What to Do When We are Lost

He was short. His stature had caused problems his whole life. Another thing, he was lost. Being lost was a greater problem. At first, he didn’t know he was lost. His name you can read from the Bible text. The first letter was Z.

Let’s call him Z.

Z lived in Jerusalem a little more than 2000 years ago. People did not like him…at all. He was likely without friends. Z had a job that made people dislike, even hate him. Z collected taxes for the Romans who occupied Israel and controlled everything.

At first, Z liked his job…he gave most of the money he collected to the Romans. But he collected more than the Romans took. It took a while, but eventually, Z was a rich man. At first the riches were enjoyable. Yet, the pleasure from wealth soon became stale. The hatred of the people became a burden. The guilt caused by his theft of the money of his neighbors began to eat into his soul. He couldn’t explain it-but he felt empty. He had everything money could buy. Sometime in his life of opulence, he began to realize there was more to life than money. This was when he first felt lost. He didn’t know what to do.

Jesus did.

“Jesus entered Jericho and made his way through the town. There was a man there named Zacchaeus. He was the chief tax collector in the region, and he had become very rich. He tried to get a look at Jesus, but he was too short to see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree beside the road, for Jesus was going to pass that way. When Jesus came by, he looked up at Zacchaeus and called him by name. “Zacchaeus!” he said. “Quick, come down! I must be a guest in your home today.” Zacchaeus quickly climbed down and took Jesus to his house in great excitement and joy. But the people were displeased. “He has gone to be the guest of a notorious sinner,” they grumbled. Meanwhile, Zacchaeus stood before the Lord and said, “I will give half my wealth to the poor, Lord, and if I have cheated people on their taxes, I will give them back four times as much!” Jesus responded, “Salvation has come to this home today, for this man has shown himself to be a true son of Abraham. For the Son of Man[a] came to seek and save those who are lost.” Luke 19:1-10

Why did Z climb the tree to see Jesus? Now, don’t be satisfied with the surface answer-“ Because he wanted to see Jesus.” Ask yourself the deeper question “Why did he want to see Jesus?” What was the reason this man of power would humble himself to climb a tree? Shortness was not the reason.

He had heard about Jesus. Tax collectors met a lot of people, someone told Z what Jesus did for lost people. But this lost doesn’t mean people who cannot find their way. In this case lost means trapped in sin with no way out. Why did Zacchaeus climb the tree? He had come to realize that riches and the way he was living his life left him empty…he was lost. He could not find his way. He was not interested in finding out what Jesus looked like.  He climbed the tree because he thought Jesus could do something about his “lostness.”

 Jesus could. “Hurry, get out of the tree Zacchaeus, I am coming to your house today.”

Read again what Jesus said in verse 10. “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” You and I are lost without Jesus. Neither of us can find our way out of the “lostness” of our sins. But we don’t need to climb a tree. Jesus knows everything about our lost condition. Did you catch the purpose of Jesus’ coming? “…to save the lost!”

He knows where we are…we are not lost to Him. Believe Jesus is the Savior…He saved Zacchaeus. Only Jesus can save the “lost because only Jesus can rescue us from our sins.” So, what do we do when we realize “I’m lost?!!”

Turn to Jesus. Saving the lost is why He came to earth.

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