Recently, I took my children to the mall for lunch. As we were eating, I noticed a little girl frantically looking for her dad. With tears welling up in her eyes, she called out: “Daddy! Daddy!”  There was no sign of him. Suddenly he appeared, and she was visibly relieved. I said to my children, “I’m glad she found her dad!” To which my youngest son replied, “She didn’t find him; he found her.”

Luke wrote about lost people, wandering aimlessly in their sins, who were found by Jesus. This was the case with the chief tax collector, Zacchaeus (Luke 19). He was viewed with disdain by the Jews because he was assisting Rome in burdening the Israelites with heavy taxes, and also because it was likely he had become wealthy by collecting more money than required.

When Jesus entered Jericho, Zacchaeus climbed up into a tree to get a better view of the Savior. Jesus called up to him and said that He must stay at his house (a divine necessity) (v.5). The other people muttered because Jesus was going to stay at the house of a notorious “sinner” (v.7). But Zacchaeus stood before the Lord and repented, and Jesus responded with a summary statement of His mission and purpose on earth: To bring salvation and the kingdom of God to those who are lost (vv.8-10).

God, through Jesus, came looking for us. He went to great lengths to save us, including taking our sins on Himself. He hung on the cross so that we could be dead to sin and live for what is right. He came “to seek and save” us! (v.10). This is good news!

People all around us are lost, and they think nobody cares about them. We have a responsibility to share the good news so that they too can be saved.