Tuesday of the 33rd Week of Ordinary Time – Luke 19:1-10
In
today’s Gospel, we hear the story of Zaccheus, the ‘short’ tax
collector. Jesus was passing through Jericho. Zaccheus had heard about
Jesus and he was curious about this man, Jesus. So Zaccheus decided to
join the crowd that had gathered to welcome Jesus. However, Zaccheus
was a short man. He was not tall enough to be able to see Jesus when he
walked by. So he decided to climb a tree. At least this way he would
be able to see Jesus, even if he would not be able to get close to
Jesus.
However, on this day, Zaccheus received the surprise of his life.
When Jesus saw Zaccheus sitting in the tree, Jesus looked at him and
said: “Zaccheus, come down, for today I will stay at your house.”
Immediately, Zaccheus scrambled down the tree and joyfully received
Jesus into his home. However, some
of the bystanders became disgruntled and began to grumble. Zaccheus was
not intimidated by their sly comments. He stood his ground and
promised Jesus: “I will give half of my possessions to the poor. And if
I have defrauded anyone, I will repay them four times the amount.”
Today Jesus also calls out to us: “Come down from your tree and take me to your home.
I wish to spend time with you!” Will we immediately “come down from
our tree” and respond to Jesus’ call? Or will we sit there for a while
trying to decide what to do? Today Jesus will invite Jesus into our
home! The question for us is: Will we allow him into our hearts? Our
home? Or will we ignore his request?
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