A SHORT MAN WHO BECOMES GREAT

         

Luke 19:1-10

Zacchaeus is a creature corrupted to the bones. He is an income tax collector. He sucks his fellow citizens in favor of the Roman enemy who has been colonizing the country. He takes advantage of his function to fill up his pockets to the full while drawing an interesting commission coming from the Romans and enjoying their protection. Zacchaeus did not find anything better so as to become somebody.

It is from his childhood that Zacchaeus has a deep complex because of his short size. This infuriates him. Everybody makes fun of him. His only dream is to grow taller. More than a dream, it has become an obsession. But what can be done? Nobody cares about him.      

And so crosses his mind the idea of selling himself, of prostituting himself, of sticking himself like glue to those who dictate what goes on in the country. It does not matter for him that they are enemies as long as they pay well. And so this is how Zacchaeus, the short man, has become a traitor to his people and a very rich individual who, for want of being loved, is feared and hated by everyone

Zacchaeus is a bastard, a living dead like there are everywhere, even at the head of nations. His house is an impenetrable fortress. No one can enter.

Suddenly, some noise is heard in the street. It is Jesus who comes. A joyful group accompanies him.  

-      Jesus, the miracle worker?  asks Zacchaeus. Here is my chance to add a cubit to my height. We never know. I have money…

Zacchaeus cannot stay in place. Spurred on by his long time dream of being taller, he rushed out of his fortress and climbs up a tree, just like when he was a child….From there, at last, he can see things other than the feet of the people; he sees Jesus. And Jesus sees that short man, that big wicked person, who clings to a branch and waves one’s hand to him.     

-      Zacchaeus, come down from that tree! shouts Jesus to him. I want to go to your place

The short man almost fells over backwards as if the end of the world had come. With one jump, he is back at the foot of the tree and hastens to open the door to Jesus and to his joyous group. Some do not enter. The Law of the priests does not allow it. But Jesus and his friends have no qualms. They enter with their joy, their humanity, their simplicity and their liberty in that house that was only a sepulchre. They fill it with fresh air, and the sickened heart of the short man is flooded with light.

At last some people who do not judge Zacchaeus…It is the first time that such a thing like that happens. Zacchaeus is so happy that he loses his head.     

-      I give one half of my possessions to the poor, he shouts while holding Jesus and his companions in his arms. And all that I have stolen I will repay it four times!   

On that day, Zacchaeus became a very tall man. We still speak about him until today. Thousands of things are written about him, including what you are presently reading.    

What saves Zacchaeus is his childlike heart. That pure heart was slumbering under a mountain of suffering, of shame and of stupidities. That was his hidden treasure, his precious pearl, his deep being, his «true self»…It was the image of God, the kingdom, the new man, the risen one who was slumbering within his being. That human heart suddenly emerged from the wicked Zacchaeus because one day someone saw him as God sees him. Who could have believed such a happening?   

God does not judge by appearances…

                                                                                                                                                                 Eloy Roy 

Translated from the French by Jacques Bourdages