Reflection for Tuesday 33rd Week in Ordinary Time

By


Fr. Aloysius Santiago sdb
Rector and Parish Priest
Don Bosco Shrine
Lingarajapuram, Bangalore

Today's WORD of GOD

Luke 19: 5-9

Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.”  So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.

All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”

But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”

Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham.

Today's Reflection

Being Found by JESUS

Story about Zacchaeus Offers a Central Insight into the Aims of JESUS. HE Understood HIS Mission as “to Seek Out & Save what was Lost.” Perhaps that Saying can be Reinterpreted to Tell Us that We Cannot Be Found Unless We Know Ourselves to be. Unless We are Found by JESUS, We Cannot Be Saved.

To be Found by JESUS, Zacchaeus had to be Willing Give Up a Lot. He Set Aside His Dignity by Climbing Up the Sycamore Tree, & then Promised that Most of His Wealth would Go in Paying Back Those He had Defrauded. Not Only the Tax-Collector but JESUS too was Willing to Risk HIS Reputation as a Man of GOD by Dining at the Home of such a Notorious Sinner. Zacchaeus, after all, was the Chief Tax-Collector of Jericho, a City through which Many Pilgrims Passed on Their Way to Festivals in the Jerusalem Temple. Jericho Funnelled all the Taxes of Jews Coming from the East Towards Jerusalem.

When JESUS Came to where the Little Tax-Collector was Perched, Up in the Sycamore Tree, HE Looked Up & Shouted, “Hurry on Down!” for HE had Seen a Spirit of True Repentance in the 💓 of Zacchaeus. Indeed, HIS Whole Purpose in Life was to Search Out & Save what was Lost.

Eleazar, in Maccabees, was Called Not to a Change of Lifestyle but to Hand Over His Very Life by Martyrdom. Again, by Losing, He Gained Much, & even at the Point of Death He Declared His Inner Joy at Staying True to the LORD GOD. Eleazar’s Martyrdom Brought a Blessing to His Entire Nation, Leaving an Unforgettable Example of Loyalty to what GOD Required of Them.


Seeking & Searching

Zacchaeus was Certainly was a Seeker, a Searcher. From the Start He was Anxious to See JESUS, & what Kind of Man He was. In His Desire to See Our LORD, He was Ready to, Quite Literally, Go Out on a Limb, the Branch of a Sycamore Tree. This would have Been an Undignified Thing for a Man

of His Status. Zacchaeus Goes to Extravagant Lengths to See JESUS, to Come to Know HIM. In the Process He Discovered that the One He Wanted to Meet was also Searching for Him.

“I must Stay at Your House Today,” Said the Man whose Purpose It was to Seek Out & to Save the Lost.

When Zacchaeus Welcomed JESUS to Dine, He Received an even Greater Hospitality, the Hospitality of the Mercy of GOD. Salvation Came to His House, because He too was a Child of Abraham. This Tax-Collector Belonged to GOD'S People & Found a Place at GOD'S Table, in spite of His Past.

Good Morning

GOD Bless Us All