The story of Zaccheus climbing a tree to see Jesus on his way through Jericho is a lovely story. Some commentators have made Zaccheus somewhat of a comical figure. I suppose it is because he was “small of stature” and actually climbed a tree in order to see Jesus. But the Gospel suggests a very different kind of man.

First of all, Zaccheus was a very competent man. He was a tax collector in a very busy crossroads where there was much trade and traffic and so much tax would have to be paid. He obviously had a good relationship with other tax collectors in his vicinity since he invited all of them to his dinner for Jesus. It was suggested by one commentator that he might even have been their “boss”.

Secondly, he was a devout Jew. As he told Jesus: “Look, sir, I am going to give half of my property to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody I will pay him back four times the amount.” The gift to the poor and the generous compensation went far beyond what the Jewish Law required. Thus he was not only a devout Jew but also someone who embraced the teaching of Jesus. He might have met him only in this chance encounter but he was obviously aware of what Jesus had been doing and preaching.

This story has two lessons for all of us. First, it shows that we must be careful not to categorise people and make judgements about them. When Jesus had dinner with the tax collectors, other Jews were scandalised because he ate with “sinners”. They probably did not know Zaccheus personally but because he was a tax collector they concluded he must be a “sinner”. Jesus knew better.

It is easy for us to categorise people and put them down as “sinners”. I am still embarrassed about one time in my life. I am good friends with Edwina Gateley who did ministry among the prostitutes on the north side of Chicago in the 1980s and 1990s. She even started a house where the prostitutes could come if they wanted to get out of prostitution or if they just wanted to be treated like a human being with dignity for several hours or even a few days. I often visited there and got to know a number of the women well. One time I was attending a gathering where Edwina and one of the women named Dolores were. I knew Dolores and knew that she was walking away from prostitution. Anyway, I had to leave early and Edwina asked if I could take Dolores with me and drop her off at their home. I am ashamed to say that my first thought was: no, I cannot do that. If I got in an accident the headlines in the paper would read: priest dies in an accident with a prostitute in the front seat. I had categorised Dolores and not thought of the person I knew. I am happy to say that my second thought was: I will be happy to take Dolores home.

A second lesson that can be learned from this story is that sometimes we have to invite ourselves into people’s lives. Jesus said: “Zaccheus, come down. Hurry, because I must stay at your house today.” There are times when we rightly hold back from intruding ourselves into the lives of others. But there are times when, if we want to bring God’s love to others, we have to invite ourselves. As a young priest I often helped out on week-ends in a parish in Baltimore. They were a wonderful group of parishioners. I became very good friends of several of the families. There was one particular family who reached out to so many others and were concerned about them. I was often at their house for dinner because they would often let me know who might profit from the visit of a priest. I one time asked the woman: how did it come about that I started to come to your house for dinner so often? She laughed and said: you invited yourself! Sometimes we have to do that if we really care about people. Jesus was certainly not afraid to invite himself to dinner!

F