I Love You, Enough
My children love to give me, their father, a hard time about the mistakes I’ve made. They don’t do this with their mom, just me! They remember, in great detail, the times in their lives when they were young and I caused them some injury of some sort.
Gracie, my middle daughter, still blames me for the time when she was about 3 years old and we were headed to the doctor. Alisha had an appointment and we were running late. At the time, Alisha was pregnant with Emma and this was a routine check up but we had Will and Gracie and getting all four of us out the door and anywhere on time was nearly impossible.
So I dropped Alisha at the door and told her to go on in to her appointment and I would park the car and bring Will and Gracie up as quickly as I could.
I don’t remember much about that day, but I do remember it was cold. So cold that there was a little ice and snow on the ground. I’m carrying Gracie on one side, I’ve got Will’s hand on the other side, and we’re walking between cars in the parking lot as quickly as we can because I’m the kind of person that doesn’t like to be late.
As we’re walking across the parking lot my foot hits a patch of black ice and there’s absolutely nothing I can do in that moment. We all fell down! And as we did, Gracie’s head hits the car beside us and now she’s bleeding!
Long story short, we were all ok but Gracie had to have stitches and she got this nice bandage that made her look like she had just come home from battle.
I asked Gracie the other day if she still loves me, even though it was apparently my fault that I slipped on black ice that day some 10 years ago and cracked her head open!
She said, “I love you enough!”
Unconditional Love vs. Transactional Love
We all crave love. What we all really crave is unconditional love. We were made for that kind of love, to experience that kind of love and to share that kind of love with those around us.
But we live in a world where what we experience more often than not is transactional love.
Unconditional love says, “I’ll love you no matter what.”
Transactional love asks, “What have you done for me lately?”
Unconditional love says, “I’ll love you through the ups and downs.”
Transactional love says, “I’ll love you as long as you love me but if you hurt me I won’t love you anymore.”
Unconditional love says, “I can’t love you any more or any less that I already do because my love for you is unchanging and unchangeable.”
Transactional love says, “My love for you is dependent on your behavior and can rise and fall on any given day depending on your performance.”
If we’re being honest, there’s a sense in which we are not capable of unconditional love. We can strive for it. We can aspire to it. But it truly is not of this world.
Unconditional love is perfect love and while we can certainly embody it at times and demonstrate it on occasion, it’s incredibly difficult for any human to consistently live out this perfect, unconditional love that all of us long for.
The truth is, there’s only one human who was ever was able to consistently and perfectly live out unconditional love and his name is Jesus.
Jesus, A Man from Jericho, and Perfect Love
There are a number of stories we could look at to see this truth revealed, how Jesus constantly and consistently showed God’s unconditional love to people, but I want to take you to one of my all time favorite stories.
This may be a familiar story to you but even if it is, I want to ask you to lean in because I think there’s an opportunity for us to learn something from an unlikely character in the story. It may be a character in the story you’ve never even noticed before.
This story is found in the gospel of Luke chapter 19.
Luke was not one of the original 12 disciples but he was a contemporary of Jesus and shortly after the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Luke began talking to every eye witness he could find including the disciples and Mary, the mother of Jesus, to discover as much as he could about Jesus so he could write down this story of the life and ministry of Jesus.
And Luke is the only one who wrote down this story for us. This is the only place in the Bible you discover this story.
Luke 19.1-10
1 Jesus entered Jericho and made his way through the town.
Jericho
Real quick… I don’t want you to miss the significance of the location here. Jericho is not too far from Jerusalem and Jesus is passing through Jericho on his way to Jerusalem where he will soon face the cross.
Jericho is a place known as an oasis, it’s known for its palm trees, and remember… as Jesus enters Jerusalem many will lay palm branches before him as he enters the city and they sing, “Hosanna!”
This is the city where, in the days before Jesus, in the days when Joshua led the people of Israel after Moses had died in the promised land, this was the first city they came to and they described it as a land flowing with milk and honey!
Jericho is the city where, when Joshua and the people arrived at the walls of the city, God said… this is how it’s going to work. Walk around the city every day for 6 days. On the seventh day, walk around the walls seven times then blow your horns and shout and the walls will fall down and I’ll give you this city.
So the battle plan was prayer walking for 7 days, end it with worship, do all this out of obedience, and you’ll conquer the city. This is how you fight this battle!
This is the city where, when Jesus is leaving Jericho and headed to Jerusalem for the last time, he hears a blind beggar by the name of Bartimaeus and Jesus heals his blindness so he can see.
But these aren’t the only famous stories from this city called Jericho.
There’s also THIS story…
2 There was a man there named Zacchaeus. He was the chief tax collector in the region, and he had become very rich.
The Man from Jericho
Jesus famously attracted all sorts of people. Poor people and rich people. Educated and uneducated. Fishermen and tax collectors.
People were drawn to Jesus.
Zacchaeus was drawn to Jesus.
3 He tried to get a look at Jesus, but he was too short to see over the crowd.
Most everyone knows this part of the story. But, this isn’t the best part of the story.
4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree beside the road, for Jesus was going to pass that way.
2 Problems
Ok, let’s pause here for just a moment. Zacchaeus has TWO problems he has to find a way to overcome.
1 – He’s short.
2 – He’s a tax collector!
BOTH make him INVISIBLE to most people.
Because he’s short, some people just don’t see him. They unintentionally LOOK OVER him.
Because he’s a tax collector, some people choose NOT to see him. They intentionally OVER LOOK him.
Why?
Because he’s a traitor. He works for the Roman government to collect taxes and he takes a little extra for himself. He’s a thief backed by the Roman army who has gotten rich by taking advantage of his own people.
Zacchaeus has been LOOKED OVER and OVER LOOKED.
LOOKED OVER and OVER LOOKED.
We live in a world where people, especially our children, want to be NOTICED. They sometimes feel looked over and over looked.
From an early age, you’ll hear your kids say things like, “Look at me!” Or, “Look at what I did!” It starts here because they want you to SEE them. They want to know that they are not invisible, that they do have your attention, that they matter, they have value, and they are important in your eyes.
As they get older, they want the same thing but it may sound different. You may hear them say something like, “Look at how many likes I got.” Or, “Look at who followed me.” Or, “Look at how many followers I have.”
But at the heart of all this is the question… AM I INVISIBLE?
Does anyone NOTICE me? SEE ME? Does anyone care?
Our children need to know we SEE them. That they are NOT invisible to us. If they don’t think we SEE them, we value them, they will go looking for that somewhere else. NOT always in good places.
Zacchaeus wants to SEE Jesus. The one who is largely invisible in his community because of his stature and because of his sin wants to be seen by the only one who can see him for who he really is.
And Zacchaeus will do almost anything to be seen, even if it means climbing a sycamore tree. Something a wealthy grown man would probably never do!
What he doesn’t know, what he couldn’t possibly know, is that Jesus came to SEE Him. That Jesus is looking for him, seeking him out.
5 When Jesus came by, he looked up at Zacchaeus and called him by name. “Zacchaeus!” he said. “Quick, come down! I must be a guest in your home today.”
Jesus
To his surprise, Jesus sees Zacchaeus in the tree, calls him by name, and tells him he coming over for dinner!
This is so important. There is nothing more important than SEEING someone, especially a child, a teenager, and calling them by name.
You’ve probably felt this, experienced this yourself, but when someone you look up to sees you and calls you by name it means something. It communicates value, worth, respect, dignity, and most importantly, love.
Zacchaeus wanted to discover Jesus that day. He never thought that Jesus wanted to discover him!
Jesus looked at Zaccheaus, called him by name and communicated in that moment… “I see you. You matter. You have immeasurable value. You are not invisible to me.”
6 Zacchaeus quickly climbed down and took Jesus to his house in great excitement and joy. 7 But the people were displeased. “He has gone to be the guest of a notorious sinner,” they grumbled.
A Picture of Unconditional Love
Jesus loved Zacchaeus. And Zacchaeus loved Jesus.
Why?
Because Jesus saw him and loved him as he was for who he was.
And you know what… if Zacchaeus had never changed, Jesus would have loved him JUST THE SAME! Truth is, there’s nothing Zacchaeus could have done to make Jesus love him any more or any less than he already did.
He loved him perfectly, unconditionally.
It wasn’t a transactional love. Zacchaeus get your act together, stop stealing from people, stop cheating people, and then I’ll love you.
Jesus loved him as he was for who he was and because of that, Zacchaeus’ life was immediately and eternally changed.
8 Meanwhile, Zacchaeus stood before the Lord and said, “I will give half my wealth to the poor, Lord, and if I have cheated people on their taxes, I will give them back four times as much!”
Zacchaeus was changed and demonstrated in tangible ways how his heart had been changed by Jesus.
9 Jesus responded, “Salvation has come to this home today, for this man has shown himself to be a true son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.”
This is why Jesus came. So people could discover and be changed by the great love of God revealed in and by Jesus.
In the same city where the walls once fell down by prayer, worship, and obedience, the walls fell down again that had been built around Zacchaeus’ heart! In a city where blind men receive sight Zacchaeus is no longer unseen. He is seen by the One who makes the blind see.
An Unlikely Character
There’s one unsung hero in the story, one unlikely character, that most people don’t notice and hardly anyone ever talks about. Maybe you noticed. But here’s my contention, Zaccheaus would have never even discovered Jesus that day had it not been for the sycamore tree.
The sycamore tree elevated Zacchaeus to be in a place where he could see Jesus, encounter Jesus, and be changed by Jesus.
So here’s my question for you…
Who around you needs to see Jesus? How can you help them DISCOVER Jesus?
Parents, here’s what I want you to know… No one has the potential to influence a kid like a PARENT. BUT…. Church, here’s what I want you to know… A parent is not the only INFLUENCE a kid or teenager needs! – Reggie Joiner
I don’t know about you but as I think about my life and my journey up to this point, I’m blessed to stand on the shoulders of a lot of great men and women who have helped me along the way and pointed me to Jesus along the way.
And now I’m wondering, who do I need to be that kind of person for? Who needs me to be a tree? Who can I help? Who can I lift up? Who can I elevate? Who can I give a different perspective? Who can I be strong for? Who can I help see things they’ve never seen before?
Who can you help DISCOVER Jesus?
Who needs YOU to be the tree?
I think this is what the church is supposed to be. We’re supposed to be a place full of trees, a forest!, elevating our kids, our teenagers, so they can see Jesus, discover Jesus, have an encounter with Jesus, and be changed by Jesus!
I think we have to find a way to be a tree that elevates someone to see Jesus.
Why? Because discovery leads to love. Discovering who Jesus is and what he has done for us moves us to love. When we discover Jesus and all he has done for us, we grow in our LOVE for Him. We move from knowing about him to knowing Him!
Learn more about Discovery in: Parenting Beyond Your Capacity
How?
How do you do that? How do you be the tree?
There are as many ways as there are people in the world. You can teach. Mentor. Coach. Serve together. Take them for ice cream.
You can sponsor one of our children or students to go on a retreat, camp, or mission trip.
The truth is, all of us can find a way to be a tree that puts a kid in position to see Jesus.
And when they’re in position, don’t be afraid to point Him out. Don’t be afraid to say, “Hey, look… there’s Jesus! There’s something God made. There’s something Jesus did. There’s someone Jesus changed.”
Be the tree.
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