Oblates of St. Francis de Sales

New DeSales World Newsletter - Summer Edition

31th Sunday in Ordinary Time (October 31, 2004)

Suggested Emphasis

"Come down, Zacchaeus."

Salesian Perspective

When Zacchaeus climbed a tree in order to catch a better glimpse of Jesus, he wanted to see but not necessarily to be seen. He couldn't have felt as though he was at his best, crouched up there in the branches. He must have been surprised - and maybe slightly embarrassed - when Jesus called up to him and asked to share a meal at his house.

Over many meals in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus listened, observed, healed, reconciled and taught. Those meals were opportunities to build relationships, and Jesus took full advantage of them. An invitation to a meal is an invitation into relationship. Jesus invited Zacchaeus into relationship as he was and where he was, with all of his faults and weakness, hanging up there in that tree. How often we forget that our gentle loving God reaches out to us, invites us into relationship, as we are and where we are, even if it's up a tree.

While we often demand perfection of ourselves, God does not demand perfection of us before loving us and calling us into friendship. God reaches out because, as the book of Wisdom reminds us, God loves all that God has made. God asks only a response to his invitation, a response of love, given in freedom.

When we experience in our hearts the love that calls us into that relationship, we - like Zacchaeus - want to reconcile, to be worthy of such love. Zacchaeus's response to Jesus' invitation was the response of a heart that has been touched by love - yielding, giving, seeking only the good. In the words of Paul's letter to the Thessalonians, God's love brings "to fulfillment every good purpose and every effort of faith," if we but open our hearts and respond to that love.

We can respond without fear because, as Psalm 145 reminds us, our God is gracious, merciful, slow to anger and full of kindness. We can take great comfort in the love of our God who invites us into friendship, as we are and where we are.

Kathleen Hope Brown is Director of Lay Formation at the Washington Theological Union