For all the marvels of modern technology, something in our modern lifestyle distances us from one another. There is a crisis of loneliness in the Western world — and it's nothing new. Two thousand years ago, Zacchaeus was the richest man in Jericho and the most isolated.

In this sermon from Luke 19:1–10, Revd. Mark Fletcher explores how Jesus saw past the wealth and the reputation to the lost soul hiding behind it all. When Jesus invited himself to dinner with the town's most hated man, he demonstrated something radical: grace precedes repentance. Acceptance comes first, and that is what brings the change.

We all have our gilded prisons — the things we think will make us happy but end up leaving us alone. We all hide behind masks. And we all have categories of people we think are beyond the reach of the gospel. But as Mother Teresa said, "Loneliness is the most terrible poverty."

The good news? No matter how lost you are, Jesus will come searching for you. Are you ready to come down from your tree?

Full transcript and video: https://stpeters.ch/sermons/crisis-of-loneliness/