1 Timothy 4:9-15; Luke 19:1-10
One of the worst mistakes that we can make in life is to insist that
everyone be just the same. Part of the
beauty of the human being is the distinctiveness of our personalities, our
interests, and our abilities. We see
that in our families, in our friendships, in our work, and in the Church, where
the different members of the Body of Christ have different functions in working
together for the strength and blessing of all.
We should also learn to see that in the spiritual paths that we pursue,
in the journeys that we take to share more fully in the life of our Lord.
Zacchaeus’ path to salvation was
shocking, decisive, and scandalous. As a
chief tax collector, he was a high ranking traitor to the Jews because he
worked collecting taxes for the pagan Roman Empire, which occupied Israel. He became rich basically by stealing from his
fellow Jews when he took even more of their money than the Romans required and
lived off the difference. He was the
last person whom anyone would have expected to entertain the Messiah in his home,
but that is precisely what he did at the instruction of Jesus Christ. And when people complained how disreputable
it was for the Lord to enter his home, Zacchaeus made a bold change in an
instant. This man who had apparently
loved money and comfort more than his own people or righteousness, repented of
his own accord. There is no record that
Christ told him to take any particular action, but he immediately committed
himself publicly to giving half of his possessions to the poor and to giving
back four times the amount that he had stolen.
Since he was a chief tax collector and wealthy, these acts of
restitution surely involved large sums of money. No one would have ever expected someone like
him to do that, and it was such a grand gesture that many probably found it
hard to believe.
Jesus Christ knew, however, that he was
sincere and would follow through with these outrageous acts of repentance. That is why He said what no Jew ever expected
the Messiah to say about someone like Zacchaeus: “Today salvation has
come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham; for the Son of man came
to seek and to save the lost.” Unlike
those who wanted a Messiah to reward the righteous, destroy the sinners, and
defeat the Romans, our Savior came to bring the lost sheep back into the fold,
even those who were so lost that they had gone over to the side of the wolves.
There have been
many people whose journey to the Kingdom has much in common with
Zacchaeus. Like him, they had turned
away from God and many people probably thought that they would be the very last
people to find healing for their souls.
Remember that St. Paul actually persecuted Christians before the risen
Lord appeared to him on the road to Damascus.
St. Peter denied the Lord three times during His Passion. In the Old
Testament, King David committed murder and adultery. St. Mary of Egypt was a grossly immoral
person before repenting so profoundly that she rose up off the ground in
prayer. St. Moses the Black was a feared criminal before becoming a model of
holiness in the monastic life. The list
goes on and on of outrageous sinners who shockingly redirected their lives to
the Lord through humble repentance. In
contrast with all the darkness of their past lives, His glory shines especially
brightly in them.
Not everyone
follows that particular path to the Kingdom, however. Today we commemorate St. Timothy the Apostle,
who was converted to the Christian faith by St. Paul together with his
grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice. He
became the bishop of Ephesus and was martyred there for opposing the worship of
false gods. St. Paul thought highly of him as his spiritual son, and exhorted
him to embrace his calling fully and to be a good steward of his gifts. As. St. Paul wrote, “Let no one despise your
youth, but set the believers an example in speech and conduct, in love, in
faith, in purity. Until I come, attend
to the public reading of scripture, to preaching, to teaching. Do not neglect the gift you have, which was
given you by prophetic utterance when the council of elders laid their hands
upon you. Practice these duties; devote yourself to them, so that all may see
your progress.”
St. Timothy came
to the faith early in life and the reference to his youth shows that he had
responsibilities in ministry as relatively young adult. St. Paul instructed him to be responsible to
the great dignity of his calling, to devote himself to cultivating all the
spiritual strength that he possibly could, and to be fully aware of the gravity
of the grace given him to serve as a shepherd of the flock.
Unlike with
Zacchaeus, Timothy apparently did not need astounding repentance. He had the benefit of coming to Christ early
in life and needed primarily to be faithful with all the blessings that he had
received. That may seem easier than
turning away from a life of grave sin, but it is a path with its own
temptations, which can be subtle and deadly.
It is easy to take for granted what we have known for so long, perhaps
for our whole lives. It is appealing to
denigrate “the same old thing” that we and our families have done for so
long. It is a temptation to become
comfortable with our level of spiritual growth or with the place that we have
allowed God in our lives. St. Paul
surely knew that, so he instructed Timothy straightforwardly to remain focused,
take nothing for granted, and give his all to the Lord each day.
At different
points in our lives, we will identify more with Zacchaeus and at other times
more with Timothy. Some have given their
lives to the Savior after falling into the worst forms of corruption that the
world has to offer. They have found the
way of Christ as a relief and a blessing that stands in stark contrast to the
darkness they had previously known.
Some have grown
up with the faith and always had some sense of living a Christian life. Nonetheless, we are all Zacchaeus when we turn
away from the Lord by embracing darkness in our thoughts, words, and
deeds. We may not be traitors and
corrupt tax collectors, but we murder people in our hearts when we hate and
refuse to forgive them. We fall into
adultery whenever we allow lust to take root in our hearts. Married or single,
we sin whenever we fuel our passions with images, thoughts, or actions that
make us slaves to self-centered desire, that lead us to reject the calling to
direct our deepest desires to union with God.
When we are stingy with our resources, time, and attention in relation to
the needs of our family members and neighbors, we steal from them. But when we reorient ourselves according to
the Lord’s purposes for us like Zacchaeus did, salvation will come to our
house.
And even if we
came to faith from a broken and dark past, we are all Timothy in having gifts
of which we must be good stewards. We
must devote ourselves to remaining on the path by which we have begun the
journey to the Kingdom, refusing to be distracted from our high calling. We must remember the struggles of the past
and never take our deliverance for granted, for we are all only one grave sin
away from weakening our relationship with the Lord. And if we want to continue on the path to
healing and strength that we have begun, we must actually continue on it. St. Paul’s words apply to us also: “Practice
these duties; devote yourself to them, so that all may see your progress.” Yes,
we all owe it to one another to set the best example possible in striving to
grow in holiness. This is not a journey
that any of us can take entirely by yourselves.
The personal
histories of Zacchaeus and Timothy were profoundly different, but they both
became shining examples of our Lord’s salvation. The same will be true of us when we turn from
sin like that tax collector and mindfully stay focused on serving Christ like that
young apostle. No matter where we are on the journey to the Kingdom, we can all
learn from these two faithful men. The
beauty of our unique personalities will shine all the more brightly when,
through humble repentance, salvation comes to our house and when, through
steadfast commitment, we refuse to be distracted from offering our lives
faithfully to the Savior each day. That is surely His calling to each and every
one of us.
No comments:
Post a Comment