A reflection on Luke 19:1-10
“Today,” Jesus says to Zacchaeus, “salvation has come to this house.” (Luke 19:9)
Which makes me ask the question: what is ‘salvation’? I think for a lot of us (Christians and non-Christians alike), salvation means going to the right place when we die, having our names on the guest list of heaven. To be sure, that’s part of it; but it’s not the whole story.
John Wesley, discussing his idea of salvation said this: “By salvation I mean not barely according to the vulgar notion deliverance from hell or going to heaven but a present deliverance from sin; a restoration of the soul to its primitive health its original purity; a recovery of the divine nature; the renewal of our souls after the image of God in righteousness and true holiness, in justice, mercy, and truth.”
In other words, for Wesley, salvation meant being swept up into the life of God in the here and now; being fully with God in the present in order to be so for ever; living now, in this life, the existence we were always meant to have. The story of Zaccheaus points us to this bigger picture of salvation.
Jesus arrives at this rich tax collector’s house (quite scandalously), and while he’s there things start to change. Tax collectors in Jesus’ day were notorious cheats—that’s how they got so rich; but in response to Jesus, Zacchaeus pledges half his money to the poor and vows to repay fourfold anyone he’s ever cheated. Jesus turns ups and things start to happen; the whole course of Zacchaeus’ life begins to shift.
It’s in response to this that Jesus says, “Today salvation has come to this house.” It’s no coincidence, I don’t think, that the day salvation comes to Zacchaeus’ house is the day that Jesus himself arrived. Maybe, then, salvation is what happens when Jesus invites himself into your life, shows up at your door, makes himself at home, and starts rearranging the furniture how he wants it.
And Can It Be? 