Fr. Anastasius Reiser, OSB - celebrant
Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
Last week I visited the Arbor Day Farm in Nebraska City. In addition to the fruit trees, there is also an area with forest trees that you can climb over rope bridges. A wonderful facility for children. Some grandparents and their grandchildren were there. Adults can climb the trees too. Some treetops have been provided with stairs so that you can climb up and get an overview of the forest. Birds can also be seen from above, or if you're lucky, animals jumping around on the forest floor below.
In the gospel today, we heard about Zacchaeus climbing a sycamore tree so that he could see Jesus when he came to the city of Jericho. Well, the reason Luke gives was because he was small in stature. But Luke also writes that he was rich.
Today, to imagine who Zacchaeus was, you would have to compare him to a secretary of finance. And then you realize that it seems ridiculous for such a high official to climb a tree.
But the Sycamore tree is an evergreen tree. It does not lose its leaves and thus offers a natural protection against looks. At least from a distance you cannot look into the tree and see who is sitting in the tree. Just like in the "Arbor day farm", where you can watch the forest animals under the cover of the leaves.
Therefore, Zacchaeus went under the protection of the tree, firstly, so that people would not see him and laugh and secondly, so that he would not have to be ashamed before Jesus because he is rich and probably also gained this wealth because of corruption. He knows he's a sinner.
But when Jesus comes by, he can look up into the tree and see him sitting there. Herod's chief tax collector. “What is Zacchaeus doing in the tree?” Jesus must have thought. "Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house."
Zacchaeus comes down from the tree and the people notice and complain that Jesus is going to be with a sinner.
Jesus doesn't need to say more as he already said, and Zacchaeus admits immediately his sins in the presence of the Lord and promises to give a portion of his wealth to the poor. And Jesus states: "Today salvation has come to this house". Full stop!
We too sometimes climb a tower or a viewing platform to get a better view of things. Especially on vacation. On the other hand, this also gives us a distance from everyday life. When we look down from above everything looks smaller, the people, but also the problems or worries we have. It can also be a suppression that you don't want to acknowledge your problems and would rather flee than work on them. (But at the latest when we descend again, the problems will be back.)
On the other side when we talk about other people, we generalize as well as the people in the gospel! We don't look at that person as an individual who also has problems and worries. We have prejudices.
When the crowd that greets Jesus in the Gospel sees Zacchaeus, they get angry because they say, "That's a sinner!" They look at Zacchaeus from a distance. They don't look at him as a person, as someone who is "a descendant of Abraham."
Jesus, on the other hand, approaches him and speaks to him personally. Zacchaeus opens up himself to the Lord and in the presence of the Lord he can speak without fear whatever oppresses his heart, can confess his sins to him. And even more: he will give the money he took to the poor! This is repentance!
Isn't it wonderful to see that Zacchaeus no longer needs the protection of the leaves when he is in the presence of the Lord? Sometimes we feel as well that we need protection around us like a second skin to hide our real self.
We once had a conference with young people who didn't know each other. It was cold and the room wasn't heated yet. The young people still wore their jackets. The room was getting warm, but the young people didn't take off their jackets. Only when we got to know each other better after a few hours they did take off their jackets because they no longer needed them to protect themselves from each other. They were no longer afraid of each other.
Likewise, Zacchaeus was able to free himself from his protective skin and climb down from the tree. It is interesting that Adam and Eve covered themselves with leaves from the fig tree when God called them after eating the forbidden fruit. Sycamore tree is a species of fig tree. Zacchaeus also put himself under the protection of the fig tree when God came into town because he knew he had sinned. He can now discard this protection.
In God's presence everyone can be who he is. Before we now celebrate the Holy Eucharist, we too are invited to take off this hard protective skin that we have built up around us, so that we may be open to God, who wants to meet us in the bread and in the wine and who accepts us as we are.
Amen.