Sunday Reflections

“Never Give Up on Someone”

Hope is the opposite of despair or of giving up. God is the source of all hope, so it should surprise us little that God does not despair or give up on Israel. In our first reading, God exhorts the prophet Ezekiel to continue to warn Israel, believing that Israel has the capacity and willingness to change from its unfaithful ways. As the God of hope, God does not despair of God’s people, continuing to call them to conversion.

The Gospel selection has hope as its foundation as well. Why might we bother trying to reach out to one who has sinned against us? Because we have the hope that the one we are attentive to has the capacity and the willingness to be transformed. Surely, Jesus’ command to forgive seventy times seven is rooted in his hope that people can change. 

At first glance, however, it may seem that the Gospel puts limits on this hope in another. After all, when all the steps are completed—speaking to the other, taking one or two others to confront the person, involving the whole community—Jesus says that we are to treat the person “like a Gentile or a tax collector.” I must admit that this last part always bothered me: “If he refuses to listen even to the church, then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector.” This verse always made me think that there are limits to Jesus’ instructions for us to forgive, to have hope in another. However, we might remind ourselves of how Jesus, in fact, treated Gentiles and tax collectors! He reached out to them, including them in the mercy and love of God’s reign. 

One particular example involves Zacchaeus, a chief tax collector and a wealthy man. While others grumbled and complained that Jesus would eat at Zacchaeus’ house—they had no hope in his willingness to change—Jesus accepts his hospitality and sees in him the possibilities of so much more. Jesus sees beyond his sinfulness to the root of his being when he says, “This man too is a descendent of Abraham.” Jesus recognizes in Zacchaeus the ability to change if he is accepted and loved. Jesus’ own compassion gives Zacchaeus the space to change because he does not give up hope in him.

The readings this Sunday challenge us to be people of hope, to not despair that those around us are capable and willing to change. Even after much time and effort on our part, when they do not respond as we might wish, we are called to treat them “like a Gentile and a tax collector”—with the love of Jesus who never gives up hope for one who is lost.