Education in Faith
A man in a tree!
At the moment our Year Three students are preparing for the Sacrament of First Reconciliation, and doing a wonderful job! We will have more information on this in the coming weeks as the Sacrament approached.
The main themes of Reconciliation are Asking for Forgiveness and The Ways in which we can Forgive. There are many examples of these themes in the Bible, particularly from the life of Jesus. It also means in class we have been able to cover Luke 19: 1-10, which is an absolute classic story! Read on to find out all about it!
Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd.
So we pick up this story with a man who was famous in his town, or to put it better infamous, Zacchaeus.
Zacchaeus was greatly disliked in his town, and as the students mention 'it was probably fair enough!'
This was not a man who lived his life being considerate of others. Think of your neighbours who always park in your parking spot, or that person who cuts in line at the supermarket!
Zacchaeus was a tax collector for the King, but it was an open secret that he was cheating people out of their money. He would take a bit for the King and a bit for himself! He lived in a fancy house and and showed off. He did not have friends and the town treated him poorly!
He was also famously quite short, but this doesn't have anything to do with his personal choices!
As the story starts, you can absolutely imagine the crowd not allowing Zacchaeus to see Jesus. Deliberately blocking him and trying to pretend he is not there.
So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.
All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”
The visual of Zacchaeus climbing his tree and a bemused Jesus looking up at him is what makes this story so funny and memorable!
When Jesus sees Zacchaeus he immediately asks to visit his house, which the people of Jericho are in disbelief about. How could this Holy Man want to spend time with a criminal who doesn't care about anyone but himself? As always though, Jesus know what he is doing!
But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”
Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
Jesus travels to Zacchaues' house, and spends time with him. After a short amount of time, Zacchaues wants to talk about the poor choices he has made.
In fact, he blurts this out! What a relief it must have been for him to admit he had done the wrong thing, and start to plan how he wanted to fix this.
Further to this, we can easily see that Zacchaues is very sincere! He isn't just saying the word aloud, he is commiting to help others and atone for his choices.
So what do we learn?
A man in a tree is one of the most memorable parts of this story, and is always fun to read about, but it isn't the most important takeaway! Our students have done a wonderful job reflecting on this and have come to the same conclusions about saying sorry and the joys of being foregiven by others.
Even though Zacchaues was not well liked, we can empathise with him. No one likes to feel sad, alone and mistreated by others. It's easy to imagine how when he started stealing from others he was thinking about the money, but then easily continued when he was treated so poorly by others and made an outcast.
When Jesus meets Zacchaues he immediately treats him with kindness and warmth, and the effects are almost instant! Zacchaues has been waiting for this day, as he turns around and commits to helping others.
Jesus teaches us that treating others as human, capable of making both good and poor choices, is the way to go. His love, enables Zacchaues to show love too!
We can think on how this story might be reflected in our own lives.
Are there times I need to do a better job empathising and forgiving others?
Do I sometimes act with anger and irritation?
Do I spend time thinking beyond myself when upset, about the reasons that someone might be engaging in behaviour that upsets me?
The Bible is such a rich, rich resource, that we love unpacking in Religion lessons through the year. We can see how even though it is was written so long ago, there are so many valuable lessons to take with us.
Maybe don't climb a tree when you are thinking about them though!
God Bless
Tim O'Mahoney
Education in Faith Leader