Jesus believes all things

 JESUS BELIEVES ALL THINGS

“Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.”

LUKE 19.5

Love … believes all things.

1 CORINTHIANS 13.7 ESV

Based on LUKE 19.1–10

Jesus was constantly challenging the Pharisees’ assumptions of right and wrong, clean and unclean, and those who are “in” and those who are “out” of God’s kingdom. In their societal structure, tax collectors were at the very bottom, considered traitors because they gathered taxes on behalf of the Gentiles who ruled over them and often profited by exerting additional fines and fees to line their own pockets.

In their view, tax collectors were no better than unclean Gentiles, even though they were technically Jewish and included in God’s covenant with Abraham. Those devoted to the extra traditions added to Levitical law avoided contact with tax collectors at all costs.

But Jesus sees what is hidden from others’ view.

At the beginning of His public ministry, Jesus welcomed a tax collector, Matthew, to join Him as one of His disciples. Scripture tells us that when Jesus had dinner at Matthew’s house that night “many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples” (Mt 9.10), while the Pharisees rebuked Jesus’ disciples for this suspicious association.

Now, toward the end of His public ministry, Jesus again reaches out to a tax collector, this time the notorious Zacchaeus. Because of Jericho’s strategic location on the border between Judea and Perea, the city would have seen significant customs duties, and Zacchaeus and his tax crew would have been considerably rich. And considerably hated.

But Jesus does not write off Zacchaeus because of his occupation. Instead, He looks at his heart. This man longs to see Jesus, risking additional ridicule by climbing into a tree to see Him over the crowds. Jesus searches him out and honours him with His presence.

Zacchaeus’s response reveals the true nature of his heart, he gladly hosts Jesus and His disciples, he voluntarily offers half of his possessions to the poor, and he fulfils the law by vowing to make restitution for any of his cheating.

All that, simply because Jesus invited Himself over to his house. Because in loving Zacchaeus, Jesus believes “in the best outcome for the one who has done the wrong — that wrong will be confessed and forgiven and the loved one restored to righteousness.” And Zacchaeus responded to Jesus’ love with flourishing repentance.

In contrast, the enemy of our souls is quick to accuse us before God and to condemn us for our sins. He’s the one who sows despair and hopelessness in our hearts, convincing us that we will never be rid of the sin that entangles us.

Jesus knows the state of every person’s heart, and He takes time with those whose hearts are receptive to God’s Word and eager to repent. He knew the state of Zacchaeus’s heart, even though the Pharisees had no idea, and He acts on that belief even when no one else sees it or knows it or even believes it. Jesus believes the best, because He knows the truth about Zacchaeus that was hidden from everyone else.

It’s telling that Jesus demonstrates this believing love not only toward the outcasts, like tax collectors, but also toward the religious elite, like Nicodemus. This Pharisee, a member of the Jewish ruling council, came to Jesus at night, and Jesus greeted him not with suspicion but with sincerity, welcoming his earnest questions.

Zacchaeus and Nicodemus represent two extremes on the religious spectrum, but Jesus recognised the truth of their hearts, even when they themselves failed to see it. His love watered those seeds, and they couldn’t help but respond with an outpouring of love in action — Zacchaeus immediately and Nicodemus gradually.

Prayer 

Precious Jesus, thank You for never giving up on me. Even when I despair, You continue to believe because You Yourself are faithful. You’ve promised to complete the good work You’ve started within me, and You never break Your promises. Oh, how great is Your love for me! Help me to love those hard-to-love people in my own life and to believe in Your work within them.

In Jesus’s name, Amen.

If you want to read more 

Mt 9.9–13, Jn 3.1–21, 19.39–42, Eph 2.8–10, Phil 1.6, Heb 10.19–25