31st Sunday year ’C’ “Jesus entered Jericho and was going through the town and suddenly a man whose name Zacchaeus made his appearance ; he was one of the senior tax collectors and a wealthy man. He kept trying to see where Jesus was, but he was too short and could not see for the crowd.”
Zacchaeus saw crowds of people gathering together at the road sie to see Jesus as he passed by. He was little and was unable to catch a glimpse of Jesus with his own eyes and so he climbed up a sycamore tree. Then all of a sudden something happened. Jesus looked at him and said to him : “Zacchaeus, I must come today and have a meal in your house!”
Each one of us has our own handicaps that get in our ways of seeing Jesus. We need Jesu to look at us, us forth and that he invites himself to come into our own lives.
Zacchaeus rushes to get a meal ready for Jesus after this call from him. Jessu comes and shares a meal with him.
Jesus came to touch our wounds, lean down to our weaknesses, to get us to stand up, this is our great hope. It really is us he chooses and he wants to come to us, to our home, to sit down at our table.
Hope has to make us inventive, transforming our powerlessness into a desire of encounter.
Nothing much is needed for Jesus to invite himself to our own home ; all he needs is to know he is expected. He just needs to encounter our gaze, to read in it a small glimpse of faith and sincerity, along with our distress.
"Zacchaeus hurried down and welcomed Jesus joyfully. They ll complained when they saw what was going on :’He has gone to stay ata sinner’s house! ’they said.
The inhabitants of Jericho regard Zacchaeus as a sinner. The way Jesus sees him is so different. He sees the beauty of our being created in the image and resemblance of God. He sees us as unique. Salvation has come to Zacheues
house because he ’sought to see who Jesus was’. In the midst of his concerns, tired of being despised by others, Zacchaeus had but one iea, to encounter a face, Jesus, with him he could begin over his life again.
Our misery is often to drag our life along, in a resigned manner. In Jesus loving gaze, Zacchaeus comes back to life! In the secret of his heart and in in the secret of Jesus’ heart there is an amazing living Covenant.
As we follow Jesus, we want to live this mystery of welcome of Jesus’ ’poor’, to be in solidarity with the poor in Christ. This is how we find our joy once more, and the freshness and happiness of our life. With Jesus we wish to live praising God ’s Glory. Jesus is invited in his house of prayer, he has us have a share in his Body and Blood, we offer him our open hands so He will place his Joy in them.
“Jesus said to him ’ Today salvation has come tot his house, because this man too is a son of Abraham.”
So we invite Jesus to welcome us into his home, into our life, so we can share all we have with Him.
Jesus wants to make all thing new , warm what is cold, make straight the twisted path, strengthen what is exhausted. Jesus lets us welcome his Word, hear his call, respond to it, and find joy in receiving it. We shall discover what we need to change in our lives in order to be a genuine witness of his Love, filled with strength from the Holy Spirit. Jesus came to look for what was lost and to save it. Our past is between his hands and in his heart, our present and future concerns Him alone for He can do anything He wishes! What matters is that day after day we welcome Jesus with joy. We ask Jesus to save us. With Zacchaeus we want to go down and receive Jesus joyfully, He is the Eucharistic Bread of Life.
We say again : ’Lord, I am not worthy for you to enter under my roof, but only say the Word and I shall be healed.’ In this way Jesus will have his Glory within us.