SALVATION

“Today salvation has come to this house.” (Luke 19:9)

Have you ever thought about what salvation means? Obviously it is important to any believing Christian, but my guess is that a group of four people would come up with four different definitions. Is salvation a theological event or a practical experience? Does it happen only once, and if so, when? Or does it occur over time?  Does God save us, do we save ourselves, or is it something we help God do?

The concept of salvation can appear confusing for many reasons, including unfamiliar theological language, the oft-repeated phrase that Jesus saved us when he died, and Saint Paul’s concentration on the link between Jesus’ resurrection and our own. But I think most of the confusion lies in the difficulty we have in accepting two basic realities.

The first reality is that God is a personal God. He knew us before we were born, he loved us into being, and he is present and active in each moment of our lives. The vast majority of Christians I meet pay lip service to this idea but do not really believe it. The second reality is based on the first and is almost as widely ignored. God created us in love so we could grow in love. We are lovable. It is good to be who we are, just the way we are.

Luke’s account of Jesus’ encounter with Zacchaeus deals with these two realities and, as a result, helps demystify the subject of salvation.

The process of salvation always begins with God’s efforts to be part of our lives. “At that time, Jesus came to Jericho and intended to pass through the town.” (Luke 19:1) The question is how we respond to this effort. Like Zacchaeus, we have wealth, meaning that God blesses us in many ways. Like Zacchaeus, we are also incomplete. Often, we are short in stature, failing to live up to our own or others’ expectations. We are also sinners: chief tax collectors who think only of taking from life without giving back. Unfortunately, our tendency to focus on our shortcomings usually overwhelms our sense of blessedness, leading to anxieties, worries, and a feeling of meaninglessness. Increasingly we react to life, imprisoned by our insecurities—not all the time, to be sure, but enough to limit our ability to give and receive love.

Like Zacchaeus, we must make the effort to move beyond these insecurities to find the Divine in our lives. This effort may involve personal risk, climbing the proverbial tree and exposing our weaknesses to all. But this risk may be necessary if we are to rise above our normal view to find what’s important in our lives.

It is the effort that counts. It is easy to forget that Jesus never asked for specific results. He said God would take care of the results because he loves us completely in our incompleteness. At the same time, Jesus told us in no uncertain terms that we must make the effort. He knew his Father would always be part of our lives but could be truly present to us only when we made the effort to find him. “Come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house.” (Luke 19:5)

If I am willing to accept that Jesus truly wants to stay at my house, that God wants to be present in the most personal details of my life, then marvelous things will happen. A sense of joy results from finally accepting that God is with me, loves me just as I am, and will be with me always. “And he came down quickly and received him with great joy.” (Luke 19:6)

Jesus frees me from feeling unworthy, the breeding ground for self-centered behavior. This acceptance empowers me to move beyond myself to more actively sharing myself with others. “Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor.” (Luke 19:8) It also helps me make peace with the past. “If I have extorted anything from anyone, I shall repay it four times over.” (Luke 19:8) I am free to live as I was meant to live, growing in connectedness to the world around me. I am free to grow in love, freely given and received, so I can grow into my final destiny: union with the God of life who is the source of all love.

This is the process of salvation: making the effort so the Divine can free us to live more completely. Salvation involves resurrection to new life. Jesus was raised from the dead. The same is promised for anyone willing to try. This is the promise of Christianity.

I know there are more theologically correct definitions of salvation. I know there are people with more eloquent explanations. But, to me, it is fairly simple. Jesus came, by his own admission, to proclaim the good news: God is present, trying to break into my life, to bring his kingdom of love. The challenge for me is not learning another theology. The challenge for me is accepting that this good news may be true. Am I willing to risk exposure of my human failings as I open myself to the Divine? Am I willing to risk letting go of my way of doing things? Am I willing to make the effort? If I am, then I am convinced Jesus will say, “Today salvation has come to this house.” (Luke 19:9)