Moses first met God when he came across a burning bush. The prophet Isaiah encountered the awesome majesty of God during a vision while he was in the Temple. Peter, Andrew, James and John received their call to be Apostles after a long and unproductive day at work. Great and memorable stories, true. It’s easy to imagine the earliest disciples telling the story of when they first met Jesus.
How delighted Zaccheus must have been to say, “I met Jesus after I climbed up a tree.” St. Luke included this story in the gospel not simply because it is unusual, even funny. He did it because this story has something to say about how people of every time and place can meet Christ and what happens when they do. It seems to me that there are four keys:
Zaccheus had a desire to learn more about Christ. Of all many people who lived or were visiting Jericho that day, why did Jesus choose this strange little man? Perhaps it was because he was more hungry for God and a new way of life than anyone else that day. How strong is our desire?
Second, Zaccheus let nothing stand in the way between him-self and Christ:
• not his shortness of stature;
• not the size of the crowd;
• not even his reputation as a tax-collector.
At times — all too often for many people — we do allow people, things,
passions and hobbies to get in the way of our relationship with God.
Something else we learn from Zaccheus is that we have to accept the Lord’s invitation just as he did. The gospels are full of examples like a rich young man who turned their backs on Jesus and his invitation to new life. We must do what Zaccheus did and invite Jesus into our homes.
Finally, Zaccheus changed his lifestyle. In coming to know Jesus he knew he had to change certain ways of living, acting, talking, and thinking. Knowing Jesus has to make a difference in who we are and how we live.
If we desire to know Christ more and more,
if we let nothing stand in our way,
if we welcome the Lord and allow the Lord to change us,
then, we’ll have our own stories worth telling.