The hunt for the true Church goes on….and on through the centuries. You would think that so much energy would bring an answer but the church has taken what Jesus did and said and made it so complicated that we folk in the pew need a paid clergy to direct us to true spirituality, to the true church. At least that is their angle but they are confused as well. The church has offered many answers over the years to this question, a new answer brings temporary enthusiasm only to be replaced by the same old…. whatever.
Does salvation look like a gathering for worship, a doctrinal lecture, a biblical inspection, a confessional moment, a personal testimony, a prescribed life style, a prescribed wardrobe or the power of the spectacular. The Christian Church has seen it all but what does salvation look like? What is the salvation bottom line that fits every time, every place and most importantly every person? We could do a “ask the man in the pew” segment and get a multitude of seemingly petty answers.
Why don’t we take direction from Jesus? The answer is that what Jesus prescribed was simple yet so difficult, so difficult we avoid it like the plague. Salvation looks like Zacchaeus in St. Luke’s Gospel, chapter 19: verses 1-10. It does not take an Einstein to understand what is happening in this encounter with Jesus. No society respects the tax man, no society respects the little guy, no society likes the rich man in fine clothes and every society will shun the sinner who cheats them. If we could be totally honest, we are as socially driven as the Jericho folk were two thousand years ago.
Instead of shying away from a socially difficult situation Jesus spit in the eye of social acceptability. “Zacchaeus, come down immediately, I must stay at your house today”(5). Jesus had no acknowledged relationship to Zaachaeus, no invitation and the people who seemed eager to be close to Jesus, would not understand. It was a scandal!
A scandal at the direction of Jesus in order to show us what salvation looks like. Salvation looks like how we treat other people, all people regardless of social, religious or ethnic norms. "Today salvation has come to Zacchaeas", because he will no longer trade on the well being of others. A faith life should be different, a working religion should be extraordinary. "Jesus came to seek and to save what was lost.(10)".
This is not a difficult reading of this passage, the difficult part is applying it to our daily lives, our neighbors and even our enemies. Ouch!
G.Goslaw
Landers, Ca
