Sunday of Zacchaeus; The Encounter of our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Feast of our Lord. Holy Day of obligation.
1 Timothy 4:9-15; Hebrews 7:7-17; Luke 19:1-10; Luke 2:22-40.
Read 1 Timothy 4:9-15
If we go around telling everyone that they should live like how we are living instead of how they are living, we could rightly expect some pushback. We don’t necessarily like unsolicited advice either. To understand people, we must love them; it takes caring observation to know a person, what they need, and how they might willingly receive it. It takes the same discernment to know ourselves and what we might offer them.
But we don’t have to preach for some people to be bothered. Our choices to live differently can feel to others like an implicit rebuke. Through no fault of our own we may find ourselves on the receiving end of assumptions and attitudes that have more to do with the other person than us, even among believers. What to do?
“Let no one despise your (fill in the blank).” We all have something that others might use to negate the positive effect of our life. Don’t be deterred in how you’ve learned in love to conduct yourself. Let what you say, how you say it, and what you do that goes along with what you say be the example.
“Attend to the public reading of scripture, to preaching, to teaching.” Don’t let anyone’s response to you stop you from going to church.
“Do not neglect the gift you have.” Don’t withdraw, showing up in body but not in spirit. Stay active and connected.
“Practice these duties, devote yourself to them, so that all may see your progress.” Practice, devotion, and progress take time. Times of rest and healing are required among the times of activity and relationship. That is how you, “Take heed to yourself and to your teaching.”
“Hold to that, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.”