A Picture of Salvation

A Picture of Salvation
By Rev. William Dohle

"Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.
When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, 'Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.' So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.
All the people saw this and began to mutter, 'He has gone to be the guest of a 'sinner.'
But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, 'Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.'
Jesus said to him, 'Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. 10For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.'"
Luke 19:1-10

What does “salvation” look like? If you were to draw a picture of what this little words means, what would you draw?

Most of us would probably draw a cross. Maybe an empty tomb. Some of us might draw a picture of a man or woman jumping up for joy.

But what about this picture. The picture of a family who gives half of their possessions to those poorer than they are.

Sounds terribly wild, huh? But it happens...even today!

Yesterday’s Parade magazine featured the story of a family who did just that. This family of four had everything they ever wanted. A spacious three- story home. Entertainment galore. The ability to go wherever they wanted to. Life was pretty great! Or so it seemed.

When their daughter, Hanna, was 14 she got discouraged about the disparities in the world. Seeing the large gap between her family’s wealth and the extreme poverty in the rest of the world, she challenged her family to make a difference. To live differently. Her family considered what she said and asked her what she would give up personally. Hanna said she’d sacrifice her house and her room and just about anything else just to make a difference.

And she did too. Her family followed their daughter’s urgings, sold their home, and bought a smaller one. The difference in price they decided to donate to a worthy charity, one that was making a difference with the hungry, the poor, and the needy. And now they live in a smaller house happier than they were before. (You can read their whole story here)

Echoes of Zacchaeus echo through their story. Zacchaeus in the Gospel of Luke is a tax collector for Rome who after eating with Jesus decides to give half of everything he has away to the poor and to make amends for all the wrong he has done. And to this Jesus responds by saying: “Today, salvation has come to this house!”

We are like Zaccheus and the Salwen family in many ways. Most of us are pretty well off. We own one...or even two...homes! We might have a cabin in the woods where we retreat to, not to mention our large home we live in most of the time. We own entertainment, vehicles, and the like. We stock our pantries with food for months, though we can buy what we need whenever we choose. We don’t have to worry about money anymore because we figure we have it made. We’ve gone through our rough times, perhaps when we were young. It’s time to relax and celebrate now.

But what if... What if you were to take what you own and ask yourself what you truly need? What if you only used what you needed and decided, on a whim, to give the rest away! Maybe it would happen quickly, as it did for Zaccheus. Or maybe it would happen for you slower, as you sort through your life and your possessions and start passing on what you own to someone else.

Your actions would certainly help someone in need, especially if you gave the proceeds away! And maybe they would be a picture of salvation too. For ultimately they would help you out. They would help you appreciate the blessings God has given you, reach out to the world in need, and center yourself on the God who gives you enough breath for a single moment, and no more.
God’s picture of salvation is a picture of sacrifice. God sacrificed his one and only Son. What are YOU willing to sacrifice for your salvation? Amen.