hirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time

In this week’s Gospel we meet Zacchaeus, a “chief tax collector and wealthy man,” who will stop at nothing to encounter Jesus. Zacchaeus isn’t tall enough to see Jesus through the crowd, so he scurries up a tree to catch a glimpse. This is such a strange and funny scene to imagine. Here is a dignified man, respected and even feared by those who know him, who is willing to scrap his own dignity in pursuit of seeing Jesus. There was something about Jesus that was so unusual and profound that Zacchaeus knew that he couldn’t miss out. But at the same time, he seems afraid of meeting him head-on; he doesn’t barge forward and use his status to get to the front of the crowd, he instead chooses to hide and observe at a distance. How often we do this ourselves! We know that there is something real and undeniable to Jesus, but sometimes we are sheepish in our approach. Maybe it’s shame or embarrassment or fear of being truly seen, but we often try to peer at Jesus from afar, as we rush by the chapel on our way to class, or slip into the very back pews at Sunday Mass. 

But, as he does with Zacchaeus, Jesus sees us and encounters us head-on. “Come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house.” Jesus doesn’t want to wave at us from afar and keep things moving. He wants to be close to us, to be at home with us and to enter into our lives. And the most impressive thing about Zacchaeus is that, when Jesus proposes this, he says YES. He comes down quickly and receives him with joy. He lets himself be so moved by Jesus and so transformed by their encounter that he lets his life and priorities completely change. We have so much to learn from this unusual little tax collector! This very Sunday we have encountered Jesus just as profoundly. No matter how sheepish our approach, we have entered into a place where he is physically dwelling. We have received him in the Eucharist and he has made his home in us. But will we let him change us? Will we meet him quickly and with joy, resolved to start anew and orient our life and decisions to him? No matter how far we’ve strayed, we have the chance to respond just as heroically as Zacchaeus. No matter how far away or unworthy we feel, Jesus truly sees us and loves us, always present and desiring to seek and to save what has been lost.

Jule Coppa, Penn Campus Minister