God is pursuing you!
Are you prepared to invite him in?
From time immemorial, God is a God of covenant,
characterized as gracious and merciful and kind, compassionate and faithful and
holy, according to Psalm 145. In our
moments of failure, God offers support and encouragement; in our times of sin,
the Book of Wisdom assures us, God has
mercy on all and overlooks people’s sins that they may repent. Why?
Because God seeks relationship with humankind; having created all, loving all things, God does all God can
to help us past our sinfulness through the grace of repentance so that we might
live with him always.
The tax collector Zacchaeus certainly knows what it means to
move past his sinfulness and into right relationship with Jesus. In Luke's Gospel, Zacchaeus is drawn to Jesus; he even climbs a
tree so he can see Jesus as he passes by.
But Jesus, to his surprise, seeks relationship with him; Jesus overlooks
Zacchaeus’ past, pursuing him so that salvation
can come to Zacchaeus’ house. And
Zacchaeus, for his part, is thrilled that Jesus is pursuing him; he is prepared
to invite Jesus in and offer him every hospitality: he receives
Jesus with joy!
God is pursuing us…
but to what end? Paul’s Second Letter toTimothy suggests that, from a position of right relationship with God, we show
that we are worthy of his calling,
ready to respond, to make every effort of
faith, that God might be glorified. God is unfolding God’s plan before our very eyes,
pursuing a relationship with us, looking past our sin, loving us beyond all
telling. Are we prepared to respond and invite him
in?
This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.
Image source: Wordle
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