Come follow me

19 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 because he was short he could not see over 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.” Luke 19:1-11

The theme of yesterday, for me, was seeking and saving the loss. It began at our usual pattern of attending church at our beloved New Hope Church, New Hope, Minnesota. Pastor Matthew St. John, after a glorious period of singing praise and worship to our Savior Jesus came up and read the words from Luke 19:1-9 to us. I discovered from those verses that Jesus called ordinary men to follow him. Jewish men who as boys failed in their system of memorizing the texts to become Rabbi's who instead were encouraged to learn a trade.

Twelve ordinary men who chose to follow Jesus and make a difference in the lives of those around them. 12 ordinary men who spread the news of hope to all who were grieving. 12 ordinary men who defied the old system of gathering great knowledge and degrees to become 'like Jesus' to set the world on fire for Christianity and give hope to the masses where there was not hope.

The world is filled with too many people looking for ways to trip others around them just so they can climb to the top. Unkind and unflattering words are spread about them just so their inner being would be demoralize and defeated.
Yet when Jesus uttered the words in Matthew 4:19 "Come, follow Me and I will make you fishers of men.", to two fisherman and two men that failed in their quest to become Rabbi's, got up and followed Jesus. These men saw in Jesus someone who believed in them and they wanted to become just like Jesus.

The words of Jesus, not only gave them the hope of their own salvation,but they provided healing to broken people and gave promise of God's holy spirit coming inside them helping them be the change the world needs to see.

It doesn't take much to realize that the teachings of Jesus Christ became a threat to the Jewish hierarchy that remained constant for centuries.

Let me explain.

In the Jewish world all boys are taught Hebrew and are encourage to memorize the Torah by age 12 of which they are to recite the complete texts perfectly. If they pass they would move on to the next level of training to become Rabbi's.  If they failed the the test, the Jewish Rabbi would tell them they did not pass and that they should go out and learn a trade. Girls were are also encouraged to learn the texts, but as soon as they had their first menstrual cycle the family would begin preparing her for marriage. When God sent his son Jesus Christ into the world he wanted to enable ALL to come to God and experience the free gift of eternal life simply by believing in his son Jesus Christ that he alone is the forever sin bearer.

When Jesus knew Zacchaeus by name and called to him I am sure this chief tax collector's thought was 'I'm just an ordinary person who failed in my quest to become Rabbi what would you want with me'?

Yet, God had an even better plan than the plan of this long establish system. He simply didn't want anyone to perish.

At the service completion  as my wife and I made our way toward the exit stopping and greeting friends I was reminded why we needed this hope in Christ when I saw a couple of emergency response personnel assisting an elderly lady with a unknown health crisis. 

I was again reminded of this as we walked out of the building where our Homebuilder's Sunday school classjust met and  seeing an ambulance and a squad car in front to the house next door responding to another unknown health crisis.

 Life, my friends, is short as those of us who have lost children and loved ones will testify. 

Yet,Christ death and resurrection reminds us that hope is right around the corner because life simply continues from 'life on earth' to life in heaven where we will  get to see our loved ones again  all because of what Jesus Christ did when He died for our sin's.

Our primary goal in this life ought to be to get to know Jesus Christ. We can do that simply by reading the four gospels-Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

The end to our Sunday was spending time with our Life Group and listening to this audio on Discipleship. I encourage you to listen to Ray Vanderlaan describe this concept and the difference it made in ordinary people like Zaacheus.