Note: On Tuesdays and some Sundays, you can find me at Your Daily Tripod, owned by my friend TonyD. A longer version of the post below appears there.
Imagine it: Someone you respect greatly, a humanitarian, perhaps, or an esteemed educator or innovator. Maybe it’s even a politician. And there you are in the crowd, just trying to catch a glimpse of this person when he or she not only calls you by name… but invites himself or herself into your home at that very moment.
What do you do? Demur because you know there are newspapers and magazines scattered about? Ask if the person can meet you there in a few hours so you can stop at the store and pick up a few groceries? Offer to take the person to a restaurant instead?
These options appear to have never crossed the mind of Zacchaeus, whom we meet in today’s Gospel reading from Luke 19. Maybe it was because he was a chief tax collector and a wealthy man and knew his home would be in order. Or maybe, just maybe, it was because he knew not of that mattered. He was simply delighted to have the opportunity to spend time with Jesus. May our response be the same when the Lord says He must have time with us.
