[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 him, 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 him. 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 he too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”

− Luke 19:1-10 (NRSV)

Zaccheus, as an Israelite tax collector for the cruel Roman authorities, likely also claimed greater amounts of tax for himself such that he could take a cut of the taxes he collected. He would thus have been viewed as a traitor to his people. Jesus invited himself to Zaccheus’ house, thereby extending the invitation to himself that Zaccheus may not have thought Jesus would or should accept, nor dreamed he would have the opportunity to make. By doing this, Christ created a moment in which Zaccheus faced his community and had the opportunity to repent, thereby being reconciled with his community. It would have been much easier for Christ to walk on by the strange spectacle of a small, wealthily-dressed man, clinging onto a tree branch. Yet, how movingly like Christ it is to reach through the walls between peoples to create such a grace-filled moment.

Revd Claudia Coustas

Chaplin