“For the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost” (Luke 19:10, NIV).
These words are spoken by Jesus after He pronounces the salvation of a greedy tax collector who repented of his ways. A miserly government stooge is just the kind of person that people love to hate; but God has compassion on them, just as He has upon the poor. The greedy, too, are lost. Christ came to save them.
In all of our disagreements and our (often legitimate) criticisms over social issues, we must never forget the compassion of Christ, the compassion we are to carry if we would be Christlike. Jesus came to save the poor and needy; He also came to save the rich and greedy. He came to save the lost. The gospel is offered to all people: repent and believe. Repentance will look different for different people–for Zacchaeus, it involved giving away (and giving back) a large amount of money. But the core is the same: repent and believe, and receive the gift of eternal life from the crucified and risen Savior.
He came to seek and save the lost.
Credo ut Intelligam 