Gospel: Luke 19:1-10

The Word of God

Jesus 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.”

Luke 19:1-10

Reflection:

Our gospel for today id from Luke 19:1-10 which talks about Zaccheus, the tax collector and his faith. In the gospel, Zaccheus wanted so much to see Jesus but he couldn’t because he was short. The next thing he did was to climb a sycamore tree to see Jesus since He will pass by the area. When Jesus was about to pass, He called up to Zaccheus to come down for He will visit his house. By the thought of Jesus visiting his house, Zaccheus was very happy to welcome Him.

In Luke 19:1-10, we can see that Zaccheus is a man who wanted so bad to see Jesus. He is very much excited to welcome Jesus into his home. Even though people gossip, he doesn’t mind them instead he prepared his house for his visitor. People gossip because they can’t accept that Jesus will visit the house of Zaccheus. The people regard Zaccheus as a sinner since he was a tax collector.

The gospel from Luke 19:1-10 says that Zaccheus is very much willing to offer his wealth to the poor and the needy. It means he give more importance to Jesus than anyone else. The people might not understand this but Jesus saw what is in the heart of the tax collector.

Luke 19:1-10 reminds us that we are like Zaccheus most of the time. We wanted very much to follow Jesus but we get tempted by the pleasures of the world. Although we pray and ask for God to bless us, we still commit sins all the time.

The gospel tells us that no matter how sinful we are, Jesus will still visit us to make us new again. All we have to do is to go back to Him and ask for His forgiveness and blessings. If you do this, no one can stop you for being good all the time. That is the power of faith in Jesus. – Clea | Helpline PH