Pieces of the Puzzle

Following Jesus: A Church Centered on Christ

Scripture: Luke 19:1–10; Titus 3:3–7

So much of life seems to work in a certain order.

You prove yourself, then you’re accepted. You work hard, and then you’re rewarded. You meet the expectations, and then you belong.

We learn it pretty early in life. Get the grades. Make the team. Do the job well. Say the right things. Meet the expectations.

After a while, it’s easy to begin believing that acceptance is something we have to earn.

Sometimes we even bring that same way of thinking into our relationship with God. We imagine that we need to get our lives together first. Make better choices. Become a little more faithful, a little more loving, a little more like the person we think God wants us to be.

Then maybe we’ll be ready for God.

But grace works in a very different order.

In Luke 19:1–10, Jesus encounters a man named Zacchaeus. His life is complicated. His choices have affected other people. His reputation in the community isn’t good.

Most of us know what eventually happens: Zacchaeus changes.

But the most surprising part of the story may be when he changes.

Before Zacchaeus changes anything, Jesus sees him.

Jesus calls him by name.

And Jesus invites himself to his house.

Grace comes first. Transformation follows.

The Person Behind the Label

Everybody in Jericho already knows who Zacchaeus is. Luke tells us that he isn’t simply a tax collector. He is a chief tax collector, and he is rich (Luke 19:2).

Tax collectors worked within the Roman system, collecting money from their own people on behalf of an occupying power. The system also provided plenty of opportunity to collect more than was owed and keep the difference.

Zacchaeus hasn’t merely survived within that system. Apparently, he has done quite well for himself.

So the people of Jericho already have him figured out. They have a word for him: sinner.

When Jesus announces that he is going to Zacchaeus’ house, the crowd grumbles:

“He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”
—Luke 19:7

They don’t say, “Zacchaeus.”

They say, “a sinner.”

We can do the same thing.

We take one thing we know about someone—a choice they’ve made, a struggle they’ve had, something they’ve done, or a group they belong to—and allow that one thing to become their whole story.

Divorced. Addict. Immigrant. Republican. Democrat. Troublemaker.

Sometimes a label may tell us something that is true. Zacchaeus really has made choices that have hurt people. Later in the story, even he seems to acknowledge that (Luke 19:8).

But a label can tell us something about a person without telling us everything about that person.

The crowd looks up into the tree and sees everything they already believe about Zacchaeus.

Jesus looks up and sees Zacchaeus.

The crowd sees a category.

Jesus sees a person.

Jesus Looks Up

Zacchaeus climbs a tree because he wants to see Jesus (Luke 19:3–4). But then something happens that changes the whole story:

“When Jesus came to that spot, he looked up…”
—Luke 19:5

Zacchaeus thinks he is looking for Jesus.

But Jesus is already looking for Zacchaeus.

Jesus stops. Jesus looks up. Jesus sees him. And then Jesus calls him by name:

“Zacchaeus, come down at once. I must stay in your home today.”
—Luke 19:5

Notice the order.

Zacchaeus hasn’t confessed anything. He hasn’t given any money away. He hasn’t made things right with anyone he may have harmed. He hasn’t done anything to prove that he deserves Jesus’ attention.

Jesus comes near first.

That’s grace.

In the Wesleyan tradition, we call this prevenient grace—the grace of God that goes before us.

Before we recognize God, God is already reaching toward us. Before we take a step toward Christ, Christ has already taken a step toward us.

Titus describes it this way:

“When God our Savior’s kindness and love appeared, he saved us because of his mercy, not because of righteous things we had done.”
—Titus 3:4–5

Titus gives us the theology.

Zacchaeus shows us what it looks like.

Grace walks right up to the tree. Grace looks up. Grace calls him by name. Grace comes home with him.

Grace comes first. Transformation follows.

Grace Changes Us

Grace coming first doesn’t mean that nothing in Zacchaeus’ life needs to change.

Something happens when Jesus comes near.

Zacchaeus says:

“Look, Lord, I give half of my possessions to the poor. And if I have cheated anyone, I repay them four times as much.”
—Luke 19:8

That’s not a small adjustment.

Grace is reshaping the way Zacchaeus lives—his relationship with money, with his neighbors, and with anyone he may have harmed.

But once again, notice the order.

Jesus doesn’t stand beneath the tree and demand that Zacchaeus prove he has changed before Jesus will come to his house.

Jesus comes near first (Luke 19:5–6).

Grace isn’t God overlooking everything in our lives that needs to change. Grace is much more powerful than that.

Grace meets us where we are and continues working within us. God’s grace forgives, restores, and reshapes us as we grow in love of God and neighbor.

As Paul writes, “it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose” (Philippians 2:13).

Grace isn’t God’s reward for transformation. Grace is God’s power that makes transformation possible.

Grace Changes How We See People

Zacchaeus isn’t the only person being challenged in this story.

There’s also the crowd.

They have already decided who belongs and who doesn’t (Luke 19:7). Churches can fall into the same pattern.

Who belongs?

Who is ready?

Who believes enough?

Who has changed enough?

Who has their life together enough?

But a church centered on Christ learns to see people the way Jesus sees them.

Remember the tree.

The crowd looked up and saw a sinner.

Jesus looked up and saw Zacchaeus.

That’s the kind of vision grace gives us.

Grace teaches us to see people not simply for where they are right now, but as people created and loved by God—and as people in whom God’s grace is still at work.

From the beginning of Scripture, human beings are described as created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26–27). The labels we give one another can never tell the whole story of a person who bears that image.

That doesn’t mean discipleship doesn’t matter. Zacchaeus makes that clear. Encountering Jesus changes the direction of his life (Luke 19:8–9).

But we have to remember the order.

Welcome isn’t the reward people receive after transformation. Welcome creates space where grace can begin transforming lives.

That’s what it means to be a church where grace comes first.

None of us is finished yet.

Every one of us is still being shaped by grace. Every one of us is still learning to follow. Every one of us still has a next faithful step.

We trust that the God who began a good work in us continues that work in us (Philippians 1:6).

A church where grace comes first isn’t a gathering of people who have already arrived.

It is a community of people who have been welcomed by grace, are being changed by grace, and are learning to offer that same grace to one another.

There Is Still a Next Step

Jesus’ invitation to the first disciples was simple:

“Follow me.”
—Matthew 4:19

But the story of Zacchaeus reminds us that even before we begin following Jesus, Jesus has already come toward us.

Grace comes first.

As 1 John puts it, “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19).

Yet grace doesn’t leave Zacchaeus sitting in the tree. Jesus says:

“Zacchaeus, come down.”
—Luke 19:5

That’s his next step.

Once Zacchaeus responds, grace begins reaching into every part of his life—his home, his possessions, his relationships, even the places where harm may have been done (Luke 19:6–8).

The same is true for us.

Some of us have been following Jesus for decades. Some may still be trying to figure out what following Jesus means. Even after years of following, we continue discovering what faithfulness looks like in new seasons and circumstances.

Following Jesus when life is going well may look different from following Jesus through grief, uncertainty, illness, or change. New situations ask something new of our faith.

Discipleship is never something we finish.

We keep listening. We keep learning. We keep growing.

And through it all, God’s grace continues to meet us and invite us forward.

There is always a next faithful step.

Maybe it’s something that needs to change.

Maybe it’s a relationship that needs healing.

Maybe it’s someone we need to see differently.

Maybe it’s simply trusting that God’s grace really is for us.

Whatever that step may be, we don’t take it to earn God’s grace.

We take it because grace has already come near.

Grace comes first. And then grace invites us to follow.

This post is part of our series, Following Jesus: A Church Centered on Christ*, exploring what it means for a congregation—and for each of us—to center our life on Jesus and continue taking the next faithful step.*

Scripture references: Luke 19:1–10; Titus 3:3–7; Genesis 1:26–27; Matthew 4:19; Philippians 1:6; Philippians 2:13; 1 John 4:19.