Ignoring "Everyone"

Gospel: Luke 19: 1-10

Again we find a large group - everyone, as the narrator states - who is seeking to prevent a person from having access to Jesus.  Initially, they prevent Zacchaeus from seeing Jesus in a passive way.  They are so self-absorbed with their own seeing of Jesus that they are unconcerned with the needs of anyone else who have the same desire.  They are like any crowd star gazing.  Each person cannot imagine anyone else but them is that important to see Jesus.  

But Zacchaeus is resourceful and he finds his own way to see Jesus.  This initiative leads Jesus to announce that he intends to stay at Zacchaeus' house, whereupon everyone's passive prevention of Zacchaeus seeing Jesus now becomes an active protest.  How could Jesus possibly break bread and enter the house of one who is so sinful and harmful to other people? Heaven forbid that such an atrocity should take place in our city!

When "everyone" tells you to ignore the needs of the immigrant, the migrant, the refugee, the poor, and the marginalized of any kind because they are not worthy, do what Jesus did.  Ignore "everyone" and provide love and compassion to them.  When "everyone" is seeking to block access to someone seeking to see the Lord, that's a good indicator that we should ignore them and provide the welcome that Jesus provided each and every time others sought to block access to him.