Tuesday of the Thirty-Third Week in Ordinary Time
The readings for this week look forward to the Solemnity of Christ the King on November 20 and to the season of Advent starting November 27. Advent is a time of expectation, of waiting in hope for the birth of the Christ child in our lives. It is a penitential time, a time of self-examination, meditation, and reflection. Advent is also a very busy season, and it sometimes leads people to feel a lot of stress. It can be easy to forget, amid the many holiday celebrations, the shopping, and the gift giving, that the person whom we are expecting with such eagerness and whose advent we are celebrating is Jesus himself.
In the gospel reading for today, Zacchaeus inspires us to keep Jesus at the forefront of our minds and the center of our hearts. The way that Zacchaeus waits for Jesus and gets his attention is enthusiastic and extraordinary. As a tax collector, Zacchaeus would have been seen with suspicion by his fellow Jews as someone who has ‘sold out’ to the Romans. He may have been engaged in fraud — deriving income by charging people extra taxes, beyond what they were required to pay to the Roman government. The story told of Zacchaeus watching and waiting for Jesus reminds us that Jesus came to save “tax collectors and sinners” (Luke 5: 29-32). And Zacchaeus’ response to Jesus is model for how we should respond. Zacchaeus is not just paying lip service to the gospel. By giving away half of his wealth to the poor and repaying four times over any money that he has extorted, Zacchaeus is announcing to the world that his life is changed for the better through his encounter with Jesus.
Zacchaeus is clearly very excited to see Jesus. His desire to see Jesus is so great that he climbs up into a tree – not a very dignified action for someone of his position as a wealthy member of society. When Jesus sees the lengths to which Zacchaeus goes to in order to see him and get his attention, Jesus calls Zacchaeus down from the tree and speaks with him one to one. Jesus responds to Zacchaeus’ enthusiastic greeting with a personal visit to Zacchaeus’ home. In the end, Zacchaeus’ efforts to encounter Jesus result in a deeper relationship, even friendship, with him.
As we approach the beginning of Advent, we have the opportunity to consider whether we have the same excitement for meeting Jesus that Zacchaeus had. As we wait for the coming of the Christ child at Christmas, we are called to examine our lives. What is preventing us from feeling the same excitement that Zacchaeus felt. Is there anything standing in the way of our doing so? If there is, what can we do to remove these barriers to receiving Christ? By doing this we will be able to say that we too have received Jesus in our hearts and our homes as Zacchaeus did.
- Joel Schickle