Jesus has blazed the trail and indicated the path we must walk if we would know abundant life.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith… Hebrews 12.1, 2

“Looking to Jesus” defines what it means to be a Christian. Paul insisted that the upward prize of our high calling was to be found “in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3.14). For the Christian, “to live is Christ” (Phil. 1.21). Jesus Christ is the life we now live, and not our own lives (Gal. 3.20, 21; Eph. 4.17-24). We who know the Lord are being transformed from glory to glory into the image of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 3.12-18).

Where Jesus goes, we go. What Jesus values, we value. How Jesus was guided, we must be guided. The map that He followed, as He pursued His earthly course, must be our map as well. And Jesus fulfilled all the Law of God (Matt. 5.17). The Author, Perfecter, and Pioneer of our faith has hacked a path through the jungle of sin’s confusion, uncertainty, and danger. It is the path of life and it marks out the course our own earthly race must take if we would know the eternal life for which we have been redeemed.

It is a slap in the face of our Pioneer to reject the Law of God as relevant for our daily experience by glibly asserting, “I’m not under Law, I’m under grace.” Zacchaeus certainly understood better (Lk. 19.1-10). He had watched Jesus and listened carefully to the reports of Him. He saw the blessing of God on the Nazarene. He resolved that He would follow Him, and, in so doing, determined to set things right in his life by obeying the Law of God. Appealing to – and going beyond the requirements of – the restorative justice statutes of the Law of God, Zacchaeus declared his confession and determination to follow Jesus.

And how did Jesus respond? He did not say, “Oh, no, no, Zacchaeus. You’ve got it all wrong. We’re not under Law, we’re under grace. Just do the loving thing!” Instead, Jesus affirmed Zacchaeus’ profession and commitment and declared that here was evidence of a true child of Abraham, one who had been found by Him Who came to seek the lost.

Jesus is the Pathfinder and Pioneer of the life of redemption in God’s grace. Zacchaeus followed where he had seen Jesus treading, and so must we.

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