In my last blog entry, A Love Lesson
from the Gospel Story of Zacchaeus, a Short Sinful Man, I described the
Gospel story of Zacchaeus and Jesus in Luke 19:1-10 as a story of love. In this context, love does not mean romantic
kind. It is also a s tory of seekers as
love seeks love’s object, because love unites, illustrating a mutual seeking of
Zacchaeus and Jesus in light of Song
of Songs 2:8-10.14.16; 8:6-7.
The
Gospel story makes it clear that it was not just Zacchaeus who was seeking
Jesus but Jesus was also seeking Zacchaeus. Otherwise, he would just pass by
Zacchaeus on a sycamore tree without any interaction. But, out of countless
numbers in the crowd, Jesus responded to Zacchaeus, as if he had known this “wee little man”
trying to see him from a tree. And, it
was on his way to Jerusalem – in fact, to Calvary. Though Jesus did not have to go through Jericho,
as there were other ways around to go from Galilee to Jerusalem, Jesus chose to
go through Jericho.
Significance of Jericho – where Jesus met Zacchaeus
Jesus
did not do anything without a reason. He always had a certain intention for his
action. So, he had a certain intention or interest in going to Jerusalem
through Jericho.
Biblically,
Jericho is believed to have a symbolic meaning as an impeding factor between
God and us – a sort of a stumbling stone that blocks a pathway between God and
us, an obstacle in our covenant relation with God.
Jericho
was a city associated with problem against God. That is why it was conquered by
Joshua (Joshua 6:1-27) and dealt by Elijah
and Elisha (2 Kings 2:1-25). During the time of Elijah and Elisha, Jericho was a
city where King Ahab’s wickedness was so evident and needed God’s action.
With
this Old Testament background, It makes sense that Jesus chose to go through
Jericho on his mission – on his way to Jerusalem to be crucified as prophesized
in Isaiah 53.
Even
after Elijah and Elisha responding to Jericho’s problem as God’s representative
(prophets), there was something about
Jericho for Jesus.
And,
Jesus not only met and transformed a sinner, Zacchaeus, (Luke 19:1-10) but also
healed Bartmaeus’ blindness ( Mark 10:46-52).
These two actions of Jesus in Jericho bear significant meaning.
These
actions of Jesus in Jericho can be symbolically understood as removing
stumbling blocks on our path toward salvation. Zacchaeus’ metanoia (turn of heart back to God through penance) also means our
metanoia, and Barmaeus’ gaining of
vision also echoes our enlightening to God’s great power of mercy and
salvation.
Jesus
needed to accomplish these as part of his mission before completing his earthly
mission in Jerusalem for our salvation.
In this regard, Jesus’ path from Galilee to Jerusalem via Jericho
symbolically means our path of salvation.
So, Jericho means obstacles to be resolved in order for us to attain
salvation.
A Love Lesson from Zaccaheus – Responding to Jesus’
Love Call Without Delay – Joy: Clinical
Comparison Between sinful Zacchaeus and righteous Bro. Leo
Now, I
want to talk a bit more about my characterization of the Gospel story of Jesus
and Zacchaeus as a story of love, expounding my last blog entry.
Besides
it is story of seeking, which is a character of love, as Blessed Pope John Paul
II spoke in his 6 June 1984 address to general audience, it is a story about our response to love’s
call.
Lovers seek and search each other, because
seeking is love’s nature. Even though
loves are together, they still continue seeking and searching each other
further on deeper levels. As Blessed
Pope John Paul II addressed, love’s seeking nature is everlasting. In fact, this is how God has been to us, and
we are to be the same to God.
Jesus, the incarnation of God’s love for
us, seeks us, especially those who are
in more need of God’s providence, like sinners. That is why Jesus intentionally and
symbolically went through Jericho on his way to Jerusalem and sought out
Zacchaeus, showing how God seek us in His love.
When God seek, God call us. That is why
Jesus told Zacchaeus, “ Zacchaeus,
come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house”(Luke 19:5).
These words of Jesus certainly echo the following words of
Jesus in Revelation:
“Behold,
I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door,
[then] I will enter his house and dine with him, and he with me”(Revelation
3:20).
The reason why I find these words of Jesus from Revelation
3:20 to be paralleling the words of Jesus in Luke 19:5 is Jesus’ words in
Revelation 3:19:
Those whom I love, I
reprove and chastise. Be earnest, therefore, and repent.
In Revelation 3:19-20, Jesus is calling us, the sinners,
inviting us to dine with him at our homes.
Spiritually, “homes” means our
hearts. And, this invitation of Jesus to
us is with the same pattern as the way
Jesus invited Zacchaeus to dine with him at his home.
Of course, Jesus has a specific intention in calling us to
let him into our houses – our hearts – as he asked Zacchaeus to let him into
his house, as Jesus’ words in Revelation
3:21 indicate:
I
will give the victor the right to sit with me on my throne, as I myself first
won the victory and sit with my Father on his throne.
It is clear that Jesus is inviting us to sit with him on his
throne as he is the victorious King.
This eschatological and soteriological image in Revelation is very
important to understand why Jesus said to Zacchaeus:
Today salvation has
come to this house because this man too is a descendant of Abraham (Luke
19:9).
As the throne of Christ the King is an important image of
salvation – heaven, where Saints and saints are, as in the case of Zaccheus, we must say our
willing “Yes!” to Jesus, when he calls us – whether he tells us to come down
from a tree immediately (symbolically, Jesus asking us to come closer to him)
or knocking on our doors (symbolically, knocking on the door of our heart) – in
order for us to be entitled to salvation. And, this is definitely a call and seeking of
Jesus, the lover.
As Jesus wants to visit and dine with Zacchaeus at his home,
he also wants to visit us and dine with us wherever we are. It is because Jesus
is the ultimate lover, who seeks us.
And, when Jesus seeks and wants to dine with us, it is him, who provides
“dinner” as he offers himself – his body and blood – as the Eucharist at every
Mass.
So, when we attend Mass and receive the Sacrament of
Eucharist, we are saying “Yes!”(Amen!) to Jesus’ call – in a way, as Zacchaeus
joyfully responded to Jesus’ call by coming down from a sycamore tree and had
him over dinner at his house. And, it was there salvation came.
So, how willing are we to let Jesus into our own hearts?
This question is a good indicator of how genuine and
authentic our relationship with Jesus is. In other words, the aforementioned
question can be:
How intimate and genuine your relationship
with Christ is?
Would you immediately open the door and
welcome him in, regardless of the cleanliness of your home?
Would you rather tell him, “Lord, I’m
glad you have come! But, I wish you would have told me before so that I could
have clean my house and be more hospitable. I’m sorry, Lord. Since you just
came unannounced, I cannot let you in. My place is a big mess. Could you please
come back tomorrow so that I can be more welcoming to you? “
Spiritually, many of us tend to respond
to Jesus’ call as Jesus never tells us when he is going to visit us. He sure did not tell Zacchaeus he would come
to his house and dine with him until he met him on that very day. And, Zacchaeus did not have the luxury to
make a grand plan to provide best hospitality to Jesus the special guest. He just did his best to host Jesus at his
last minute announcement.
So, this is how we must act in response
to Jesus’ calling us and knocking our hearts’ doors, as Jesus wants to visit
our hearts, whenever he wants and feels like. Not when we feel ready to host
Jesus into our hearts.
As sinners, we tend to feel reluctant to
let Jesus into our hearts immediately upon his unannounced contacts, because we
know our hearts are not clean enough to be seen by Jesus. Don’t we all feel some reluctance, though we
know we need, upon going to confession?
The same reluctance manifests when Jesus
knocks our hearts’ door – if we feel our hearts are not clean enough to please
Jesus.
So, we rather prefer to wait or postpone
Jesus’ visit to our hearts until they are clean enough.
This intention seems to be a nice
gesture on the surface. But, from a pastoral psychological view, this actually
leads to psychospiritual disorder. A good case study is found with Bro. Leo,
who slipped into despair as a result of his diligent pursuit of the purity of
heart. In my 10/13/13 blog entry, St. Francis as a Morita Therapy Practitioner – A Case Study of Bro. Leo”,
I extensively addressed this issue.
Bro. Leo felt that he had to attain the purity of heart to
attain salvation. Thus, he worked very hard in his own way to achieve this
goal. But, in his efforts to attain the purity of heart, he lost himself,
resulting in despair. And, it was St.
Francis who pointed out this problem to Bro. Leo, stating:
“The sadness of not
being perfect, the discovery that you really are sinful, is a feeling much too
human, even borders on idolatry. Focus your vision outside yourself, on the
beauty, graciousness and compassion of Jesus Christ. The pure of heart praise
Him from sunrise to sundown……… holiness
is not a personal achievement. It's an emptiness you discover in yourself.
Instead of resenting it, you accept it and it becomes the free space where the
Lord can create anew. To cry out, ‘You alone are the Holy One, you alone are
the Lord,' that is what it means to be pure of heart. And it doesn't come by
your Herculean efforts and threadbare resolutions…… Simply hoard nothing of yourself; sweep the house clean. Sweep out even
the attic, even the nagging, painful consciousness of your past. Accept being
shipwrecked. Renounce everything that is heavy, even the weight of your sins.
See only the compassion, the infinite patience and the tender love of Christ.
Jesus is Lord. That suffices. Your guilt and reproach disappear into the
nothingness of non-attention. You are no longer aware of yourself, like the
sparrow aloft and free in the azure sky. Even the desire for holiness is
transformed into a pure and simple desire for Jesus.” (taken from “The Relentless Tenderness of
Jesus” by Brennan Manning)
As these compassionate yet powerful words to Bro. Leo also
teach us, it is our narcissistic excuse to delay in opening our hearts to Jesus
because of impurity of our hearts. And, if we keep prolonging our self-induced
blockage to Jesus’ path to come into our hearts out of our ego’s ego-centric
attachment, as St. Francis analyzed, we can suffer from psychospiritual
disorder as Bro. Leo did.
So, a great lesson here is to simply open our hearts’ door –
opening our hearts – to Jesus even our hearts are in “mess”, even far from
pure. In fact, Jesus already knows that our
hearts are not pure – yet. That is why he comes to us – just as he sought
Zacchaeus, a sinner.
And, as Zacchaeus did not hesitate to let Jesus in, we are
to let Jesus into our hearts, in spite of impurity. Let us not make imperfection and impurity be
our excuse to block Jesus! If we do, then,
we are symbolically holding up Jesus in Jericho!
Another important lesson from Zacchaeus is that he was able
to resolve his ego attachment through his contact with Jesus and by letting him
into his house to dine with him, as he let go of what he was holding – at least
a half of his treasures. And, he gained more joy. Interestingly, St. Francis was also pointing
out this to Bro. Leo.
No wonder Zacchaeus did not suffer from a psychospiritual
disorder as Bro. Leo did, though the former was a sinner and the latter was
rather a righteous man. Zacchaes was
able to save himself from slipping into despair because he immediately let
Jesus in. But, Bro. Leo had to suffer because he became too busy focusing on
purity of his heart though he should have just let Jesus into his heart.
The more intimate we become in our love, then, we become
much less reluctant to let our love objects further deeper into our
hearts. If it is our hearts’ deep desire
to have true intimacy with our love objects, then, we must first strive to
attain the intimacy with God through Jesus the Christ.
Christian couples who let Jesus into their hearts without preoccupation
of purity, as Zacchaeus let Jesus in, tend to be happier and intimate couples. But, Christian couples, who let their preoccupations with perfection or purity become hindrance to invite each other deeper into one another's hearts, tend to suffer from intimacy deficiency and a host of its consequences.
As Jesus loves us as we are, including our imperfection, things to be improved, and impurity, lovers in genuine intimacy love one another regardless of each other's imperfection and so forth. And, as Zacchaeus let Jesus in though he was a sinner (while righteous people thought he was not worthy to let Jesus in), we, sinners, also let not only Jesus deep into our impure hearts but also we, genuine lovers, let one another in love deep into one another's hearts. The intimacy that enables us to do this means salvation!
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