And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house because this man too is a descendant of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and save what was lost.”

Luke 19:9-10

Luke tells us that as Jesus walks through the city of Jericho, he stops and speaks to a man named Zacchaeus. He was the chief tax collector of the town and would have been considered a traitor and a thief. Jesus interacts with Zacchaeus and goes to his for dinner.

As a result of this encounter with Jesus, Zacchaeus gives half his money to the poor and pays back those he had robbed. Jesus rejoices at his repentance and says this is exactly why he came. 

People who were nothing like Jesus liked him. And because they liked Jesus, they became like him. What is true for Jesus should be true for our church. Our mission is to seek and save the lost. People nothing like Jesus should like us. 

Pray for our parish that we would be a place that people who don’t like church like.