,

‘Zacchaeus, come down immediately.
I must stay at your house today.’

Is the same reason he went to Zane, to Greg, to D Gray. It is the same reason He came to me. We were in dire need of salvation. Without Jesus Christ we are living dead end lives. Without Jesus we don’t have the always present power of God Himself in us. Without Jesus you and I would have absolutely no idea where we are going when we die.

This weekend we were reminded of or learned for the first time the Gospel Journey. The Gospel Journey is this:

God created us to be with Him.
Genesis 1, 2

Our sins separate us from God.
Genesis 3

Sins cannot be removed by good deeds.
Genesis 4 – Malachi 4

Paying the price for sin, Jesus died and rose again.
Matthew – Luke

Everyone who trusts in Him alone has eternal life.
John – Jude

Life that’s eternal means we will be with Jesus forever.
Revelation

Zacchaeus accepted Jesus’ invitation and the end result was that he not only confessed his sin, but also pledges restitution. Greg, Zane, and D. Grey responded to Jesus’ invitation. The end result was they confessed their sins and they are now energizing and equipping teenagers to know, live, share and own their faith in Jesus! Zane shared that when he accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior he became a new creation, the old nature was put to death as promised in 2 Corinthians 5:17

Why Zacchaeus, or Greg or Zane or D Grey or me or you because Jesus the son of man came to seek and to save what was lost.

We are all lost in need of saving. As scripture states,

"We all fall short of the glory of God."

Where are you falling short of the glory of God? What might Jesus be inviting you to do? Is He extending an invitation to recover meaning and significance in your life? Is it possible that He is asking you to repent of wrong practices? Is Jesus asking you to pay back generously someone you have wronged? Is Jesus inviting you to share your faith in Jesus Christ with someone who doesn’t believe? Is He giving encouraging o get rid if the believe that your deeds are good enough to save? Is He asking you to change your believe that it doesn’t really matter what you believe as long as you believe in something.

Accept Jesus' invitation the result will be, "Today salvation has come to this house."
 

amen