Accepting the Offer
What does it take to make a big change in your life?
Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, 'Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.' Then Jesus said to him, 'Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. - Luke 19:8-9
In today's Gospel reading, Jesus encounters a man who is extremely anxious to meet him.
It is pointed out that he is a short man, too short to see over the crowd, so he climbs a tree to catch a glimpse of Jesus as he passes by.
Jesus spots him and calls him by name. Come down, he tells him for I will stay in your house tonight.
What this tells me is that I need to be ready to accept the offer when God answers my call.
If I go out of my way to be present for God, if I go through the motions to seek Him out and be a witness to His actions in the world, there is a chance He will offer to be in my life.
Will I be ready to accept, as Zacchaeus was?
Here is a man who had everything. He was wealthy, but in the presence of Jesus, he chose to make amends for all he had done wrong. Why?
What motivated him to change?
Jesus showed him respect, even though he didn't earn it or deserve it. And the crowd grumbled. They knew this man was a tax collector, someone who acquired more than he was due, someone who threatened people with imprisonment and abused his authority.
In an instant, he chose to make whole and then some, those he swindled, and to give up half of all he had.
Could we do that? Would we?
It is easy to sit in judgment of another, to make assumptions and criticize, but it is quite another thing to put one's money where one's mouth is.
If something as simple as being accepted can change someone's life for the better, what does that tell us about how we can make a difference in the world?
Imagine for a moment that everyone we encounter this week takes the time to accept us as we are, to greet us and invite us to get closer. How would we feel?
Now, imagine we do the same to everyone we encounter.
Who knows what miracles we would see.
Isn't it worth a try?
More to come...