Now a man there named Zacchaeus,
who was a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man,
was seeking to see who Jesus was;
but he could not see him because of the crowd,
for he was short in stature.
Neither our natural gifts nor the circumstances of our lives are enough to automatically ensure that we will get a good look at Jesus when he passes through. We may be fairly sure that if Zacchaeus had responded with indifference the whole crowd with all of its commotion would have passed him by as though he were not there. It seemed evident that Jesus was aware of his desire to see him and responded to that desire.
So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus,
who was about to pass that way.
Jesus looked up at the tree, unsurprised, as though it was always his plan to meet Zacchaeus at this moment in this place. Because it was. He wasn't inconvenienced or deterred from other aspects of his ministry by the intrusion of this chief tax collector onto his route. It was always a part of his plan, and in this moment, the main event. In fact, it seemed that Jesus was the first one to say something to Zacchaeus, rather than the other way around. Who knows with what pretense Zacchaeus might have been planning to plead with Jesus, as the prodigal had been in returning to his father. But before he had a chance to do so he heard, "Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house".
And he came down quickly and received him with joy.
At first Zacchaeus must have thought that he was the one taking the initiative to see Jesus. We already said that without that initiative it was indeed likely that Jesus would have passed him by. But Jesus himself was aware of the initiative Zacchaeus would show, because he himself was the one who made the hearts of all, including Zacchaeus, and placed a desire for himself within them. Even the grace that made him respond to this desire was a gift. It wasn't as though he could brag about the lengths to which he went in order to see Jesus, since he knew full well that he had been drawn to him, as if by a kind of spiritual magnetism. There were also those who felt this same spiritual force but found it repulsive. These were the people who grumbled when they saw the deep and immediate connection between Zacchaeus and Jesus while they themselves remained disinterested on the peripheries. They remained dispassionate observers while Zacchaeus himself was entirely transformed.
But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord,
“Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor,
and if I have extorted anything from anyone
I shall repay it four times over.”
Zacchaeus was changed in such a way that he previously priorities were no longer important. The desire for wealth that had determined his life path until that point was gone. The wealth he had amassed was now a resource to help him respond to the grace of Jesus in his life. We note that he had not been required to do this in advance in order to prove himself to Jesus. All that was necessary for Jesus to accept him was for Zacchaeus to respond to the desire that Jesus himself had first placed in his heart. These works did not somehow merit his salvation, but were rather its fruit. But they were important as evidence, signs that the power of Jesus had been effective in him.
And Jesus said to him,
“Today salvation has come to this house
because this man too is a descendant of Abraham.
For the Son of Man has come to seek
and to save what was lost.”
Like Zacchaeus, and indeed, like all people, Jesus has placed a desire for himself in our hearts. But we can take it for granted, like the crowds, and respond to him only with curiosity. Like them we might be too embarrassed to stand out or refuse to be inconvenienced in the ways that might be necessary. But if we don't respond vigorously to the fervor Jesus himself wants to give us we inherently limit the extent to which he can transform us. We have some measure of 'free will', but especially a 'free won't', one which we must be cautious to not exercise when Jesus is passing by.
When I lie down in sleep,
I wake again, for the LORD sustains me.
I fear not the myriads of people
arrayed against me on every side.
Songs In His Presence - Prayer Of Augustine
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