Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Ba tuần 33 TN.

 Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Ba tuần 33 TN. 

Qua bài Tin Mừng hôm nay, chúng ta hãy tự hỏi? Chúng ta sẽ phản ứng ra sao hay là sẽ phải làm những gì nếu Chúa Giêsu gõ cửa nhà của chúng và nói, "Ta phải lưu lại nhà ngươi hôm nay!" Chúng ta có thể vui mừng hay xấu hổ? Chúa Giêsu thường đến thăm chúng ta trong những lúc thật bất ngờ “những lúc không mời mà đến" người nghèo, người què, thậm chí tội lỗi công khai như ông Gia kêu là người thu thuế! (Người Thu thuế lúc bấy giờ thường được xem như hạng người phản bội tổ quốc, gian giảo nên bị đối xử như người ngoại bang vì họ làm giàu trên xương máu của người dân).
Ông Gia kêu là một người thu thuế trưởng và bị rất nhiều người thù ghét. Ông cần tình yêu thương xót của Thiên Chúa và trong cuộc gặp gỡ với Chúa Giêsu, ông ta đã tìm thấy lòng thương xót và tình yêu nơi Chúa Giêsu nhiều hơn những gì ông có thể tưởng tượng. Ông đã cho thấy sự ăn năn thống hối thật tình của mình bằng cách quyết định dâng cúng một nửa số gia tài của mình cho người nghèo và sử dụng một nửa khác đền bù thiệt hại cho những ai mà ông ta đã gian lận. Những việc ông ta đã làm đã làm chứng còn nhiều hơn là những lời ông ta nói. Sự thay đổi tâm hồn của ông ta dẫn đến một sự thay đổi cuộc sống, một sự thay đổi mà cả cộng đoàn có thể trải nghiệm chân thật.
Chúa luôn luôn sẵn sàng đến để làm nơi trú ngụ của Ngài trong chúng ta, măc dù chúng ta có tội lỗi nhiều đi đến đâu, nếu chúng ta có lòng quyết tâm hối cải và biến đổi như ông Gia kêu, thì chúng ta phải dành chỗ cho Ngài trong tâm hồn, trong trái tim và trong gia đình của chúng ta, Và nhờ đó mà Ngài sẽ sống với và trong chúng ta mãi mãi.
Lạy Chúa, xin Chúa đến và ở lại với chúng con, xin Chúa khỏa lấp nhà chúng con với sự hiện diện của Chúa và lấp đầy tâm của chúng con với lời khen ngợi Chúa. Xin Chúa giúp chúng con biết thể hiện lòng tốt và lòng thương xót đến với mọi người, ngay cả những người chúng con không ưa thích và cà những người đã gây ra thiệt hại cho chúng con.

Reflection (SG)
What would you do if Jesus knocked on your door and said, “I must stay at your house today?” Would you be excited or embarrassed? Jesus often “dropped-in” at unexpected times and he often visited the “uninvited” — the poor, the lame, even public sinners like Zacchaeus, the tax collector! Tax collectors were despised and treated as outcasts, no doubt because they accumulated great wealth at the expense of others. Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector and was much hated by all the people.
Zacchaeus needed God’s merciful love and in his encounter with Jesus he found more than he imagined possible. He shows the depth of his repentance by deciding to give half of his goods to the poor and to use the other half for making restitution for fraud. Zacchaeus’ testimony included more than words. His change of heart resulted in a change of life, a change that the whole community could experience as genuine. The Lord is always ready to make his home with us. We have to make room for him in our hearts and in our home, so that he lives with us forever. Lord, come and stay with me. Fill my home with your presence and fill my heart with your praise. Help me to show kindness and mercy to all, even those who cause me harm.

Opening Prayer:
Lord, thank you for this chance to pray. Thank you for giving me the gift of faith, because I know that many live without it. Help me in this moment to see the world the way you see it, and to love like you love. Draw me close to your heart.

Encountering Christ:
1. Nothing to Lose: Ironically, a reputation of sinfulness or weakness can sometimes become an asset. Zacchaeus was almost universally disliked because he gathered taxes from his people for the Romans. Because few liked him, he did not have to worry about impressing anyone. When Jesus came to town, a more respectable person might have thought twice about climbing a tree, but Zacchaeus had no such inhibition. He wanted to see Jesus passing by. And because Zacchaeus forgot himself enough to climb that tree, he caught Jesus’s attention, which ended up being the biggest blessing of his life.
2. The Encounter: When Christ saw that short little man looking down at him from a tree–dressed in clothes far too nice for tree climbing–he did not ignore Zacchaeus, or laugh, or point him out to the crowd. Instead, he took Zacchaeus seriously. Indeed, Zacchaeus was the one with whom he chose to have dinner—not the Pharisees, nor the upstanding citizens in the area, nor even the lowly ones. Christ will never laugh at our efforts to reach him, no matter how ridiculous we feel or may seem to others. He is always seeking to grow in intimacy with us.
3. Imagine the Joy: When Zacchaeus repented and offered restitution, Jesus exclaimed, “Today salvation has come to this house.” Jesus had come to save what had been lost, and in Zacchaeus his mission had been fulfilled. Nothing makes Our Lord happier than the return of a lost sheep! He says to us, “Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep” (Luke 15:6). We can share that joy with Jesus by reaching out on his behalf to others he places in our lives. When we act according to his will, Jesus can change the lives of those for whom we pray and those we serve. What joy!

Conversing with Christ: Lord, increase my faith, hope, and love. I want to be your envoy to those in need of your presence in their lives. Help me to notice them, to greet them, to befriend them and to serve them in your name.
Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will make one little public act of faith, whether it be making the sign of the cross in front of a church or saying “God bless” to someone.

Meditation: 

What would you do if Jesus knocked on your door and said, "I must stay at your home today"? Would you be excited or embarrassed? Jesus often "dropped-in" at unexpected times and he often visited the "uninvited" – the poor, the lame, and even public sinners like Zacchaeus, the tax collector! Tax collectors were despised and treated as outcasts, no doubt because they over-charged people and accumulated great wealth at the expense of others. Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector and was much hated by all the people. Why would Jesus single him out for the honor of staying at his home? Zacchaeus needed God's merciful love and forgiveness. In his encounter with Jesus he found more than he imagined possible. He shows the depth of his repentance by deciding to give half of his goods to the poor and to use the other half for making restitution for fraud. Zacchaeus' testimony included more than words. His change of heart resulted in a change of life, a change that the whole community could experience as genuine.
Saint Augustine of Hippo urges us to climb the sycamore tree like Zacchaeus that we might see Jesus and embrace his cross for our lives:
Zacchaeus climbed away from the crowd and saw Jesus without the crowd getting in his way. The crowd laughs at the lowly, to people walking the way of humility, who leave the wrongs they suffer in God’s hands and do not insist on getting back at their enemies. The crowd laughs at the lowly and says, “You helpless, miserable clod, you cannot even stick up for yourself and get back what is your own.” The crowd gets in the way and prevents Jesus from being seen. The crowd boasts and crows when it is able to get back what it owns. It blocks the sight of the one who said as he hung on the cross, “Father, forgive them, because they do not know what they are doing. … He ignored the crowd that was getting in his way. He instead climbed a sycamore tree, a tree of “silly fruit.” As the apostle says, “We preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block indeed to the Jews, [now notice the sycamore] but folly to the Gentiles.” Finally, the wise people of this world laugh at us about the cross of Christ and say, “What sort of minds do you people have, who worship a crucified God?” What sort of minds do we have? They are certainly not your kind of mind. “The wisdom of this world is folly with God.” No, we do not have your kind of mind. You call our minds foolish. Say what you like, but for our part, let us climb the sycamore tree and see Jesus. The reason you cannot see Jesus is that you are ashamed to climb the sycamore tree.
Let Zacchaeus grasp the sycamore tree, and let the humble person climb the cross. That is little enough, merely to climb it. We must not be ashamed of the cross of Christ, but we must fix it on our foreheads, where the seat of shame is. Above where all our blushes show is the place we must firmly fix that for which we should never blush. As for you, I rather think you make fun of the sycamore, and yet that is what has enabled me to see Jesus. You make fun of the sycamore, because you are just a person, but “the foolishness of God is wiser than men.Sermon 174.3. The Lord Jesus is always ready to make his home with each one of us. Do you make room for him in your heart and in every area of your life?
"Lord Jesus, come and stay with me. Fill my life with your peace, my home with your presence, and my heart with your praise. Help me to show kindness, mercy, and goodness to all, even to those who cause me ill-will or harm."