Grace Unmerited
Grace can be thought of as unmerited favor. God gives grace to everyone, everyday and at every moment reaching out to each of us, all the while calling us to repentance. In Revelations 3:20, we see God’s heart revealed, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, [then] I will enter his house and dine with him, and he with me.” God seeks out each of us personally knocking on the door of our heart, waiting for our response. If we respond opening our hearts, God wants to come into our lives to start the process of building a relationship with him. Notice God says he will enter and dine with us and we with God. Have you ever shared a meal with a best friend and had conversation with them. Those are some of the best times. God also wants to have a relationship where this is the best time of our lives.
Yet, we know that we are sinners. If we honestly look at our lives, we miss the mark all the time in our relationship with others, in our actions as we live out each day, in our words we say or don’t say. That is why grace is unmerited. We don’t deserve this mercy that God offers to us, but God is love, always offering love and mercy to us until we breathe our last breath. God wants us to be with him now in this life and forever in the life to come.
In today’s gospel, Luke 19:1-10, this is exactly what we see when Jesus seeks out Zacchaeus. He was a tax collector, someone considered a traitor to the faith, an extortionist taking taxes from God’s people for the Romans. But he is not just any tax collector. He was a chief tax collector, showing others how to be a tax collector, directing them in how to get the taxes from the people. He would have been even more despised. He is also a short person and when he hears about Jesus coming, he wants to see him, most likely having heard about him from others, maybe even a family member. He decides to climb a tree, so he can get a better viewing of this person he has heard about. And what takes place? Jesus comes up to the tree, tells Zacchaeus to come down, as he means to dine with him today. God is knocking on the door of his heart. Zacchaeus is excited that Jesus wants to come to his house, but not others. They immediately say, “He has gone to stay at the house of a sinner.”
At that moment, grace comes and fills the heart of this sinner. Zacchaeus stands his ground and says he will give half of his possessions to the poor and if he has extorted anything from anyone, he will repay it four times the amount. Grace yields a heart of true repentance in this man, all because of Jesus showing unmerited favor to this sinner. Jesus finally says, “Today salvation has come to this house because this man too is a descendant of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost.”
God is still seeking to save what has been lost. He seeks you and I handing out grace to each of us. Will you listen today for God’s voice and open the door of your heart turning away from sin and toward God? He wants to come to your house today and dine with you.