IN THIS Sunday’s gospel (Luke 19:1-10) we read about the familiar story of Zacchaeus meeting Jesus as the Lord passed by the town of Jericho.
We are told that Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector, and what that means in the context of the gospel era is that this man must have been a wicked man...a very wicked man. Why? Because tax collectors in those times were public sinners.
They collected taxes from their fellow Israelites for their Roman rulers, and the manner of collection can best be described as corrupt and abusive.
Tax collectors collected more than what is supposed to be collected, and the excess goes to their own pockets. Consequently, tax collectors were hated by their countrymen, for they were viewed not only as opportunist instruments of their Roman colonial masters, but also as conscienceless exploiters of the poor.
And yet, we have this man in the story, Zacchaeus, who was no ordinary tax collector but the chief tax collector, not a small-time crook but the crook of the crooks.
On hearing that the Lord was passing by, Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus. But there was a problem – a great crowd was blocking his sight of Jesus.
Add to this the complication that Zacchaeus was a man of short stature. So what did our protagonist in the story do? He ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree so he could see Jesus as he passed by.
Most of us are like Zacchaeus. We are all sinners before a holy God. So sinful are we, that if we were to rely on our own selves, our spiritual shortness will make it impossible for us to see God.
Zacchaeus had to climb a tree to see Jesus, and so must we. Zacchaeus had the sycamore tree, but we have a better tree –the tree of the cross. Only by clinging to the cross can we find Jesus; there is no other way. Only by accepting that our sins are forgiven by Jesus’ death on that cross can we be put right with God. Only by faith in Jesus and repentance of our sins can we be saved.
When Jesus reached the place where Zacchaeus was, the Lord looked up and said, “Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house.”
What a wonderful moment – Zacchaeus meeting Jesus, and Jesus meeting Zacchaeus. What a wonderful moment, too, when we encounter the Lord in a personal way. Jesus knew Zacchaeus and he called him by name, just as he has perfect knowledge of each one of us and calls us by our own name. And he is calling us, that he may “stay in our house” - that is, to be a part of our total lives.
Yes, we have a God who wants to stay with us not only in the extraordinary affairs of our lives, but more so, in the ordinary moments of everyday.
Zacchaeus came down quickly and received Jesus in his house with joy. But many in the crowd criticized Jesus saying, “He has gone to stay at the house of a sinner.”
Much similar to the “holier than thou” attitude of self-righteous people who look up highly on themselves and condemn all others as filthy sinners.
Yet Jesus, the only truly righteous person in that crowd looked at Zacchaeus with mercy, offering hope for a better future. Zacchaeus then said, “Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone I shall repay it four times over.”
These could not be anything else other than expressions of sincere repentance, for they went beyond remorse to a conviction to make amends for the sins committed.
In this, may we be like Zacchaeus whose repentance was not limited by empty talk, but by a resolution to heal whatever injury, damage, or injustice that he may have done.
We know that the story was punctuated by a happy ending, with Jesus saying, “Today salvation has come to this house because this man too is a descendant of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and save what was lost.” Truly, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
A blessed Sunday to all of us.