As we approach the 2 week countdown to the glorious Resurrection Festival, we are reminded of the few things here in week 6 of the Great and Holy Lent. For today’s meditation we look at St. Luke 19:1 -10, the story of Zacchaeus the tax collector. This is a famous passage read in the liturgy of House Blessing in our church. There are two aspects to which we should turn our focus towards from this passage:
1. Obedience to God
2. Accepting God
Starting off with the first aspect, obedience to God. In verse 5, Jesus says “Zacchaeus come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” We as followers of Christ must realize that this passage is an example of our daily lives. God is asking us every day for us to come down from the tree of the world and let God dwell in our homes, our lives. In verse 6 it says “He came down at once and welcomed Jesus gladly.” How many of us would come down immediately? How many of us would let go of everything we have in our lives to accept God into our lives? The world has made our spirituality so short like Zacchaeus that we must go to the luxury of a tree to see God. But He calls to us everyday; He calls and says “come down for I must stay at your house.” God wants to dwell in us, we are the house He wishes to dwell in.
Secondly, are we willing to accept God? In verse 8, Zacchaeus sees his flaws and promises to do the right thing from now on. When he accepted God, he was able to see his flaws and shortcomings. He thought his life up till then was just perfect. But it was really when Christ entered his house that he realized his flaws. Likewise, we may think we know our lives and our flaws. But in truth, it is only when we accept God in our house, our lives, that we will see our true flaws and mistakes.
The theme for this week is blindness. The blindman was cured when he met Jesus. Correlating the acceptance of God and the blindman meeting Jesus, when we meet Jesus, we must accept him, because then only will we be free of blindness. The world has blinded our spirituality with materialistic ideals. As long as the sunlight shines, one can never see the stars. Likewise, the world has shined its light on our lives so much that we are blinded by luxury and false ideals and we cannot see the truly glory and beauty of God and His grace.
As the days get closer to the Resurrection, we must first realize that God is asking for us to come down from our tree of comfort. We must be willing to accept God into our house, our life. And finally we must allow God to show us our flaws so that He can guide us to the right path and correct our ways. Like it says in the passage, verse 9, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” We are the lost, we are the misguided. God came for us, so that we too may become heirs in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Let us this Lenten season pray and ask God that He seek and save us. Let us be obedient to God and bring Him into our house. And let us accept God in our lives.
Prayer
O Lord, as there is no leniency in you, we the sinful are sorry. Have mercy upon us in your kindness when the Book of Life is opened and your justice examines our wrong doings, let your mercy plead with your justice and we the guilty, receive forgiveness. O Lord, we confess that we have sinned against you. Have mercy upon us in your kindness. Amen