THE WORD
2 Mac 6: 18–31 / Lk 19: 1–10
Jesus came to Jericho and intended to pass through the town. Now a man there named Zacchaeus, who was a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man, was seeking to see who Jesus was; but he could not see him because of the crowd, for he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus, who was about to pass that way. When he reached the place, Jesus looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house.” And he came down quickly and received him with joy.
When they all saw this, they began to grumble, saying, “He has gone to stay at the house of a sinner.” But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “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.” And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house because this man too is a descendant of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost.”
IN OTHER WORDS
In every person is a longing to be loved and accepted by others. So was it with Zacchaeus. But he was snubbed by his fellow Jews who considered him a traitor since he was serving as a tax collector for the Romans, who ruled over them at the time of Jesus.
Zacchaeus must have heard about Jesus, who was then very popular not only as a wonder worker but also as a friend of sinners and outcasts. So, Zacchaeus was determined to “see” Jesus, a sincere desire which was greatly rewarded. In fact, it was not only Zacchaeus who saw Jesus, but Jesus too saw him and invited him to come down so that he could go with him and stay at his house. Zacchaeus was overjoyed by this unexpected turn of events! He never imagined that it would become the most memorable day of his life; a day on which he, a lost sheep, would be found by the Shepherd, a day on which he would be born again! In one of his homilies Pope Francis said, “The Word of God is alive and so comes and says what he wants to say: not what I expect it to say, or what I hope it says. It is a free word that is also a surprise, because our God is the God of surprises.”
It is said that inside every person is a longing to change for the better. That longing was fulfilled when Zacchaeus accepted the surprising invitation of Jesus to come down from the tree – a symbol of a life tainted with corruption. He let go of the tree and then embraced the new tree of life Jesus was offering in his unlimited mercy.
Like Zacchaeus we, too, are lost sheep. But like him, too, we have a deep longing to be good in order to have the happy life Jesus is offering to anyone who is willing to listen to him: to come down from the tree tainted with corruption, to let go of selfishness, dishonesty, lying, and greed for power and wealth. This, truly, is the new life in Christ.
- Deva Savariyappan, SVD (San Quintin, Abra)
The Word in other words 2015
An annual project of Logos Publications, The WORD in Other Words Bible Diary contains daily scripture readings and reflections written by priest, brothers, and sisters of the three congregations founded by St. Arnold Janssen (the SVD, SSpS, and SSpSAP). It hopes to serve as a daily companion to readers who continually seek the correlation of the Word of God and human experience.
