Justin Appel

Dear Friends,

Today’s gospel lesson recounts the story of Zacchaeus, the tax collector who climbed a tree to see Jesus.

(Read the lesson from Luke's gospel here.)

This story is sometimes read in the season of preparation before Lent (in the Eastern lectionary), and we read it now in preparation for Advent. This placement makes good sense because Advent (and Lent) are opportunities for us as individuals to recognize our sinfulness. Zacchaeus went through some trouble to see who Jesus was, but that effort yielded fruit only when Zacchaeus came to terms with his own comfortable life, which was funded by extortion. We too will find that our efforts to know God remain impotent and futile without true self knowledge.

Secondly, Zacchaeus reminds us of the challenging Christian teaching that saying ‘sorry’ isn’t enough. We are called to make restitution when we sin against other people and against God.

Last night, I was privileged to hear former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams articulate this idea very clearly to a group of academics while discussing Shakespeare’s plays. He pointed to characters who offer prayers of repentance, hoping to sooth their conscience, while still enjoying the fruits of their sin. This attempt to short-circuit the realities of repentance shares some qualities with the Medieval abuse of indulgences, those attempts to escape the burden of sin by sharing it with another, holier individual.

This is a difficult teaching to live up to, to model for my children. With children, this issue becomes amplified rather quickly, since they are more likely to punch, trip, sit on, or insult their peers — multiple times a day too! We do a huge disservice to them when we teach them to simply ‘say sorry’ to the sibling they have wronged. Repentance, it seems, involves a greater recognition of one’s sin, and effort to make things right with others and to change one’s pattern of life. Children are also extremely softhearted and forgiving. When I ask one of my kids to forgive me for loosing my temper, for example, they are always quick to offer forgiveness. The words ‘I forgive you’ and an embrace can become the beginnings of a renewed relationship and of changed behavior.

Of course, these things are easy to see in others, and tremendously hard to practice ourselves.

Yours in Christ,
Justin