Come down quickly!

"Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house."

Luke 19:5

 

It's kind of a which-came-first deal in today's Gospel.  Which happened first, Jesus' love and mercy toward Zacchaeus or Zach's repentance? Easy. The former.  Jesus calls Zacchaeus down from the tree, inviting himself to dinner before Zacchaeus says anything about repaying those he had cheated.  He didn't have to win Jesus over by changing his life, but it was his encounter with Jesus that changed him from the inside out. This is such a valuable lesson for those of us who feel we can earn God's love and mercy.  That we have to do enough to please God.  That we can to earn our place in heaven.  God, with infinite love, calls us down from our trees everyday, just wanting to be loved by us. We change in response to God's love not to earn God's love.  Today, let's smile every time we think of Zacchaeus in the tree and let's climb down, ourselves, changed from the inside by the love of God we can't even comprehend.  Love, heidi