We focus this week on the forgiveness of God and God’s great love for all His created beings.
The first reading from the book of Wisdom extols God’s deep love for mankind and His ability and willingness to guide us past our sins toward Him. God corrects our faults so that we will turn to Him, our God.
In the Gospel reading we enjoy a comical impression of a very short man, a tax collector who is a known cheater, who is curious about who Jesus is and wants to see him but he is so short that he cannot see around or above the crowds! So, Zacchaeus runs to a sycamore tree and climbs it and waits for Jesus to pass so he can see him. As Jesus approaches he calls out the him, “Zacchaeus, come down! Hurry! I want to stay at your house today!” (As we know from previous readings the Pharisees are quite upset that Jesus would stay at the home of a known sinner!) Zacchaeus, who is very excited to welcome Jesus to his home, says to Jesus, “Lord, I am going to give half of everything I have to the poor. And if I have ever cheated anyone out of money, I am going to pay them back four times as much.” Then Jesus says to Zacchaeus, “Today you have been saved because you, too, are one of the family of Abraham. For I have come to seek and to save the people who are lost.”
There are two very important points to the Gospel reading which must be emphasized and taken to heart:
1. Jesus came to look for sinners so he could save them
2. When we truly meet Jesus, we change our lives
We can see clearly how these two points were demonstrated in the Gospel reading. It was Jesus who spoke to Zacchaeus, finding him in the tree and calling to him to come down. Jesus is particularly drawn to sinners because that is the purpose of His coming, to save us from our sins. Jesus is the lamb of God, the final sacrifice for all mankind, that takes away the sins of the world. Zacchaeus makes an immediate change in his life beginning with the fact that he calls Jesus, not by his name, but “Lord”, and redeems himself by promising to give half of everything he has to the poor and promising to repay anyone he has cheated four times as much. This is a shining example for us to follow. It exemplifies the belief and understanding and faith that those who meet Jesus change their lives and follow Him. When we meet Jesus, we change our lives. Presumably we have all met Jesus, and the question remains “Have we changed our lives?”
God has always made paths that lead us to Him. He so loves mankind, His creation, that He has done extraordinary things to look past our sins and instead make paths that bring us closer to Him and His love and mercy. Jesus is the ultimate path, God made man, in the final extraordinary covenant between God and his creation, mankind. Jesus did not seek out the holy and wise, he looked for the sinners and he saved them. Just as doctors do not heal well people, Jesus did not come to save people who did not need saving from sins. He came to cure the sick. Understanding this brings us a deeper appreciation for the ministry of Christ Jesus and of His passion and death on the cross. This story occurs on the way to that end. We must pay attention to what Jesus did and said while he walked among us because it shows us the path to our own salvation.
The Psalm this week is I Will Praise Your Name. This link uses the alternate refrain of “The Lord is near, to all who call him….” in the music but we will use “I will praise your name forever. I will praise my king and my God.” This song can be found in the Spirit and Song hymnal #285.
In the second reading for this Sunday is a prayer that hopes for all mankind to be made worthy of God’s calling and that our acts of faith glorify our Lord Jesus!
2 Thes 1:11 – 2:2
Brothers and sisters:
We always pray for you,
that our God may make you worthy of his calling
and powerfully bring to fulfillment every good purpose
and every effort of faith,
that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you,
and you in him,
in accord with the grace of our God and Lord Jesus Christ.
Have a blessed week!