Gospel:
Luke 19:1-10
At that
time Jesus came to Jericho and intended to pass through the town. Now a man
there 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.
When they saw this, they began to grumble, saying, “He has gone to stay at the
house of a sinner.” But 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.” And Jesus said to him,
“Today salvation has come to this house because this man too is a descendant of
Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost.”
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Reflection:
Was it
only Zacchaeus who was seeking an encounter with Jesus? Was Jesus not also
seeking an encounter with Zacchaeus? Yes,
Jesus was also seeking an encounter with Zacchaeus! Why? For the reason that
Zacchaeus was a sinner like all of us and truth be told Jesus loves to have an
encounter with sinners so that He could convert them. And what made it more
interesting for Jesus to seek out Zacchaeus was his desire to see Jesus as well.
Before
Jesus arrived in Jericho He already had in mind Zacchaeus He knew that this
chief tax collector was looking for Him and ready to change his sinful ways.
With this factor present the encounter of Jesus and Zacchaeus happened. After
their meeting Jesus subsequently went to the house Zacchaeus to purify his
house. As well as to liberate Zacchaeus from any form of sinfulness and right
then and there his conversion and liberation from any form of sinfulness
happened.
How could
we relate this gospel episode with our personal lives? Like Zacchaeus we too
are sinful we may not be thinking yet of walking away from our sinfulness. Yet
Jesus is already knocking at our hearts so that he could also have a personal
encounter with us.
If we say
that we are not ready yet to walk away from our sinfulness because we enjoy
sinning, then when? Next month or next year? It may be too late already,
nothing is certain in this world anything can happen the next seconds or
minutes.
Therefore,
we must also be like Zacchaeus who responded to the desire of Jesus to meet
him. Let us not delay anymore let us rush to meet Jesus now for tomorrow may be
late already.
Are you
prepared to have a personal encounter with Jesus today? - Marino J. Dasmarinas
2 comments:
Amen.. good morning thank for a very reflective reflection that give me another lesson learned.To forgive and continue to humble myself..
God bless you Alice.
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