From Shame to Honor

By Ptr. Samson Uytanlet

Luke 19:1-10

  1  Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through.   2  A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy.   3  He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd.   4  So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.
  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.
  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 what was lost.”