The Hound of Heaven
Luke 19:1-10
They say a dog’s nose can be over a 1000 times more sensitive than a human’s. There are “scent hounds” that are bred and used by hunters to pick up and follow a scent trail [picture]. These hounds don’t have to be fast because they don’t need to be able to see their prey. They need endurance so that they can stick with a scent and follow it, sometimes for long distances and over rough terrain. The best scent hounds can follow a scent trail even across running water and even when it is several days old.
I borrowed today’s title from a poem written by an English poet, Francis Thompson who in 1893 published this poem “The Hound of Heaven” that described how God hunts our souls, how he relentlessly pursues us. In our Reformed faith, we believe it is not so much we who pursue God, but God who pursues us.
We’ve been looking at how to find salvation. What is God looking for? We’ve said he looks at what we’re clinging to: (1) our own “righteousness” or anything within us (empty), or (2) to do we come empty, bankrupt and cling only to His mercy.
Today we want to pull back and see the picture from God’s perspective. I.e., not, what do we need to do, but what is God doing. The story is that Jesus has come to seek us out. He is the Hound of Heaven.
We have a story about a rich tax collector. A few weeks ago we talked about how tax collectors were despised traitors who took money from their fellow Jews to give to their Roman oppressors and made themselves rich in the process. This was a chief tax collector who was very rich.
He was eagerly “seeking to see who Jesus was.” He was rather undignified: he ran ahead (dignified men didn’t run) and climbed a tree (dignified men didn’t climb trees).
We could zoom in on Zacchaeus and talk about he was eager and undignified, and there are lessons to be learned.
But the real story is not about Zacchaeus.
When Jesus got to the place where Zacchaeus was up in the tree, he stopped and said, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.”
Jesus stops, calls Zacchaeus by name and invites himself to Zacchaeus’ house. The action/main plot of this story is not “how Zacchaeus sought Jesus” but “how Jesus sought Zacchaeus.”
Notice, that’s how the crowd responds. They don’t say anything about how this guy was willing to climb a tree to see Jesus, they mutter about how Jesus has gone to the guest of this tax collector. The people who were there (and the original readers of Luke) didn’t care so much about how Zacchaeus was eager to meet Jesus. Lots of people wanted to meet Jesus. They were shocked that Jesus would be the guest of Zacchaeus. Of all the people in the crowd that day, Jesus reached out to Zacchaeus. That was the drama/scandal/climax of the story.
It may be helpful to understand that culturally, for Jesus to be Zacchaeus’ guest was a sign of acceptance and fellowship. It was not just Jesus wanted a place to rest his feet and Zacchaeus’ house was a nice and convenient place. He was saying, I want a relationship with you; I accept you. I associate myself with you.
That’s why the crowd was shocked. How can this religious leader, this rabbi, associate himself with a guy like Zacchaeus?!
There have been a few times when I or some pastors stumbled into a “red-light district.” I was on a mission trip and we had a layover in London, took the opportunity to take a quick look around, and stumbled into that district. Other pastor friends went out for some food late night, found something open, not realizing what kind of place it was.
Imagine you’re with Dave/me, we stumble into one of those areas, and a girl jumps out and says with a big smile, “Hi Paul! Good to see you again, how have you been?”
That’s the shock of the story. The twist is that it is Jesus who essentially calls out, in front of everyone, “Hey Tammy, I want to go to your place. I’d love to hangout with you.”
Verse 10 tells us the point: “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” This is a story about Jesus seeking and saving the lost. He was seeking them to give them salvation. “Today salvation has come to this house” (v. 9).
This story concludes our little section (Luke 18:9 – 19:10): Jesus tells us about the tax collector, children and bind beggar who find salvation. It caps off the development of how Jesus reaches out to the weak, bankrupt and sinful. In a word, Jesus reached out to the outcasts of his society. These were the insignificant, the despised, the rejects of his world.
Let’s try to put that in today’s terms. Jesus reached out to inner-city kids, first-generation immigrants, the AIDS community, alcoholics, prostitutes, pedophiles, etc.
There was a 2006 University of Minnesota study that asked
This group does not at all agree with my vision of American society . . .
Atheist: 39.6%
Muslims: 26.3%
Homosexuals: 22.6%
Hispanics: 20%
The articles said, “The most recent data shows that atheists are more distrusted and despised than any other minority . . . .
[trying to explain why] I think that a much better case can be made for the idea that atheists are being scapegoated the same way that Catholics and Jews once were: they are treated as social outsiders who create ‘moral and social disorder.’”
Jesus would hang out with Hispanics, homosexuals, Muslims and atheists—the outcasts.
I think this story ties with other stories in Luke. It’s a larger theme.
And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them. And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” (Luke 5:29-32)
Jesus came for the sick and sinful, for the despised, the outcasts.
Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” (Luke 15:1-2)
Then Jesus tells the story of the lost sheep and how the shepherd leaves the 99 and goes after that one lost sheep. He tells us of the lost coin and how the woman turns her house upside down and inside out to find that lost coin. He tells us a son who rejects his father and squanders all his money and how the father embraces his son and welcomes him back home.
Jesus came to seek and save the lost. He came for the sick and sinful. He came for “tax collectors and sinners.” He came for outcasts.
1. Jesus’ actions and stories were meant to show us that no one is too sick or too sinful. No one is too insignificant, too poor, too untalented, too immoral, too much a failure for the Kingdom of God. In fact, these are the ones Jesus went after.
A few weeks ago when we looked at the story of the Pharisee and tax collector (18:9-14), we said that Jesus was condemning those who trust in their own righteousness and “treated others with contempt,” looked down on others.
We want a church that says, “Sinners welcomed. Weak, poor, untalented outcasts welcomed here.” No one is too insignificant, too immoral, too unimpressive. No one is too rich/poor, too educated/uneducated. You’re welcomed into this community.
This will go against our (my) natural inclinations. We like staying in our comfort zone, with people who are similar to us. We like to associate with a crowd that reflects well on us—people who are successful, attractive, charming, talented, and impressive. They make us look good. Jesus’ picture of the church is not natural to us; it is not our natural instinct to form the community Jesus embraced.
Here’s something I’ve wrestled with: In Jesus’ day, Jesus was strongly condemning and harsh to the rich and the religious. He was very popular with the poor and the “unsavory,” (prostitutes, tax collectors). But today, in most church, we have far more of the rich and religious and far fewer of the poor and “unrighteous.” Have we misunderstood Jesus? Have we adapted him and his message so that it now appeals to the very people it most offended? Are we preaching the same message? Are we honestly believing and saying that Jesus and the church are for the outcasts of our world?
2. Jesus’ actions and stories were meant to show us that you can find mercy too.
We may have misunderstood Jesus ourselves (in 2 ways).
Some of us may feel that we’re good people, that we’re at least better than a lot of other people. We don’t see the church as a place for sinners and outcasts because, well, we don’t see ourselves as sinners and outcasts.
Last week we talked about how the Gospel confronts us and tell us that we are in fact, poor, empty and bankrupt before God. We are sinners and outcasts, before God.
The church is a place for sinners and outcasts. We sometimes don’t realize who we are.
Others of us may feel that we’re not good enough. We feel uncomfortable coming to church. We feel like others have got it together, but we’re falling apart. Others seem like good people, but we have so many skeletons in our closet, so much to hide. We struggle with guilt and shame. We feel intimidated, we’re wondering if we really belong here.
Look at Jesus. He is giving assurance after assurance, no matter what you’ve done, no matter who you are, there is mercy to be found. I’ve come for messed up sinners, for outcasts and failures. I love sinners. The question for you is, do you believe it? Do you believe that God loves messed up, broken, weak, bankrupt sinners?
For those who are beginning to see more of their sin and for those who are painful aware of their sin, Jesus is saying, I have come for the sick, the sinful, the weak, the outcasts. I’ve come for you. He is the Hound of Heaven. You are not forgotten or forsaken. He is holding on to you with a hand that never lets go (Ps 73).
3. Jesus’ actions and stories were meant to show us how much he cares for others.
He cares for you, but he cares for others. He’s going after the lost sheep, the lost coin, the lost sons. He is calling out to the Zacchaeus’ of our world and inviting himself into their homes, into their lives. He invites children to come to him. He heals blind beggars.
His response to the “righteous” religious leaders of his day was (particularly in the story of the Prodigal Son, Luke 15), I care about these “tax collectors and sinners,” I run to embrace and welcome them home. Instead of being offended or disdainful or uncomfortable, you should care for them too, you should rejoice with me.
Our vision for this new campus is to see the spread of the Gospel.
I invite you to come and hear the Gospel, to study it with us, to pray that God would help us see more and more of our brokenness, bankruptcy and sin and more and more of His mercy, grace, goodness and love. We need to hear and experience the Gospel.
And as you see more of this Jesus, I invite you to help us share him with others. We are witnesses. We’ve see him, and then we share him.
A few possible practical applications:
Easter Egg hunt (Saturday)– a fun, low-key opportunity to invite friends to family-friendly time where we can meet each other.
Palm Sunday & Easter—This is often a time when people are willing to come to church (Christmas and Easter). I’m thinking of preaching from Luke 24,
Did Jesus Really Rise From the Dead?
Lessons from Unbelief (Palm Sunday)
Jesus Answers His Skeptic Friends (Easter)
He is the Hound of Heaven. He cares for the sick and sinful, the outcasts—people like us, and people like those around us.