Who did Jesus come for?

Luke 19

Zacchaeus the Tax Collector

 ¹Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. ²A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. ³He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd. ⁴So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.

 ⁵When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today." ⁶So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.

 ⁷All the people saw this and began to mutter, "He has gone to be the guest of a 'sinner.' "

 ⁸But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, "Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount."

 ⁹Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. ¹⁰For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost."

I read this story to my children tonight and a thought struck me. Just who is it that God is interested in? What I mean by this is when we evangelise who are we looking for to evangelise? Its an interesting thing to look at because we all have an idea as to who Jesus wants us to evangelise. Our parents are a good start. Our loved ones and family, yep we definitely want them in the kingdom. But come on who else is there that we think we should be witnessing to?

Well how about this how about we go the red light district and witness to all the prostitutes? How about the drug addicts that would be fun. How about prisoners in jail for murder,rape, wife beating, paedophilia and other crimes we find reprehensible.

I don't like writing this but Jesus is quite categoric in what his mission is. He has come to save the lost. I have been struggling for a while with a thought that I don't really like very much.

Jesus came to save everyone, anyone and lets be candid here there is no sin too big that separates us from the salvation that Christ can offer us as a free gift. I personally do not like the idea that Jesus love can be for anyone and everyone. You see certain crimes I believe that deserve no mercy from God but this is where I have a problem. I believe in a heirachy of sin. There are certain crimes worse than others. The thing is that God does not from my study of the Bible operate in the same way. Sin is Sin. It does not matter that I have not committed any major crimes such as the ones listed above. I am a sinner who deserves to be judged and spend eternity in Hell. I need to get this straight in my mind because it is important. I am no better than the prostitute, wife beater or rapist. I am a sinner. I need Jesus. Now having found Jesus(or him finding me more like!) I have no right to decide who does or does not deserve to have the message of Jesus. Jesus came to save the lost. I am lost but now because of Jesus I am found. Look around you at this world and work out just who is it that needs the love of Jesus.