Gospel: Luke 19: 1-10
The story of Zacchaeus is the story of the Incarnation of Jesus in miniature. Jesus, the word made flesh, came to dwell among us – to pitch his tent among us. There was no precondition on our part for him to do so. No action of ours was required for this event to take place. It was entirely of God’s initiative, and it was designed to evoke our response of love and mercy in return. But our response is entirely that -a response to divine initiative, not aa action of ours that causes God to act.
The same takes place in the story of Zacchaeus. Jesus come to him and says: I intend to dine at your house today. And so they go to Zacchaeus’ house for this meal and encounter, this communion of two people. In response to that initiative of Jesus, Zacchaeus comes to an awareness of his sin. He repents of his sin and offers to repay what he has stolen and to give even more to help the poor, to live a life of mercy for others. This is not a precondition for Jesus coming to dine with him; it is his response to that initiative of Jesus.
In the story of Zacchaeus everyone – everyone – murmurs and complains that Jesus ate with a sinner. If the complainers had their way this event would not have happened. They would have set preconditions and requirements, or they would have regarded Zacchaeus as so sinful that any meeting would be not possible. Those complainers are still with us today; we may be one of them. To whom would you deny such an opportunity for encounter with the Lord? Why do you think yourself worthy but not others? Every one of us – everyone – must face this reckoning.
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