The more I think about Zacchaeus, the more I am convinced that Zacchaeus is us. I know that I’ve also said similar things about the Pharisees and Sadducees- whenever an evangelist tells us that Jesus was talking to them, we need to understand that He is also talking to us. I believe that the same is true with Zacchaeus. We should see ourselves as Zacchaeus and apply all the words that Jesus says to, and everything He does for Zacchaeus to us. Indeed Jesus does want to have dinner with us-at the eternal banquet in Heaven. And we are so much like Zacchaeus. We all have our baggage; we all have something-our sins, our history, and the unfriendly crowds-that we allow to hold us back. But there will come a time when Jesus will be passing through; there will be opportunities for grace like the one experienced by Zacchaeus in which we will realize that Jesus has been there all along, waiting to share His life with us. What would we do right now, if Jesus told us He wanted to have dinner at our house, how would we prepare? Would we do what Zacchaeus did, would we make a spectacle of ourselves would we put ourselves on a limb, for Jesus sake? Would we beg forgiveness, would we make up for our sins four times over, would we give the Lord a tithe of our possessions? How will we prepare for our eternal banquet with Jesus? Whatever it might be we can be sure of this: there is something that we have to do for Jesus in order to fully experience that wonderful transformation, that new birth that Zacchaeus experienced in today’s Gospel. We have to do what Zacchaeus did. We have to put ourselves out on a limb. And we can be sure that if we do just that, He will not leave us hanging there, He will welcome us with open arms.
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