The Climb

A Reflection on the Gospel for November 3rd, 2019:
Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time

​LUKE 19:1-10

Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through it. A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. 


So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see Jesus, because he was going to pass that way. When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.” 


So he hurried down and was happy to welcome Jesus. All who saw it began to grumble and said, “He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.” 


Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.” 


Then Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because Zacchaeus too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”

---

I can still remember the feeling of reaching for the next branch. I can remember the stillness of looking up at the searing blue Florida sky through layers of leaves and puzzling a way through the living vertical maze. I can remember the sureness of the sandpaper texture of the bark as I gripped the chosen arm of the tree to take me on to whatever came next. I can remember the exhilaration of shifting my weight from where I was, upward to where I wanted to be. To enter somewhere I hadn’t been before.

And I can remember the feeling of the falling too — long enough to sail through surprise to realization to curiosity about how this would end.  

If I stayed safely on the ground I’d never get hurt, but I’d never see what’s up there. I’d give up on the chance of the joy of seeking, of finding. 


Zacchaeus understood this, knew the risk, and knew it was worth it. He had lost who he was. After all the betrayal and exploitation was he really a Jew anymore, really part of the people of God? He had a deep knowing that if he could only just see who Jesus was, maybe he’d know who he was again. So he threw caution and his societal standing to the wind, and ran. And climbed. And sought. And saw. And was seen.


Jesus looked up at Zacchaeus. As He looked up at Saint Peter when He knelt before him and washed his feet. As He looks up at us when we hold Him in our hands at the Table. A Carpenter and the Maker of all creation. Jesus calls Zacchaeus by name, calls him down to come close, and calls out to all the crowd so everyone will know who he is. So that Zacchaeus will know who he is. A son of Abraham —  because as he ran and climbed and saw and was seen, he was reaching for the next branch in faith that seeing Jesus mattered. 

"Jesus looked up at Zacchaeus. As He looked up at Saint Peter when He knelt before him and washed his feet. As He looks up at us when we hold Him in our hands at the Table."

Tweet

I know this is true because I have run and climbed and sought and saw and have been seen. I have been lost and now am found. Or even more, I am being found. Over and over again. And each step of the way, each wending through the branches to reach another limb, and after each fall, seeing Jesus matters. He lets me know who I am every time I forget, and shows me how to look outside myself to the others around me who He loves so completely. Even better, He invites me into the joy of joining Him in loving them and reminding them of who they are. A child of God. It’s all so completely worth any risk.


And the truth behind and beyond it all — long before any of us started climbing up to find Him, He climbed down to find us.


​
Noreen Smith

---