Why Are You Showing Grace To Them? They Hurt ME!

Read Luke 19:1-10

Everyone always seemed to have a problem with Jesus spending time with sinners.

I used to believe it was because they mused that if Jesus was Who He said He was then sinners were too far beneath Him. Maybe they perceived that those sinners weren’t worth His time. I suppose that it was even that he shouldn’t associate with that “type”. That is until I read the story of Zacchaeus AFTER just speaking some pretty harsh words to God.

From my perspective, He was fighting more for the person who had hurt me than for me.

I was the one begging God for help but it seemed the more I begged the more mercy was being poured out on my offender. The more He was speaking to THEIR heart. I would cry when yet another day would go by and instead of the crushing hand of vengeance being poured out on this person, there was grace. It didn’t make sense. Didn’t God say that He would contend with those who contend with me?

Zacchaeus was a tax collector. He stole more money than what was due and kept it for himself. He oppressed the already destitute people. He treated them unfairly. He was their enemy.

If I was there in the crowd when Jesus entered Zacchaeus’s house, I would have voiced…

“Why him?”

“Why not me?”

“Don’t You see? He is the one wronging me!”

“He is the one offending me!”

“This is not the way you are supposed to be handling my offender Jesus!”

Maybe these were the thoughts of those watching Jesus share a meal with the one who had been literally taking food out of their mouths. They needed God to change their situation but this was not what they had envisioned. We want to see justice served. We want to see Jesus go into the house of the one who stole from us, steal it back, and maybe even a little one-two punch in the gut would help right the wrong. Well, at least it would make ME feel better to watch them suffer as I had suffered. But that isn’t what we see Jesus doing.

If Jesus only came to the ones seeking Him and never to the ones needing to be sought…how would change ever really occur?

And then it happens…

Zacchaeus has an encounter with Jesus and it completely wrecks him. He is so convicted of his sin that he wants to repay MORE than what he stole.

We want Jesus to go into the house and give him the “what-for” but Jesus says, I’m going to do something SO MUCH BETTER. I’m going to go into his house and change his heart so that not only will he repay what he owed but you will get more than what was taken from you. But that’s not all! You also get a changed man who will no longer purpose in his heart to harm you.

The most loving thing God can do is chase, extend grace, and cultivate a relationship with your offender.

It doesn’t seem fair. It’s not what our flesh wants. But in the end, when God changes a heart… relationships are restored, futures are changed, and blessings come in abundance.

Just because you see God showing grace to your offender doesn’t mean He has turned His back on you. No, He is turning your situation around in the best possible way!

He sees you.

He hears you.

Trust in His ways.