5 When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down because today it is necessary for me to stay at your house.”
6 So he quickly came down and welcomed him joyfully. 7 All who saw it began to complain, “He’s gone to stay with a sinful man.” (Luke 19:5-7 CSB)
One time when I was at a biker event on a Sunday. Another biker who I was talking to who was a club member said to me, ”Padre, so you decided to hang with the sinners today?”
I responded to him, ”Yea, like I do every Sunday, just with a different group of sinners.”
We may want to think that the places we go on Sunday morning make us ”less of a sinner” but they don’t. Whether we plan to spend our Sunday’s worshiping in a church or with a group on a street, we are just gathering with a different set of sinners. No better, no worse, in God’s eyes.
Christ singled out Zaccheas for two reasons. To teach Zaccheas and those in his circle that they were good enough to receive His offer of salvation, and to prove to everyone else that He had come for everyone. Not just for those society deemed worthy.
When we did an interview for an article for Biker Chaplain we were asked where our church was. At the time we were not holding formal church anywhere, so the answer we gave was unscripted and spot on. Our answer was, ”We hold church where ever we put our kickstands down.”
This should be our mantra still today. The church does not need to be a formal place, just a gathering of sinners seeking Christ love and salvation. If we are not willing to meet people where they are hurting, we will not fulfill The Great Commission given to us all.
