We probably remember the famous story from the 18th chapter of Luke’s Gospel, in which the rich young man asked Jesus what he must do in order to enter into eternal life. This young man knew God’s laws and commandments very well, but when Jesus tells him that he should sell all he has and give the proceeds to the poor, this young man leaves disheartened. He is not willing to commit to a life of discipleship. This young man was searching for something, but he was still lost. Today’s Gospel comes in the next chapter of Luke’s Gospel, after the story of the rich young man. Today, we hear about the tax collector Zacchaeus, another soul who is searching for something. But this story has quite a different ending.
It was Passover time. Hundreds of thousands of Jews were passing through Jericho on their way to Jerusalem. Jesus was one of those passing through the city to celebrate the passover in Jerusalem. Jesus was well-known at this time, so many of those Jews who were passing through the city wanted to see him. Zacchaeus was very interested in finding out more about this rabbi from Nazareth who befriended the outcasts of society, even the sinners and tax collectors. In fact, Zacchaeus probably knew that Matthew, a former tax collector himself, was chosen to be a member of Jesus’ select group of apostles. A longing deep inside Zacchaeus’ heart moved him to take extraordinary measures to try to get closer to Jesus. To escape the crowds and to get a good look, Zacchaeus climbed a sycamore tree, sitting hidden away in its leafy branches. The minute Jesus sees Zacchaeus, he calls him down from the tree, inviting himself to visit Zacchaeus at his house. Joy fills Zacchaeus’ heart and he is converted into a disciple. Whereas before he extorted money for the taxpayers, he now vows to help the poor and to repay four-fold what he stole. Jesus calling down Zacchaeus from the tree is a real life example of what Jesus proclaims in the last sentence of today’s Gospel: “The Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.” That is what Jesus and his ministry are all about.
Both the rich young man and Zacchaeus were searching for something in their lives. In my reading this summer, I came across a thought-provoking quote from 19th century American naturalist and philosopher Henry David Thoreau. You probably know Thoreau from his book Walden, a reflection on living in simplicity and appreciating nature. Thoreau stated: “It is not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.” Do we really try to see things, or do we just look at them? It is only human to not see everything. There is too much to see and process in everyday life, so our minds delete that which it believes to be unnecessary. Our selection of what we look at and what we see is so very important. Even when we carefully examine the same thing as another person, we might see something completely different. Zacchaeus saw Jesus through the lens of faith, which opened him to transformation in his encounter with Jesus. We, too, need to see things through the lens of our faith.
In Forbes business magazine, Jane Chen wrote about a company she started that manufactures incubators for premature babies in non-industrialized countries in Asia and Africa, quite a noble effort. She writes that after years of operating her company that was set-up in Asia, dealing with the hassles of trying to run a company in a country where the business climate is very chaotic and organized and full of corruption, seeing violence and illness and extreme poverty all around her, it was easy to become frustrated, cynical, and jaded. That is what she looked at every day. Yet, she had the realization one day that she was concentrating on the bad and not really seeing the good. For every horrible thing she experienced, there was something equally as beautiful. She met compassionate doctors who worked tirelessly for their patients. She had a wonderful dedicated team working at her company. She saw impoverished and poorly educated mothers who would do anything to help their babies. She realized that if she looked closely, she could see some incredibly pure and selfless forms of love everyday through her work. Jane Chen concludes that perspective is a choice as she reflected on the quote from Thoreau. We need to look for and see the good and the beautiful in life, especially at our most challenging moments, when everything appears to be bleak.
Back to Zacchaeus in our Gospel today. He was a tax collector who extorted money from his fellow Jews, collaborating with the enemy Roman Empire. He probably had very few friends. But, for all his faults, for all his sins, Zacchaeus was a searcher and seeker who literally went out on a limb to find Jesus. Jesus knew that there was a lot of bad in Zacchaeus. That is what people saw on the surface. But Jesus knew there was good in him too. Sometimes we can be lost in life and we do not even know it. it. Sometimes we are searching for something in life and we don’t know what we are looking for. We don’t know what questions to ask. We don’t know the answers we are looking for. But above all, in our seeking and our searching, we are called to be open to change and transformation like Zacchaeus. And sometimes, like him, we need to go out on a limb.
No comments:
Post a Comment