Luke 19:1-7: a reflection

1He entered and was passing through Jericho. 2There was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. 3He was trying to see who Jesus was, and couldn’t because of the crowd, because he was short. 4He ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was going to pass that way. 5When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and saw him, and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house.” 6He hurried, came down, and received him joyfully. 7When they saw it, they all murmured, saying, “He has gone in to lodge with a man who is a sinner.”

Zacchaeus is a chief tax collector, rich, and hated, the kind of man the whole town has written off as a sinner. He wants to see Jesus, but he is short and the crowd blocks him, so he does an undignified thing for a wealthy man: he runs ahead and climbs a tree. He just wants a glimpse.

And then the thing he never expected. Jesus stops under that very tree, looks up, and calls him by name: Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house. Not a glimpse from a distance, but his name, and an invitation, and a visit. Of all the people in Jericho, Jesus chooses to go home with the one everyone else despises. Zacchaeus came for a look and received a guest.

Notice the two reactions. Zacchaeus receives him joyfully; the crowd murmurs that Jesus has gone to be the guest of a sinner. That is exactly where grace goes, to the one written off, the one who expected only to be overlooked or scorned. If you have felt like the person the crowd has decided about, too far gone, not the type Jesus would come for, hear him call Zacchaeus down by name. He knows your name too, and he still says, today I must stay at your house.

Lord Jesus, you called Zacchaeus down by name and made his house your home. When I feel written off, remind me that you seek out the very ones the crowd despises, and that you know my name and still come to me.