Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 19, 1-10
At that time, 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.”
Jesus looked up and saw him
1) Zacchaeus. The Gospel describes a man who apparently has no obvious needs, he is a person who had what he needed to live well; we might even liken him to an “influencer” (that’s the way those who have a good number of followers on Instagram or YouTube are called). He was short but he liked to show off. He was also full of inner emptiness, so he sought to fill himself with power and money. I wonder if you are like a Zacchaeus of the 21st century? Do you think that the material things you own like the latest car or the best paid job or the best looks are enough to be great? Are you rather too sure of yourself? How is your self-esteem? Remember that any extreme is bad.
2) He looked up at him. How interesting this is. Jesus, who is the son of God, saw him from below. How curious! Nowadays, we see authority as being above us, but Jesus, on the other hand, is looking up to us. This lesson reminds all Catholics that the more authority we have within the Church and act on it, the more we must look up at people, the more we must be at their service, just like Jesus. How do you look at your brothers and sisters, from above or from below?
3) I will give back. When you find Jesus, you change, your perspective changes. You are not the same person after that encounter. It is something we have to work on a daily basis since there are times when we ‘get used to’ our faith and the sacraments. I stop and think about the faith and courage of first Christians and how they experienced the Eucharist with fervor, even in the fear of being caught and killed. Their bravery and love led them to confront great obstacles. I think about the Crusades and the Christians who left everything behind, including their families, in order to defend their faith. I think about all the Christians that cannot attend mass because of an illness, or because of lack of priests, and have to be satisfied with a mass seen over YouTube or TV. I think of so many Christians who find it difficult to be Catholics at home because they are mocked or regarded as fanatics or simply ignored. How do you live your faith?
God bless you in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Always remember, heaven is our goal.
