The Turn Signal

Read

Luke 19:5-10 "When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, 'Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.' So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. All the people saw this and began to mutter, 'He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.' But 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.' Jesus said to him, 'Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.'"

Think

You have been behind that car. The turn signal is blinking. Half a mile goes by. A full mile. Two. The signal is still going and the car never turns.

At some point you stop believing the signal. It stops meaning anything, because a signal that never matches the steering wheel is just a blinking light.

A lot of us drive our faith exactly like that. The signal is on. I have decided to follow Jesus. I got baptized. I said the prayer. I posted the verse. The signal is blinking for everybody to see. But the direction of our life never actually changed.

Luke tells the story of a man whose signal and steering lined up in about ninety seconds.

Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector, and that title mattered more than most people realize. He got wealthy by taking money from his own people and handing it to the empire that occupied them, keeping whatever extra he could squeeze out. He was not just disliked. He was considered a traitor.

So, when the crowd would not make room for him to see Jesus, that was not an accident. Nobody was moving for that guy on purpose. And he was short, so he did what a wealthy grown man in that culture absolutely does not do. He ran ahead and climbed a tree.

That is worth sitting with for a second. He was willing to look ridiculous in front of an entire town that already hated him, just to get a look at Jesus. Something in him wanted this more than he wanted his dignity.

Then Jesus stops underneath the tree and says his name. Not "clean up your life and then we will talk." Not "pay everyone back and then I will come over." He says come down immediately, I must stay at your house today. Jesus invited himself to dinner at the house of the most corrupt man in Jericho, and the whole crowd started muttering about it.

Now read verse 8, because this is where the story turns. Zacchaeus stands up in front of everybody. Half of my possessions, to the poor. Anybody I cheated, four times back.

That is not a feeling. That is a bank account. That is a man doing math out loud in public and choosing to be significantly poorer by dinnertime. He did not just admire Jesus. He changed direction that same afternoon, and everybody could measure it.

A decision becomes a direction through devotion. You cannot say you have decided to follow Jesus while repeatedly choosing a road that takes you away from him. Eventually the road tells the truth about the decision.

And to be clear, this is not about being perfect. Zacchaeus did not become flawless that day. There is no reason to think he never had a greedy thought again. He turned. That was the whole thing. Turning is not the same as arriving, and Jesus never asked him to arrive.

Notice too what Jesus says in verse 10. He came to seek and to save the lost. Zacchaeus did not find Jesus in that tree. Jesus stopped, looked up, and found him. He was already being sought before he ever thought to climb.

Jesus never asked anybody to admire him. He asked them to follow him, and follow is a physical word. It involves feet. It involves going somewhere you were not already going.

So where is the gap between your signal and your steering?

Apply

Close one gap – Name one specific thing in your life right now that does not match the decision you made to follow Jesus. Just one. Today, tell a leader or a trusted friend what it is and what your first step is this week to turn.

Pray

God, there is a gap between what I say and how I actually live, and I am tired of pretending there is not. I do not want to just be a fan of Jesus. I want to follow him. Give me the courage to turn, even when turning costs me something I do not want to lose. Thank you for coming after me before I ever cleaned myself up. In Jesus' name. Amen.