Oct 28, 2016
[EDIT 5/11]If you follow this link you will find very short reflection on this Sunday's Reading.
After listening to that you might want to check out this video.
Have you ever been unexpectedly invited to a wedding, or a meal, or invited someone, a friend or family member who you thought would not come, or have you been invited to some special function at a place you thought you would never go.
In the ancient world a meal was a sign of relationship. When you were welcomed into someone’s house, they were saying they were your friend. If a person of great honour came, a King, a Rabbi, a priest, then your life could change quite radically.
This is the turning point in the life and story of Zacchaeus. Tax collectors did not get important people coming to their houses. No one was prepared to be publically known as their friend. When Jesus says to Zaccheus, I want to stay at your house, he was giving him friendship and honour greater than anything he would ever have known in his life.
From that moment his life was transformed for in being Zacchaeus’ guest Jesus was saying “you are my brother, a child of God and your home is the home of God.”
Questions for thought and discussion.
What was the most significant meal of your life? What made it so? How do you respond to the idea that Jesus wants to be your honoured guest? How could the guest Jesus transform your life and the lives of your friends and families?