First Reading - Apocalypse 3:1-6,14-22
Gospel - Luke 19:1-10
The first reading invites the faithful to revive their faithfulness to God. The churches of Sardis and Laodicea were facing the problem of deviation from the right faith. This addresses this issue of their religious laxity and lukewarmness. It encourages them to return to the right and firm faith in their action. This passage also reminds that God does not tolerate laxity or lukewarmness in faith rather demands staunch faithfulness from His people.
The theme of today’s Gospel is the benevolent and forgiving mercy of God for sinners and the response of repentance and conversion expected from us. The story is that of the instantaneous conversion of the tax-collector, Zacchaeus. As the chief tax-collector in Jericho, Zacchaeus was probably a man of much wealth and few friends. Since he worked for the Romans and extracted more tax money than required by the law, he was probably hated by the Jews who considered all tax-collectors as public sinners. The account describes how Jesus recognized Zacchaeus for exactly who he was – a lost sinner in need of a Savior. Jesus’ response lets us see how God’s grace worked in Zacchaeus to lead him from idle curiosity to repentance, conversion, and the making of restitution. The episode emphasizes the fact that such a conversion can only result from a person’s fully receiving the love, acceptance, and grace of a merciful Lord.
Dear friends, many times we observe sins in sinners but forget to observe possibility to win over the sinners to a life of faithfulness and repentance. Today, Jesus teaches us to win over sinners for God through our loving acceptance shown to them. Jesus peeps through the longing heart of Zacchaeus for acceptance and as a result, Zacchaeus repents. This was the experience of love and acceptance that brought a drastic change in Zacchaeus. He is won over by Jesus to the life of faithfulness to God which is expressed in his repentance. Let's be compassionate towards sinners or those who have gone away from the Lord so that they can find possibility to turn to the Lord.
The example of Zacchaeus reminds us that God looks at our repentant hearts more than our sinful past. There is always a possibility to turn to the Lord. The moment we desire to change ourselves, the door of salvation is opened for us. It's never too late to turn to the Lord and never too early to recieve the grace of God. Let's appropriate this grace by our constant turning to God forgoing our sinful tendencies.
We are also called to the life of faithfulness to God. The first reading reminds us that we need to weed out everything that stands on our way to the life of faithfulness. We are to remain faithful to God always. Any compromise, any laxity or any excuse can lead us away from our faithfulness to God. Let's not give any place to compromises, laxities or excuses in our lives which can deviate us from remaining faithful to God. Our faithfulness to God is nurtured by our faithfulness to small responsibilities that are entrusted to us. If we are faithful to our responsibilities, we will be faithful to God as well.
May God help us in our faithful endeavours.
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