In 1975 I had the privilege of joining 10,000 Catholic charismatics in Rome to meet with Pope Paul IV. It was a powerful experience to see the Pope in person and listen to his inspiring words. As wonderful as that was, meeting with the Pope didn’t radically change my life.
What about meeting with Jesus? Is it like meeting with the Pope? How does it impact our lives?
Today we meet a most unlikely candidate for meeting with Jesus. In fact, people were probably shocked that he even showed up at a “Jesus rally.” What happened to him would knock our socks off (Luke 19:1-10).
“At that time Jesus came to Jericho and intended to pass through the town. Now a man there named Zacchaeus, who was a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man, was seeking to see who Jesus was; but he could not see him because of the crowd, for he was short in stature.”
Jericho was the last stop before going up the hill to Jerusalem. Jesus did not intend to stop there. Nevertheless, a great crowd gathered to get a glimpse of Jesus and maybe a blessing. Many, if not most, of the people of Jericho didn’t bother interrupting what they were doing to see Jesus—they were about doing their own business. The devout, however, did line up the road to see Jesus. A chief tax collector who had no interest in religion and was despised by the people, to the surprise of everyone, showed up. The crowd would not let him push his way to the front even though he was too short to see over their heads. They were wondering what would ever prompt a sinner like Zacchaeus to come to a “Jesus rally.”
“So, he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus, who was about to pass that way. When he reached the place, Jesus looked up and said, ‘Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house.”
We wonder what drove this tax collector to go an extreme to see Jesus. Was it mere curiosity or was it God’s grace? He ran to the end of the crowd and made himself look ridiculous by climbing up a tree. Surely people laughed at this tiny man as he struggled up the tree. Then the shock came! Not only did Zacchaeus see Jesus but Jesus saw him and even knew his name. Then to the shock of everyone, because of Zacchaeus, Jesus changed his plans. He decided to spend some time in Jericho and stay in Zacchaeus’ house. Imagine how overwhelmed this little man must have been.
“And he came down quickly and received him with joy. When they saw this, they began to grumble, saying ‘He has gone to stay at the house of a sinner.’”
The “bad guy” was filled with joy and the “good guys” grumbled. Shouldn’t the “good guys” have been happy that a sinner was turning back to God? What an amazing conversion took place on the spot.
“But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, ‘Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone, I shall repay him four times over.”
Meeting Jesus changed this tax collector radically and forever. What meant most to him, money, he let go of at that moment because he found something greater than money. It is said that people in the gospel who were mentioned by name were probably members of the early Christian community. It stands to reason that Zacchaeus’ conversion caused him, later, to be part of the early Church.
No one in the Jericho crowd that day had a life-changing experience of Jesus, except for one—he was called out from the crowd to host Jesus for the day.
What about us? We are part of the crowd who go to Church every Sunday, not just to watch him walk by, but to allow him to come into our bodies. Has this become just a Sunday routine or is it a life-changing experience? When we go to Church are we like Zacchaeus or just anonymous members of the crowd? Are we really encountering the person of Jesus and letting him change our lives forever?
Next time we go to Mass, let’s pretend we are Zacchaeus, come down from our trees, and ask Jesus to touch us in a way that will radically change us as much as it changed Zacchaeus. Let our next Communion be the most powerful experience of our lives. Let us step out of the crowd and ask Jesus to overwhelm us with his presence. This is what Communion is intended to be—to allow Jesus to go from our bodies into our hearts.
