What do we think of politicians accused of corruption? What about tax collectors, the police, civil servants, or anyone who falls into the temptation to be dishonest just to earn some extra money?
Most people react with anger and hate. But does anger or hate help correct the situation? Do these attitudes on our part help those who are corrupt to become better individuals? Does our hatred do ourselves any good? Certainly not.
So what can we do when we read or hear news of corruption, or come across dishonesty being expressed by a person in our daily lives? We can follow the example of Christ Jesus.
Once, while walking through the city of Jericho, Jesus came across a rich tax collector named Zacchaeus (see Luke 19:1–10). Zacchaeus was known for charging higher taxes than he should in order to enrich himself even more, and people viewed him as a sinner. Their hatred had not helped Zacchaeus to reform, but when he climbed a tree to see Jesus pass by, something different happened.
He was treated by Jesus with love. Not with human love that accepts error, but with divine Love, inherent in Jesus’ divine nature, the Christ. This divine Love separates error from the individual and destroys dishonesty. It sees the child of God where there appears to be a dishonest man, loves him as a child of God, and promotes his reformation.
Jesus’ attitude toward Zacchaeus is a valuable example to us all.
Jesus did not treat Zacchaeus with hatred, nor threaten him. Jesus asked to stay at his house. Zacchaeus was so touched by the love of the Christ that he decided to correct his attitudes and actions and be an honest man. He tells Jesus, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.”
Mary Baker Eddy writes in her book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures: “Divine Love corrects and governs man” (p. 6). Human hatred doesn’t correct and govern man—divine Love does.
In the same book we also read that “Christ is the true idea voicing good, the divine message from God to men speaking to the human consciousness” (p. 332). Jesus was the messenger; Christ is the divine message that Jesus taught, embodied, and expressed. And Zacchaeus received the Christ in his home—he received the message of God in his consciousness.
What did this message say? It revealed the divine nature of man. Zacchaeus responded to Jesus’ recognition that dishonesty was not part of his genuine being. Jesus loved him because he was created by God, because God is Truth, and the son of Truth is naturally true and honest. Zacchaeus felt this truth and love, and it transformed his life and actions.
Surely, Jesus’ pure and loving thoughts about Zacchaeus helped him see himself in a new way, and this produced healing. “Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals. In this perfect man the Saviour saw God’s own likeness, and this correct view of man healed the sick” (Science and Health, pp. 476–477). Jesus’ attitude toward Zacchaeus is a valuable example to us all.
So, how should we think about people who have acted dishonestly?
If we are imbued with spiritual love—which separates error from the person and sees the perfect child of God where there seems to be a mortal—our thoughts and actions will certainly have an influence in healing the situation.
