The readings for today exhort us to persevere in striving for holiness, remaining watchful and being faithful. In the gospel, Zacchaeus’s seeking is matched by Jesus’s own quest for wandering souls with the aim of bringing them back to the fold.
For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost. Luke 19:10
For Richer, For Poorer
There are many rich men who encounter Jesus. The Rich Man who ignored Lazarus at his doorstep. The Rich Young Man who went away sad because he could not sell his possessions and give them to the poor. Zacchaeus shows them how to do it. When the indignant crowd starts grumbling about Jesus’ choice of dinner party hosts, the short-statured Zee shows that his brief encounter with Jesus has made a profound impact, and he decides to give away more than half of his enormous wealth. Jesus had warned how hard it was for the wealthy to enter the kingdom of God, but in Zac, we have a shining example of one who disdains material goods to accumulate spiritual treasures. He has found the pearl of great price, and he is ready to give away all that he cherished until that very hour, when he meets his Savior and LORD.
Encounter With Christ
The Bible is littered with examples of those who immediately left their livelihood, their family, their way of life, and followed Jesus. This points to the life-transforming Encounter with the LORD. The magnetic personality of Jesus impels one to surrender to Him completely. But free will allows people to choose to walk away, outright reject Him, or remain indifferent.
The first reading calls out the latter:
So, because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, 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 not realize that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.” Rv 13:16-17
This admonition is to the churches, to seemingly upstanding disciples, who gave the appearance of piety but instead were teetering on the brink of the precipice, blissfully unaware of their own wretchedness. It’s our story too, especially if we have plenty of the green stuff.
Salvation Is from Christ
Zacchaeus shows us the way to go home. He has it all, he is super rich because he is a chief tax collector. For all of his material largesse, though, there is an ache in his heart and when he finds out that Jesus is taking a stroll across his town, he sets out without a firm plan in mind. He is stymied by the large crowd and realizes his diminutiveness will prevent a clear gaze at Jesus with the hordes of onlookers. Imagine him running ahead, desperate for just a glance of the famed preacher and healer. What was he hoping for beyond this? He clings to the sycamore tree, and lo and behold, finds his Maker gazing up at him, beckoning him down the tree and inviting him to host dinner. Beyond his wildest dreams, surely?
Seeking
In just the same way, Jesus is restlessly seeking for you, me and every other soul who is desperately seeking answers, usually in the wrong places, not always, but often enough. And Jesus knows that He is always the answer, He always is. Whatever you are looking for, Jesus will slake your thirst and feed your hunger, for He is the Bread of life, and He is the Cup of salvation. We scrabble about for slops and scraps, but He wishes to fill us with gifts of the finest wheat and the most precious Blood. After an Encounter with Him, our lives are transformed, and even if the cross we are carrying weighs the same as before, we now bear the load, yoked with Christ. To put it in the words of the first reading, we need to buy gold from God, and I do believe this is nothing but Jesus, the word of God, the word made flesh. We in turn need to clothe ourselves in white, relentlessly pursuing holiness in conformity with the gospel. And we need to put salve on our eyes, the gifts of knowledge, wisdom, counsel and understanding with which we can interpret the rich treasures of Scripture and lead morally upright lives, which we only can if we walk with Jesus.
So, if you are looking for Jesus, you will find Him in the Temple. Look up a Catholic Church in your vicinity, the incessant tabernacle light glows warmly in anticipation of your visit. There you can lose yourself in quiet wonder of this fact: the same Jesus that walked the streets of Jericho waits patiently for you to seek him. So go, for your salvation is at hand.
