Sunday of Zacchaeus; The Holy Apostle Timothy; the Holy Venerable-Martyr Anastasius the Persian (628)
1 Timothy 4:9-15; Luke 19:1-10.
Read 1 Timothy 4:9-15
Christ is born! Glorify Him!
Ever have a time in your life where you ask, what’s the point? Nothing lasts, it all breaks down after a while, all the stuff we work for and invest our lives in. Even relationships – the most precious things in life – can become strained or broken.
Today’s reading begins with the same statement as last Sunday’s: “The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance.” St. Paul is fortifying Timothy (and us) with authoritative apostolic declarations. The last one was to assure us of the hope we have: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” This one is to assure us that what we work for will last if we work for the right things. Paul himself says that it is, “to this end we toil and strive.” So, what is this thing that Paul unreservedly works for? Where is this saying worthy of full acceptance?
It is in the verse immediately preceding today’s reading: “Godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.”
Paul isn’t saying that other things have no value. He explicitly states that “bodily training is of some value.” The God-created goods of this world and our vocational callings are the context in which we can grow in godliness, if we so offer and apply ourselves. Godliness will last into the “life to come” because we will.
Paul points beyond his own godliness to that of others – that is the end to which “we toil and strive.” His first saying worthy of acceptance was about salvation. This one is about mission: in the midst of these fleeting temporal things, what we contribute toward not only the holiness of ourselves but of others is worth our every effort. That is the point.