Tuesday 16 November 2021

Today is Tuesday the 16 November, in the 33rd week of Ordinary Time.
 
Paul Zach and Sandra McCracken, with the Porter’s Gate, sing, ‘The Zacchaeus Song’.
 
Today’s reading is from the Gospel of Luke.
 
Luke 19:1-10
He entered Jericho and was passing through it. A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him,
“Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.” So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. All who saw it began to grumble and said,
“He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.” 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. For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”
 
 
Today Jesus meets Zacchaeus in Jericho, a corrupt tax collector, a man whom some would consider the lowest of the low. Imagine yourself in the crowd look up, see Zacchaeus sitting in the tree.
  Watch as Jesus calls out , ‘I must stay at your house today.’
  Consider how Zacchaeus, an outsider, must have felt, to receive such an invitation…
 
Now imagine that Jesus is in your street. He invites himself to your home. See him gaze into your face, he knows everything about you. How do you feel about this? Vulnerable? Exposed? Or simply loved…?
 
Zacchaeus’ response to the welcome Jesus gives him, is to give back what he has wrongly taken. He gives more than is required, to put right the things he has done wrong. As you listen to the reading again, imagine Zacchaeus is returning your money, that you so desperately need… see it in your hands, feel its weight.
 
How do you respond to God’s welcome and love of you?
Who may God be calling you to be generous to?
Talk with God now, as one would to a friend, about this generous, overflowing love that saves and rescues. 
 

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.