If that were not bad enough, the
tax-collectors were thieves, collecting more than was required so that they
could live in luxury from the oppression of their neighbors. Zacchaeus was apparently one of the worst
offenders, for he was a chief tax collector and was very rich. He was a short little man who, for reasons
we do not know, wanted to see Jesus Christ.
He could not see over the crowd, so he climbed a sycamore tree in order
to get a better view. That must have
been quite a sight: the tiny little
tax-collector (whom everyone hated) up in a tree so that he could see a passing
rabbi.
Even more shocking was the Lord’s
response when He saw this man:
“Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your
house.” Jewish religious leaders would
have nothing at all to do with people like Zacchaeus, but this Messiah was
different. He blessed Zacchaeus with His
presence, and the tax-collector received the Lord joyfully in his home.
Of course, others noticed what was
happening. A man who presents Himself as
the Messiah has gone to be a guest in the home of a notorious traitor and
thief. No self-respecting righteous Jew
would ever do something like that. He
would be defiled by going into his house and eating with him. But before Christ says anything in response
to the critics, Zacchaeus repents. He
accepts the truth about himself, that he is a criminal exploiter of the needy. He says that he will give half of what he
owns to the poor and will restore four-fold what he stole from others. He says that he will make right the wrongs he
had committed. In that moment, this wretched man began to turn his life around. Jesus Christ, as He always did and still does,
accepts the sincere repentance of the sinner, proclaiming that salvation has
come to this son of Abraham, for He came to seek and to save that which was
lost.
This memorable story demonstrates
the generosity of our God. To be
generous is to give freely and abundantly; it is not to be stingy or reluctant
to bless. Zacchaeus did not even have to
ask for the love, forgiveness, and mercy of the Lord. All that he did was to climb a tree out of
curiosity, but that was enough to begin to open himself to the overwhelming
generosity of Christ.
The Savior did not shout words of
condemnation to this man. He did not
judge him in any way. Instead, He
blessed him with His attention and care.
When others complained about what a sinner Zacchaeus was, the Lord did
not join in the criticism, perhaps because this dishonest tax-collector already
knew that he was a crook. Instead, the Lord
let Zachaeus respond in freedom to His generosity. He let him open his heart and soul to a
divine love that is beyond the mere observance of a law and knows no human
limit.
We can see that Zacchaeus got the
point, for his response to Christ’s generosity transformed him. The one who previously was greedy and selfish
became a living icon of the abundant love of God, freely giving half of what he
owned to the poor and restoring what he had stolen four-fold. No one told him what to do; no one required
him to take these actions. No one had to
because he had been transformed by the mercy, love, and gracious abundance of
our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ.
He had received a generous blessing and then became a generous blessing
to others.
Zacchaeus stands as a wonderful example
of repentance because he spontaneously and freely entered into the life of
Christ. His actions shine brightly with
the love and holiness of the Lord, which is quite strange because only a few
minutes ago we spoke of him as a notorious, hated sinner. His amazing transformation reminds us that salvation
is not a reward that we earn or a matter of what we deserve. Instead, our faith is about the mercy and
grace of a God Who wants to share His life with us, Who stops at nothing to
bring us into the eternal communion of the Holy Trinity. Sometimes it is those who have hit rock
bottom, who know their own sins so well that they do not need to be reminded of
them, who in their humility receive our Lord’s generous mercy so completely and
fully that they become powerful living proof of what God can do for even the
most wretched human being.
King David, guilty of murder and
adultery, became a man after God’s own heart.
Saul the persecutor of Christians became St. Paul, the missionary to the
Gentiles and author of so much of the New Testament. Mary of Egypt was a truly wicked woman who
fled to the desert in repentance and became a great saint. Recall also the thief on the cross who asked the
Savior to remember him in His kingdom.
A harsh, stingy, judgmental god
would not make saints of such people. He
would punish or destroy them. The good
news is that the true God does not relate to us on the basis of our
accomplishments or virtue, but in terms of His unbounded love, mercy, and
forgiveness. Our salvation is a matter
of receiving His generosity, of accepting His abundant blessing. The miserable Zacchaeus did that and we can
too. But truly to receive Him is not
simply to pray certain words or feel a certain way; neither is it simply a
matter of coming to church services or following religious rules.
The Lord’s boundless love must penetrate
to the core of our being and become characteristic of our lives, if we are to
share in His. Love for God and for
neighbor must shine through our actions and words and purify our thoughts. If we have stolen and hoarded money, we must
give it back generously. If we have
ignored or neglected others, must learn to love them as Christ has loved
us. If have thought only about
ourselves, we must learn to love our neighbors as ourselves.
Yes, that is our repentance: to become an open channel for God’s merciful generosity
in this world. He is the vine and we are
the branches. And since the Father gave
His only-begotten Son for our salvation, there are no limits to the mercy and
love we are called to embody. We did not ask Christ to be born in a manger
or baptized in the river Jordan for our salvation. We did not ask Him to die on the cross, to
rise again, or to ascend into heaven.
But He still did so, out of His unfathomable love for those who
abandoned and betrayed Him. The only
proper response to this divine love is to be transformed by it as we become a
living and breathing icon of the unlimited generosity that is the only hope of
the world.
The Savior has come to us all, as he
did to Zacchaeus. No matter what we have
done or left undone, it is time to respond like he did, joyfully receiving Christ and allowing our lives to be fulfilled
by the generous mercy of the Lord, and then showing that same mercy for
others. Such true, sincere, humble repentance
is the only way to the Kingdom of Heaven.
The point is not to wallow in guilt, but to move forward in holiness. It is not to follow a legal code, but to enter
into a blessed new life. That
is how salvation will come to our houses, for “the Son of Man has come to seek
and to save that which was lost.”
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