Jesus visits Zacchaeus' House and Brings Salvation

“Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house,” (See today’s Gospel, Luke 19: 1-10).  Zacchaeus was a wealthy man, a tax collector, hated/despised by the people for his extortionary activities among them.  He cheated them on taxes and pocketed the money. Zacchaeus had heard that Jesus intended to pass through the town so he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree so he would see him. No way, in the crowd, would he have gotten a glimpse of him, because Zacchaeus was too short of a man. Did Zacchaeus expect that Jesus would even notice him, much less, say: “[C]ome down quickly, for today I must stay at your house”?  Zacchaeus is a public sinner. Everyone knew that his deeds were despicable. What is Jesus doing? Some of the people were outraged.  Jesus dining with a tax collector!  He clearly says to the crowd: “…the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost.”

Jesus says those same words to you and me, to anyone seeking the Lord. God notices!  God reads hearts!  In the first reading of today’s liturgy, John heard the Lord saying to him that the people of the Church in Sardis and in Laodicea both needed to repent.  To one of the Churches the Lord said: “I know your works, that you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead…I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God…repent.” To the other Church, the Lord says:  “I know your works;  I know that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either cold or hot…[but] you are lukewarm……….I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, ‘I am rich and affluent and have no need of anything,’ and yet do you realize that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I advise you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich, and white garments to put on so that your shameful nakedness may not be exposed….Be earnest, therefore, and repent.”

Zacchaeus realized that he was “wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked” before God. He repented. What about you and me? Do we know ourselves as God knows us? Are we aware of how much we need God’s mercy and love? At the right moment, as we are seeking the Lord, the Lord will say to us: “Come down from your prideful position, “for today I must come to your house.”

Personal Identity: What John the Baptist Teaches Us

In today’s Gospel, Jn 1: 19-28, priests and Levites approach John the Baptist and ask him who he is? They are wondering whether or not he is the Christ, the Anointed of God, the Messiah.  He firmly states that he is not the Christ. They then want to know whether he is Elijah or the Prophet and again he says: “No!”   Exasperated, they say to him, who, the heck, are you? We need to bring back an answer to our superiors. “What do you have to say for yourself?”

John does not become defensive. He does not respond in anger. Simply, he says: “I am the voice of one crying out in the desert, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord.’”  When approached by Pharisees, also sent to find out who John is, who ask him why he is baptizing if he is not the Christ. His response is: “I baptize with water, but there is one among you whom you do not recognize, the one who is coming after me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie.”

John knew exactly who he was and who Christ was. Do I know who I am? Do I know Christ? If the answer is “yes,” to both questions, then why, at times, am I defensive when someone approaches me and asks: “Who are you?”  Why do I tremble slightly inside when asked:  “What do you have to say for yourself?”  Is it that I am not sure of my own identity? Is it that I am not building my life on a firm foundation this day, that of Christ Jesus, knowing that Jesus is my All, my Savior, my Defender, my Protector?  Is it that I am relying exclusively upon self and not upon God?  When those questions disturb me, is it possible that I am in the process of serving myself, enhancing my reputation, trying to draw people to recognize my greatness and not directing people to the Lord?