Today Salvation Has Come to Us!

 In today's Gospel, Luke 19-10, Jesus is entering Jericho. Zacchaeus, a tax collector, a wealthy man and a cheater, is eager to see Jesus but, given his short stature and the size of the crowd, there is no way that he can accomplish that by staying on the ground. He decides to climb a sycamore tree in the area and watch for Jesus. Jesus is also looking for Zacchaeus,  knows where Zacchaeus is, looks up into the tree and says: "Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house."   Zacchaeus immediately comes down from the tree and, without hesitation, says to Jesus: "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 answers him: "Today salvation has come to this house."  Jesus receives Zacchaeus with joy. The crowd is furious.  Does Jesus not know who this guy is? A tax collector? an extortioner? An unjust man who has built his wealth by stealing from the people, overcharging them? How can he go and "stay at the house of a sinner?" they ask. In response to their objections, Jesus says:  "...[T]he Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost."

What a story! It is your story and mine!  We, too, are looking for Jesus and, more importantly, Jesus is looking for us! We are persons in need of salvation always! We may not be extortioners. We may not have built out wealth in dishonest ways. We may not be as corrupt as this tax collector was! But, still, we have, from time to time, intentionally or unintentionally, sinned against another or other people. And we certainly have sinned against God, choosing our will over His, rejecting His redemptive plans for our lives. There have,  no doubt, been times throughout our lives when we have been angry at God for the the difficulties we've encountered, the tragedies that  suddenly crashed into our lives, or the  various losses we have endured.  Jesus is saying to you, to me in whichever "tree" we are perched in our search for Jesus:  " (Your name/my name), come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house...[I have] come to save what was lost." 

Will you/will I come down quickly and, like Zacchaeus, immediately express our willingness to make amends? Or will we make excuses? Will we, in fact, stay up in our "trees," too proud to admit any wrongdoing? 

Let us "come down quickly, for today," Jesus says to us, "I must stay at your house."