“Zaccheus stopped and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much.” And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.””
Just look on in amazement at this wonderful scene! All of a sudden Zaccheus is ready to give generously because he’d been given grace. All of a sudden Zaccheus is ready to make restitution to those he’d wronged, even beyond the requirement of the Law of Moses, because he’d been given grace! All of a sudden Zaccheus is ready to obey whatever the One he called “Lord” commands him, because he’d received grace! Now I know calling people to repent of their sins has its place, but did you notice that Jesus isn’t recorded in this story as calling out the egregious nature of his long list of sins? Jesus didn’t have to because Zaccheus already knew how deeply entrenched in sin he was and he knew that Jesus knew too. Yet, in spite of Zaccheus’s many sins, Jesus still came to him publicly and created a safe space for him to receive abundant grace! And now, in light of this, welling up in Zaccheus’s heart was gratitude and signs of genuine repentance. You see, Jesus wants us to fully embrace the reality that this is what organically happens when someone truly receives His grace. Because if we’re going to create a safe space for grace, we need to…
GIVE SPACE FOR GRACE TO TRANSFORM.
It’s like planting a seed. When you plant a seed in the ground your only responsibility is to create the environment for growth and transformation to take place. It takes patience, time and care, but you know, the entire time, that if you just set the right nurturing environment the seed is going to do what seeds do! The seed is going to grow! It’s going to transform from a little seed into a tall fruit-bearing tree! You didn’t cause the seed to grow. You just gave the seed the space and nurturing environment for it to grow. And this is how the seed of grace works when planted in the heart and given the right space for transformation to occur organically.
So watch how Jesus did this for Zaccheus. He created a safe space for Zaccheus to respond to His grace by faith. Then notice that Jesus declared salvation had come to Zaccheus’s house before he could even act on the things he wanted to do in response to Jesus’ grace! Jesus declared Zaccheus saved, who was the worst of sinners and one who wasn’t accommodated because he was different, not because he said he would do good works, but because he had received Christ’s grace in his heart by faith and now the things he desired to do were the grateful evidences that he was being transformed. Describing this very experience, Paul would say in his letter to the church in Ephesus, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” Ephesians 2:8-10 NASB. In other words, salvation by grace received in the heart by faith in Jesus is the root, and the good works God had always intended for you are the fruit. This is why Jesus says that Zaccheus is a son of Abraham; not because he was a biological descendant of Abraham, but now, more importantly, he was a spiritual descendant of Abraham, entering into his legacy of righteousness by faith as Paul describes in Galatians 3:29, “…if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.” Galatians 3:29 NASB. And notice that Jesus gave Zaccheus this assurance of salvation before He went to the cross a little less than two weeks later!
This is the same assurance of salvation Jesus desires you to have abiding in your heart continuously. This is the same assurance of salvation Jesus wants you to give to others by giving them space for grace to transform. It’s not our job to save people. It’s our job to tell people the Good News about how Jesus saved them, so that the seed of His grace can be firmly planted in their hearts by faith. Then it’s our job to create the nurturing environment for the Holy Spirit to cause that seed of grace to grow in His time and not our own. It takes patient care in an environment of loving relationships, like a small group gathering or a family, but this is what it looks like to give space for grace to transform.
This is what the life and ministry of Jesus, His reign of love come down from Heaven to earth, was all about! It was about creating safe spaces for people to experience His grace. And now, filled with the Spirit, He has given us the same calling.
For when we raise our awareness and make accommodations for the neurodivergent, autistic or otherwise different, then we’re creating a safe space for grace!
When we quit waiting for lost people to come to us, but rather we go to them, building a trusted relationship with them and forming a small group around them, then we’re creating a safe space for grace!
When we focus more on listening to people with understanding, empathy and without judgment, then we’re creating a safe space for grace!
When we stop trying to control how quickly people grow spiritually, but rather set the loving, nurturing environment for the Holy Spirit to produce the growth in His time, then we’re creating a safe space for grace!
When we stop letting tradition stifle people’s creativity and innovation, then we’re creating a safe space for grace!
When we quite letting the criticism of unsafe people hijack the Spirit from moving us forward into mission, then we’re creating a safe space for grace!
And when we humble ourselves, expressing compassion to the worst of sinners because we recognize that we are just as much, if not more, in need of grace as they are, then we’re creating a safe space for grace!
We will create safe spaces for the worst sinners and the different to experience grace when we go to their space, refuse to let the unsafe stop us, and give space for grace to transform.
For this is what lead Jesus to the cross. This is why He rose from the grave on the 3rd day. Because Jesus, the Son of Man, came to seek and to save that which was lost, by giving them a safe space for grace. And now, filled with the Holy Spirit, He urgently needs us to do the same for others, because He’s coming again very soon!
