Gotta love a guy like Zacchaeus with his hybrid name (Zach from Zachariah and the Latin ending 'aeus') and his hybrid condition of working for the Romans and living among the Jews. He is a reject in both realms. He certainly does not fit the criteria for being redeemable according to the Pharisees/Calvinists of his day. Here, certainly, is a reprobate. The people are shocked that Jesus would invite Himself to lunch with a "sinner." Zacchaeus is not just a garden variety sinner like Peter or the sons of Zebedee who might be let in to heaven if the Pharisees are feeling generous at the judgment. The Pharisees considered the sinfulness of ordinary Jews to be just their bad luck...like the stupidity of Hindu "karma" (by the way, the irony of the Pharisees is that they were gung ho for the law of Moses but had Greek Philosophy imbedded in their hearts...same as Calvinists.) However, in their judgment, Zacchaeus had achieved the full status of "sinner." He was as unclean as a leper.
The wonderful thing about this story is that it is the context to one of the most beautiful expressions of God's love beside John 3:16. "The Son of Man is come to seek and to save, that which is lost." Luke 19:10 KJV. If you have ever been lost, you know how beautiful it is when someone tells you how to find your way again; especially when he tells you what to look for even before you get there. You know you can trust that more than an electronic GPS. The Holy Spirit is always/all ways directing us to the cross. He can see it and how to get us back to it no matter what wide gate with a broad path has taken us into the brambles of our own stupidity.
The curious thing about the truth expressed in Luke 19:10 is that Calvinists ignore its obvious rebuke of their stupidity. What in the world is Jesus seeking? If the Calvinist formula of pre-packaged certification before creation and owning a piece of the eternal flame (Gnostic) as an eternal being (Mormonism, Jehovah's Witness...y'all are in bad company!) that gets activated in individual consciousness by the word (aren't you Calvinists lucky that you can read...) is true, then why is Jesus looking for them? They are not "lost" like the rest of us who are unlucky or "sinners." They are pre-saved and lucky and the ministry of Jesus, according to Calvinist doctrine, is play acting...a sham. Notice that verse 9 tells the judgmental people at the door of Zacchaeus' house that "salvation" had come there. He certainly had come there and found what He was looking for: Lostness.
That salvation, which is Jesus, is available at the cross. There is no other formula for finding your way home. Come to the cross.
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