October 4, 1979: I remember it well, for it was a day like none other. On this particular crisp autumn afternoon, my family and I headed to Chicago to see Pope John Paul II as he made his way from O’Hare Airport to Holy Name Cathedral. And being the first Pope to visit Chicago and the first and only Polish Pope, he was going to be traveling right through our old Polish neighborhood of Jefferson Park.
We gathered near the intersection of Milwaukee and Lawrence along with what the media estimated to be more than a million others to watch him pass by. There were so many people, we were pushed together tighter than sardines in a can. After waiting for hours, the papal motorcade finally arrived; but due to the intense crowds, all I could see was the roof of his car as he drove by. I wished that I could have found a way to climb up on one of the building’s roofs so that I might have had a better chance of seeing him – or perhaps even him seeing me.
Zacchaeus faced a similar challenge. Zacchaeus had a desire to see the Lord. But Scripture tells us that he was vertically challenged (or short) and couldn’t see over the crowd. So he decides to climb a sycamore tree so he can see. Now keep in mind that the only people who would climb sycamore trees were farmers. They would climb these every year to split the sycamore figs to help them ripen. So at that very moment, the mold of class distinctions between people was being broken when this chief tax collector climbed that tree, showing how serious he was about seeing Jesus. Already he was making an act of humility before his own people and the Lord. And his humility was rewarded as Jesus asks him to come down from the tree and tells him that he wants to visit his home.
Zacchaeus was one of those people who seemed to have it all. He was rich and he was a man of position and power. Yet he lacked something in his life that kept him from being whole. But when this little man met a big God, everything changed. So he immediately shows repentance for any injustice that he had ever committed. Yet the townspeople were still grumbling that Jesus was going to stay with him.
Remember that Zacchaeus did not ask Jesus come to his home. Jesus invited himself over. Sometimes welcoming others, not literally into our homes but spiritually into our lives and hearts is not something we have control over. Like Zacchaeus, we may not necessarily be the ideal hosts. Sometimes, like Zacchaeus, we come up short, and we’re not as big as we want to be. We come up short when we make judgments about people, assigning a value to them based on physical appearance. We come up short when we fail to treat others with the dignity they deserve; when we mock or bully others so that we have ultimate power or control over them. We come up short when we refuse to help someone in need because it interferes with our own wants, needs and desires. Let’s be honest with ourselves: we all have made mistakes, we’ve hurt others, and maybe we even have a bad reputation. But that doesn’t stop Jesus from inviting himself into our hearts.
We see from Zacchaeus that just the slightest turning toward Jesus is rewarded many times over. Each of us is invited to turn away from sin in order to taste the sweetness of God’s mercy. We often put limits on God’s goodness, mercy and love, just like the people of Jericho. But God’s goodness, mercy and love for us is never-ending. Jesus is always seeking us out because he wants to have a personal relationship with us. And once that relationship is established, we will be filled with such an immense feeling of joy that we cannot contain ourselves and we’ll want to share that joy with others through our actions.
So will we be persistent in trying to see Jesus even when others may be preventing us or blocking our view? Will we, like Zacchaeus, abandon anything that may be keeping us apart from Jesus? Will we invite Jesus into our hearts and lives and allow him to stay with us this week, next week and always?
It’s time for us to come down from our trees – and to come down quickly. Jesus wants to enter our hearts. Let’s not keep the Lord waiting!
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