Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” (Luke 19:10)
At the 2026 Tour Championship, Ryan Gerard was making the most of his first appearance at the event, sitting at 10 under par after the first two days.
On Saturday, he was tied for the lead when disaster struck on the 17th hole. His second shot landed in deep rough with a downhill lie next to the greenside bunker. The lie was terrible, and it looked like it would take a miracle to get up and down to save par.
But golf is a game of breaks—some good, some bad. The PGA official ruled that his ball was embedded, which entitled him to move it one club-length away from the bunker and onto the top of the nearby bank, where it sat nicely for a straightforward chip onto the green.
It was a stunning transformation from a horrible position to a good lie—an all-time great break. Gerard capitalized on his good fortune by saving par and then notching a birdie on 18. He closed with a 72 on Sunday to finish alone in third place, taking home a cool $3.7 million for his efforts.
Social media was buzzing after Saturday’s ruling; with some claiming Gerard got too much of a break. But he simply followed the rules, and as all golfers know, you don’t always get what you deserve.
Sometimes a good shot is punished, and sometimes a bad shot turns out much better than expected—clearly the case with Gerard on Saturday. Quite simply, that’s golf.
We see a different kind of transformation in the story of Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was despised by most Jews because he not only collected taxes for Rome but also took a healthy cut for himself.
Zacchaeus knew that Jesus was coming and wanted to meet Him, but because he was short, he had to climb a tree to see Jesus. Jesus looked up at Zacchaeus and told him to come down: “I must stay at your house today.”
He immediately came down and joyfully welcomed Jesus, but the crowd disapproved, muttering that Jesus “has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”
Zacchaeus was so transformed by meeting the Lord that he vowed to give half of his possessions to the poor and to repay anyone he had cheated four times the amount.
This prompted Jesus to proclaim, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
This encounter occurred when Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem, but first He entered the heart of Zacchaeus. As a result, the despised tax collector was transformed from greedy to generous and from lost to saved.
No matter how bad your past is, Jesus meets you where you are and offers you the opportunity for life transformation. That’s the good news of the gospel—share it with others!
Prayer: Heavenly Father, give us the courage to boldly share the gospel with others so that they may experience the life transformation that comes only through You.