Living in the Spirit

October 29, 2022

Scripture Reading: 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 sycomore 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.’

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains. (1 Timothy 6:10)

From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required; and from one to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be demanded. (Luke 12:48b)

As he sat in that tree, Zacchaeus was caught in the crossfires of the above two scriptures whether he knew it or not. The first tells him that in his eagerness to be rich he could wander away from the faith that Jesus, the man who drew his interest after seeing the crowd’s response, professed. Regarding the second scripture, he is called to take responsibility for being trustworthy with the wealth he had accumulated.

I cannot help but think of Jesus’s very act of inviting himself in front of that crowd to the home of one of the most reviled members of that community touching a tender spot in Zacchaeus made his choice clear. God’s love is like that. Ours should be too.

Prayer: Lord, help us see and help develop the value in those people from whom we turn away. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.