31st Sunday in Ordinary Time - Luke 19:1-10
The Gospel today is the story of Zaccheus, the
tax collector. Tax collectors are not very popular with people — in Jesus’ time
and also today. And yet Zaccheus was determined to see “this Jesus” he had
heard so much about. He had heard stories of his preaching as well as tales of
his amazing power to heal. Zaccheus wanted to see and to listen to this man’s
preaching and decide for himself who and what this man was!
Zaccheus knew the route that Jesus most likely
would take through Jericho. He made sure he got there early to get a good spot.
As we know, Zaccheus was a man of short stature and if there were a crowd he
would be unable to see Jesus. He found a way around that problem. He decided to
climb a tree that was on the roadside. Being in the tree above the crowd should
enable him to see Jesus clearly!
As Jesus was walking down the road, he looked up
and saw Zaccheus sitting in the tree. Surprisingly, Jesus asked him to come
down. Jesus told Zaccheus that he wished to stay at his house. Zaccheus was
amazed and overjoyed that Jesus would come to his house but simply being in
Jesus’ presence overwhelmed Zaccheus. Immediately Zaccheus had a deep conversion.
Simply being in Jesus’ presence and then being seen by him changed Zaccheus’
heart and his life. He would never be the same.
Today Jesus is inviting us to come and spend
time with him: to sit, listen, and talk with him. What will our response be?
Will we invite him into our inner home? Or will we stay in our tree and watch
him walk by? If we choose to invite him into our inner house, we also may have
a conversion.
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