Last week’s Lukan Gospel introduced us to a Pharisee and a tax collector as its main characters. This week Luke uses another “sinner,” a chief tax collector named Zacchaeus, to illustrate Jesus’ power to conform one’s will to His Will, changing us for the good. These gospel accounts are good reminders that our Catholic Church/faith is not a country club for the well-heeled, spiritually speaking that is, but rather she is more akin to a MASH—mobile army surgical hospital, which makes our Church a “Mobile Adjust Spiritual Hospital” for sinners.

We are told that Zacchaeus is a “chief tax collector and a wealthy man.” Again, like last week’s tax collectors, he was hated by his fellow Jews for becoming wealthy while working for the enemy—The Roman Caesar. He also happens to be short in stature, therefore he needs to climb a sycamore tree in order to obtain a good view of Jesus as he passes bye. This signifies Zacchaeus’ openness and desire to meet the Lord. As Jesus passes bye, He calls to Zacchaeus to come down and invites Himself to dine at his home. Again, last week Jesus is asked “Who can be saved?” since the gate is so narrow. Well, the answer is found in the disposition of the heart— which is predicated on the possessions “owned” by the sinner—or is it that the possessions own the sinner’s heart… Are we willing to “give up and let go” on the abundance of possessions we all own, possessions that might keep us from knowing and being the Lord in the world around us? Are we ready to “come down from our own sycamore trees” and open up to the Will and the Ways of the Lord?