Zacchaeus's story is actually remarkably simple. It is a story without any formal or express words of repentance. There is no dramatic confession, “I have sinned...” Zacchaeus simply does what Jesus asked him to do. He climbed down the tree, quickly, and received Jesus with joy. Their meeting upsets the bystanders. It is sinful, they say, to associate with the unclean, to share the presence of those who have committed wrong. Then, with a murmuring crowd in the background, Saggeus speaks for the first time in the story. He, the rich and powerful man, will give away half of his possessions to those from which he stole. And he will do so fourfold.
Three moments of this action are striking:
Firstly, Zacchaeus showed that he desired to live according to God’s will. His life has been transformed. His own desires and greed are no longer in the center of his existence. God's will has become the desire of his heart. He appropriates Exodus 22 which calls on those who have harmed others to compensate for it. Now that the Lord has entered his home and into an intimate relationship with him, his wealth has presented the opportunity to him to live a life pleasing to God. He changed from someone who mercilessly enriched himself by extorting money from the poor, to one who, for the sake of God, gives up his belongings (Thomas a Kempis, Franciscus of Assissi!). It was not a decision that many followers of the Galilean took. Here one senses in the background the story of that other rich young man who ultimately could not give up his riches, could not follow Jesus and become his disciple. Here Zacchaeus, the rich and powerful man, however, becomes more than just a follower of Jesus. He gives out of his own, without being asked (like the rich young man), voluntarily.
He becomes a Christ-like figure. From his intimate relationship with the divine, he is empowerd to live in the divine will. Not my will...
Secondly, he shows how abundant his transformation is. He understands how horrible his life was in the past. He understands the gravity of his past crimes and transgressions. He has come to himself – like the Prodigal Son in the pig sty. And he indicates how he desires his life to be totally different and new. The Old Testament tells us that the nature of a crime determined the compensation he had to pay. Zacchaeus knew this. He was, after all, though a tax collecter a child of Abraham! Ao he measures his transgressions and does not spare himself. There is a deep consciousness of evil and darkness, only overshadowed by the deeper urge to compensate for it. He remembers what faith is all about, how faith cannot tolerate injustice and hatefulness. He appropriates this word of Scripture, the divine will to do good, without any command of Jesus. Let me be different, just very different than the hateful, bullying extortionist I had been. Does this reflect something of the transformation in glory?
And thirdly, he shows that he understands the gospel of Jesus. It is a gospel to the poor. He, the rich and powerful man, does what Jesus has been asking his disciples and the crowds all through his ministry. He who abused and extorted, now reaches out to his victims like Jesus did all his life. This is all about conformity to Christ: the shape of his new life takes the form of Jesus' life. His encounter - only at a distance, but then, in growing intimacy with Jesus as Jesus enters his home, the intimate sphere of his life, brings him to compassion for others which is in the image of his Master’s compassion and mercy.
How beautiful to meditate on this: the thoughts in Zacchaeus’ head while he sat near Jesus, looking at that face, recognising him for “who He is”, talking with him, listening to him talk. And his inner sorrow: “If only I had never done that, the extortion, the lack of compassion and mercy – so different from what I am receiving now. If only I could be like this Man! For my life to be completely in God's will, to be like the Christ and to care for the silent, the meek, the little ones, the oppressed, the exploited, the dehumanised of our world.”
Zacchaeus is ultimately, the mystical story of a rich, powerful man in a tree who climbed down to spend precious time with the itinerant preacher. He becomes the itinerant one, exploring the streets to search for his victims, those he exploited and terrorized. His relationship with Jesus brings him to move out to those who have nothing. It is the last phase of spirituality, the ongoing praxis, where faith hits the streets and reaches out in compassion to God’s world. Transformation ends in praxis.
The famous church father, Clement of Alexandria, later wrote that Zacchaeus took Judas's place as an apostle and was given the name Mattias. Whether this is true, nobody can ever say. But it shows just how this story of his transformation impressed readers of Scripture. And maybe, who knows, this man, because he experienced the loving, life-giving countenance of Jesus, feeling the love he so desired and which his cold possessions could not give him, maybe he did indeed crisscrossed the streets, seeking out the poor, giving them what they needed. With his sharp, discerning insight (I even climb a tree to see him ...) he remembered their faces, found them and, perhaps, gave them much more than the money he stole from them. Maybe they saw in him the love and countenance of Christ, an intimate friend of Christ, a disciple. And maybe they did thinkg that he should be there for everyone to see as the thirteenth apostle. Who knows.
And yet, it makes no difference. His life, on the day of his transformation, was conform to Christ. And by reading this story, we feel it too.
Luke does not moralize the figure of Zacchaeus. One cannot express the divine-human relationship in laws and commandments. His is a story of a man who was dead and is now alive. A man who bore the burden of external riches and possessions and was liberated. His is a story of how compassion brings compassion. Love leads to abundant, quadruple love. Four times, four times more I want to do for Christ’s sake than ever did for myself. Four times.
(Tomorrow: a famous painting of Zacchaeus).
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