Many times in life we have more questions than
we have answers. Is it worth the risk? Has he truly changed? He has burned us
before and taken advantage of us. How do we know he will not do it again? How
do we know that he is truly sorry? What about all those in the community that
know what he did? What he did has caused tension and awkwardness for this
community and his family. So the question is: Is it too late to for him to say
I’m sorry and can we have a fresh start.
We live in a cultural climate that thrives on
conflict, division, and detachment. We like disguise retaliation as justice and
restitution. Even in entertainment we like the bad guys dead or punished
harshly and the good guys rewarded. If the villain just apologizes, admits
their guilt, and tries to make restitution then we feel slighted. Many times we
carry this attitude over into our relationships as well. If someone we care about says or posts
something we don’t agree with or is offensive we quickly delete and unfollow
them from our lives. So when we mess up is there a relevant way to say I’m
sorry. Is there steps we can do to reestablish what has been lost? Can we move
from estrangement to true reconciliation?
We are reminded of a little fellow Jesus me who had a large negative
influence on his community. Most of us know him as the wee little man who climbed
up into a tree. Jesus tells this man to come down from the tree and that Jesus
desired to share at his house. Like a
TMZ special this infuriated the people as to why would Jesus eat with a guy no
one really liked. And in this tension
Zacchaeus has something important to say: “I’m sorry.” Zacchaeus honesty admits
his mistakes and wrong doings. We on the other hand like to hide our mistakes
and rather not admit we disappointed God and others. We can learn a lot from
this exchange between Jesus and Zacchaeus. We can learn certain principles that
if we apply them to our own life we will uncover that it is not too late to say
I’m sorry. They might not change our world but they can change the
relationships in your world.
Serve, Love and live:
Tommy
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