GOING OUT ON A LIMB FOR JESUS

“You, Lord, overlook people’s sins that they may repent. . .
You love all things and loathe nothing that you made.” Wisdom 11:23-24

“A man named Zacchaeus,
who was a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man,
was seeking to see who Jesus was;
but he could not see him because of the crowd, for he was short in stature.
So he ran ahead
and climbed a sycamore tree
in order to see Jesus, who was about to pass that way.

When he reached the place,
Jesus looked up and said,
‘Zacchaeus, come down quickly,
for today I must stay at your house.’

And he came down quickly
and received him with joy.
Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord,
‘Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor,
and if I have extorted anything from anyone
I shall repay it four times over.’” Luke 19:2-6, 8

Jesus presents another lesson for us struggling sinners.

Last week’s lesson, Luke 18:9-14, was of a proud Pharisee, who came to the temple to praise himself, and a tax-bill-padding tax collector, who realized he had succumbed to the pitfalls of his occupation, which led him to come to the temple and surrender himself to his merciful God. “Lord, be merciful to me a sinner.” was his prayer.

Do I come to church more to seek God’s approval of the life I am leading, or do I come to church to ask God to forgive my failings, to free me from jaded inclinations and to lead me ever closer to being the person God created me to be?

Now this week, we have the story of Zacchaeus, the short, wealthy tax collector, happy with his lifestyle, but intrigued by Jesus. He goes out of his way – literally out on a limb – to see Him. Why? Was it something he heard about Jesus that made him curious or was it grace? Whatever it was, Zacchaeus really saw Jesus, not only with his physical eyes, but with the eyes of his heart. He saw Jesus and allowed the grace of conversion to steer him into a renewed or wholly new way of seeing himself and his life.

“You, Lord, overlook people’s sins that they may repent. . . You love all things and loathe nothing that you made.” Wisdom 11:23-24

Both stories ask us to go to God with a humble heart, the heart of a person who goes out of her way and stands and kneels before God in the truth of who she is, recognizing that it does not matter to God what we have or have not done. God never stops loving us, even if we are only a shadow of the fullness God has made us capable of being.

Is right now a moment when, like Zacchaeus, I am ready to go out on a limb to see Jesus, to let the grace of conversion flow into me?
God is never outdone in generosity!

Like Zacchaeus, may we seek to see Jesus from a different perspective. May we let God’s grace guide us to wherever it pleases. And may the experience by joyous and life changing.

Sister Loretta