Salvation has come to this house

19 NOVEMBER (Lk 19,1-10)

The Lord always invites man to seek him. It is an urgent call that God addresses to the creature made by Him in his image and likeness. Never does the Lord himself stop to personally go looking for man in order to offer him his forgiveness and eternal life.

Oh give thanks to the LORD, call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples. Sing to Him, sing praises to Him; Speak of all His wonders. Glory in His holy name; Let the heart of those who seek the LORD be glad. Seek the LORD and His strength; Seek His face continually. Remember His wonders which He has done, His marvels and the judgments uttered by His mouth, O seed of Abraham, His servant, O sons of Jacob, His chosen ones! (Psalm 105 (104) 1-6).

Listen to me, you who pursue justice, who seek the Lord; Look to the rock from which you were hewn, to the pit from which you were quarried; Look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who gave you birth; When he was but one I called him, I blessed him and made him many. Yes, the Lord shall comfort Zion and have pity on all her ruins; Her deserts he shall make like Eden, her wasteland like the garden of the Lord; Joy and gladness shall be found in her, thanksgiving and the sound of song. (Is 51,1-3).

Seek the Lord while he may be found, call him while he is near. Let the scoundrel forsake his way, and the wicked man his thoughts; Let him turn to the Lord for mercy; to our God, who is generous in forgiving. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways above your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts (Is 55,6-9).

For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel: Seek me, that you may live, but do not seek Bethel; Do not come to Gilgal, and do not cross to Beer-sheba. For Gilgal shall be led into exile, and Bethel shall become nought. Seek the Lord, that you may live, lest he come upon the house of Joseph like a fire That shall consume, with none to quench it for the house of Israel: He who made the Pleiades and Orion, who turns darkness into dawn, and darkens day into night; Who summons the waters of the sea, and pours them out upon the surface of the earth; Who flashes destruction upon the strong, and brings ruin upon the fortress; whose name is Lord (Am 5,4-9).

Gather, gather yourselves together, O nation without shame! Before you are driven away, like chaff that passes on; Before there comes upon you the blazing anger of the Lord: Before there comes upon you the day of the Lord’s anger. Seek the Lord, all you humble of the earth, who have observed his law; Seek justice, seek humility; perhaps you may be sheltered on the day of the Lord’s anger (Zeph 2,1-3).

Preventing a single man to seek his God and Lord, in whom is his true salvation is, is an abominable work, an inhuman act, a very grave sin against the truth of God and man. Of this sin the Pharisees stained themselves in Jesus’ time.

He came to Jericho and intended to pass through the town. Now a man there named Zacchaeus, who was a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man, was seeking to see who Jesus was; but he could not see him because of the crowd, for he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus, who was about to pass that way. When he reached the place, Jesus looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house.” And he came down quickly and received him with joy. When they all saw this, they began to grumble, saying, “He has gone to stay at the house of a sinner.” But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone I shall repay it four times over.” And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house because this man too is a descendant of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost.”

Jesus is free from the sin of the Pharisees. He does not let himself be influenced by them. He walks in his own way. He is the true seeker of man and he cannot sin of omission only because evil and wicked men, enemies of humanity, criticize, accuse, murmur and condemn. The conversion of a heart – and Zacchaeus attests he truly got converted and his works attest it – is worth even a death by the cross. A senseless, foolish criticism, fruit of the sin of the heart, can prevent the salvation of many hearts.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels and Saints make us pure in words.