an undeserved invitation

Zaccheus, come down and hurry because today I’m dining at your house.

Jesus didn’t say I will come over after you “repent” or “turn from you wicked ways” or “say the ‘sinner’s prayer.’” 

Jesus’ love is not bounded by outward action or appearance and it is NOT restricted by the current condition of the heart.   It is unconditional and unlimited. 

It is easy for us to read these words and dismiss them.  To read them and forget to apply them to our lives today.  Why do we think that our lives should be spent only with those who are like-minded, with those we have things in common with.  That is not what Jesus did…or maybe it is.  Maybe He identified most with the outcasts and the sinners.  Maybe He was one of us, those of us that never feels like we ever have or ever will fit in anywhere.  Maybe He knows what it is to be different and to not understand the roles that society attempts to force upon us.  Maybe it’s people like Zaccheus and Mary Magdalene that  He intentionally seeks out because they are so real.  Because they are not like ‘white-washed tombs,’ they are not hiding their identities.  Maybe they have the most to turn around and give back to others.

It is so easy to forget, to ‘choose’ who to love and who not to love.  I do not mean to say that you or I don’t care about people, I mean that we do not always show in our actions that we care in the way that He did.  That we do not always love the thief and the tax-collector (politician) without judgment.  That we do not always love the women whose bodies are sold every night without wondering where they come from, what sickness they might have, and if they chose this life.  Can we love without knowing someone’s religion or beliefs or lifestyle choices? 
Do we love regardless of our pasts, our presents and our futures?

Do we love only when we get something in return or do we love because He first loved us?

I think sometimes we forget the story is not just about his stature :) 

It is the ultimate gesture of reaching out, of loving and forgiving, and spending time with those of us who do not deserve even a glance.