Never too late to change

Jesus, help me find good even in people I didn't like much at first. Amen!

As Jesus traveled through Jericho, a tax collector named Zacchaeus wanted to see Him. Zacchaeus was short, so he climbed a tree to look. Jesus saw him and called, "Come down! I'm having lunch with you." Zacchaeus happily came, but the crowd grumbled that Jesus would eat with a bad person. Then Zacchaeus told Jesus, "Lord, I'll give half of what I own to the poor, and pay back anyone I cheated." Jesus answered, "Today, you have been saved."

It's only November, but already, a lot of kids at school have split up into groups. You probably have kids in your class you didn't like from the very first day of school, and even kids you hardly know although you're in class with them every day.

You might not feel good about yourself for disliking those kids. It's great that the theme of this week's Gospel (Luke 19:1-10) is, "It's never too late to change!"

You probably didn't start the school year with the goal of disliking some kids. Maybe some of them did things you didn't like, or you just didn't spend enough time with them to really know them. You ended up sticking with kids who were already your friends.

Zacchaeus probably didn't start out doing bad things, either. He was a tax collector, which meant he had to take some of people's paychecks to give to the government. At some point, he started taking extra money and keeping it for himself.

By the time Jesus met Zacchaeus, most people didn't want to hang around with him. They thought he was a cheater who'd never change. Jesus proved that, if people were willing to see Zaccheus as a person with good qualities, he'd want to become a better person.

Imagine if you did that with the kids in your class you haven't liked. Look for the good even in them, and you might be surprised at what you find. That kid in the corner you barely know could be a great person, just waiting for someone to see him that way!

(11/01/07)