Nov
4
Can Sheep Climb Trees?
November 4, 2007 |
Imagine a great and holy man comes to town. You, a man despised by polite society, decide to go down to see him. You realize that you can’t get a good look at him because of the crowd. You are short of stature and try jumping and nudging your way around, but it’s no use - you just can’t see over and around the masses.
And then you see the tree and you decide to climb it. This tree ends up becoming your tree of life - your tree to salvation.
For upon that tree, you see him! And, more importantly, he sees you - and calls you by name!
Zaccheus lives this conversion story in today’s gospel (Luke 19: 1- 10). He, a tax collector and sinner, climbed that tree and was called out by Christ. Zaccheus immediately repented and converted - much to the amazement and consternation of the Jericho community. And he did it with “joy”.
Christ then said something that is so basic to our faith that it trascends all generations - “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.”
Each one of us is a descendant of Abraham. Each one of us is one of those whom the Son of Man has come to seek. Each one of us is one of those lost sheep whom Christ has come to save.
It doesn’t matter who we are or what we have done or what shortcomings we may have - Christ will grant us his mercy and our salvation if we simply see him, hear him calling us by name, and repent - truly repent.
Let us always remember that Christ calls each of us by name each and every moment of each and every day. It’s just up to us to be like our brother Zaccheus and listen to him.
So, if you are like me and haven’t climbed a tree in a while - we may want to get practicing (with all appropriate safety measures, of course).
Photo: Schapen, De Zilk, Netherlands (2004) - Gerrit Holl (Photographer) - GNU Free Documentation License
