By Vicky Lamin Gayang csc –
Readings: Rev 3:1-6, 14-22; Lk 19:1-10
In today’s Gospel, we see the desire and the longing of Zacchaeus to see Jesus because he had heard about Jesus as a special person who heals and performs miracles. Zacchaeus was making lots of efforts to meet Jesus by running ahead and climbed the sycamore tree in the right direction and place. When Jesus looked up and saw Zacchaeus on the tree, Jesus said to Zacchaeus, ‘hurry down today I must stay at your house.’ Zacchaeus was surprised and shocked by Jesus’ words. He ran at once to his home to prepare for the coming of Jesus. When Jesus entered his house, Zacchaeus was transformed.
Zacchaeus was a tax collector who cheated people. Since he was a tax collector, no one accepted him, and no one wanted to make friends with him. Therefore, he was a lonely man. But through encountering Christ, he experienced a U-turn in his life. Jesus said to him, ‘today salvation has come to your house.’
In our life, we find shelter on the earth, not in heaven. We are attached to the worldly things which are momentary and at the same time which are stumbling blocks to come closer to God. We often neglect that it is God who gives and who takes. I am sure that we all want to meet and experience Jesus in our life. However, experiencing Jesus is challenging, for it requires a lot of effort.
Experiencing Jesus means not just standing in the crowd but having a person-to-person encounter with him. Moreover, to have personal communication with Jesus, we are invited to shed our ego. Today we need to ask ourselves, do we have the desire from within to encounter Jesus in our life? Are we ready to face challenges and struggles in reaching Jesus to meet him in person? Once we encounter Christ in our life, transformation will take place.