“Today salvation has come to this house because this man too is a descendant of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost.”
Zacchaeus, short in stature, is unable to see Jesus from within the crowd passing through Jericho, so he runs ahead to climb a sycamore to see him. Jesus stops, looks up, and asks Zacchaeus to come down. “For today I must stay at your house,” Jesus says. Repenting all of the wrong he has done as a tax collector, Zacchaeus says to Jesus: “Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone I shall repay it four times over.” Jesus, speaking of himself as the Son of Man, makes clear his intention to anyone listening. He came to find and save the lost. But the people who overheard Jesus at that moment were angry that Jesus would spend time at the house of a sinner.
God, thank you for your mercy to the people you created, especially to the ones you come to seek and gather under your wings. Your love is clear in the example of Zacchaeus and in the first reading, which says: “But you have mercy on all, because you can do all things; and you overlook people’s sins that they may repent. For you love all things that are and loathe nothing that you have made.” Help me understand that today, on the day of your Son’s resurrection so that I can live in your love, just as Zacchaeus received Jesus with joy.
Stay with me today, Lord, as I rest in you. Let me release my grip on material concerns and enjoy the beauty of this day of rest. Just as you invited Zacchaeus to come down quickly, when I hear your voice by the grace of God, let me run to you and invite you into my house.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.