{"id":2397,"date":"2016-10-28T16:38:24","date_gmt":"2016-10-28T05:38:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stbridgetsgreythorn.org.au\/?p=2397"},"modified":"2016-10-28T16:38:24","modified_gmt":"2016-10-28T05:38:24","slug":"can-i-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/kmgit.com\/testbuzz\/can-i-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Can I Change?"},"content":{"rendered":"

EVANGELIST Luke narrates the episode of Zacchaeus \u00a0(Luke 19:1-10) so that his readers would better discover what they can expect of\"zaccheus\"<\/a> Jesus: the Lord they invoke and follow in the Christian communities has come back to seek out and save what is lost. They must never forget it.<\/p>\n

At the same time, this story of what Zacchaeus does, helps to answer the question that many carry within, Can I change?\u00a0 Isn\u2019t it by now too late to redo a life that, for the most part, has gone to waste?\u00a0 What steps can I take?<\/p>\n

Zacchaeus enters the scene, described in two ways that define his life precisely. He is one of two senior tax collectors and is wealthy.\u00a0 In Jericho everyone knows that he is a sinner. Someone who doesn\u2019t serve God but serves money. His life, like so many others, isn\u2019t very humane.<\/p>\n

However, Zacchaeus was trying to see Jesus. It\u2019s not just curiosity. He wants to know who Jesus is, what it is about this prophet that so attracts people. This is not an easy task for a man snug within his own world. But this desire for Jesus will change his life.<\/p>\n

The man will have to overcome difficult obstacles. He\u2019s short of stature, mainly because his life isn\u2019t motivated by very noble ideals. The people are another impediment; he will have to overcome social prejudices that make it difficult for him to have a personal and responsible meeting with Jesus.<\/p>\n

But Zacchaeus keeps at his quest simply and sincerely. He runs to get ahead of the crowd, and climbs a tree like a child. He doesn\u2019t think about his dignity as an important person. He only wants to find a moment and a place adequate to make contact with Jesus. He wants to see him.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s when he discovers that Jesus is also seeking him, since when Jesus reaches that place, he looks around him and says, \u201cThe meeting will be this very day in your sinners house\u201d. Zacchaeus comes down and receives him in his house full of joy. There are decisive moments when Jesus passes through our life because he wants to save our wasted life. He won\u2019t let us escape from it.<\/p>\n

Luke doesn\u2019t describe the meeting. He only speaks of Zacchaeus\u2019 transformation. He changes his way of looking at life; he no longer thinks just about money, but about other\u2019s suffering. He changes his way of life; he will do justice for those he has exploited and will share his goods with the poor.<\/p>\n

Sooner or later, we all run the risk of \u201csetting ourselves up\u201d in life, renouncing any aspiration of living humanely. We believers need to know that a more authentic meeting with Jesus can make our life more human, and above all, more in solidarity with Jesus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EVANGELIST Luke narrates the episode of Zacchaeus \u00a0(Luke 19:1-10) so that his readers would better discover what they can expect of Jesus: the Lord they invoke and follow in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pastoral-messages"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/kmgit.com\/testbuzz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/kmgit.com\/testbuzz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/kmgit.com\/testbuzz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kmgit.com\/testbuzz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kmgit.com\/testbuzz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2397"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/kmgit.com\/testbuzz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2397\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2401,"href":"http:\/\/kmgit.com\/testbuzz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2397\/revisions\/2401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/kmgit.com\/testbuzz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kmgit.com\/testbuzz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kmgit.com\/testbuzz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}