Reading: Luke 19:1-10
Came across a blog post this morning by a Canadian college student named Brendan Pickering, who was musing on the idea that of all the classes he has taken, the one that was most impactful on him was an introductory theater course.
Says Pickering: "Every day we spent at least 15 minutes looking into another student’s eyes, no facial expressions or body movements allowed, just feeling the other’s presence and projecting our own.
“How lame,” I thought, “How artsy.”
Then something strange happened. I first noticed it during my walk back to my dorm after the fourth or fifth class, as I met the gaze of other students in transit.
I didn’t look away. Even more strange, I had no intention of doing so. I just wanted to look, to feel their presence and gauge their strength. It was exhilarating."
Pickering calls this "being present," or looking beyond the surface of someone's external, often false self and sensing what's really going on inside them. When we're fully present with someone else, transparency and more authentic communication and compassion are possible.
Jesus certainly had this quality–the ability to be fully present with people and to cut through the acting mask of those he encountered. Zacchaeus was one of those persons: a rich tax collector whom everyone else assumed was a "sinner" (v. 8).
Jesus' approach to Zacchaeus, however, isn't a call to repentance, a rebuke, or a validation–just an invitation (in fact, Jesus invites himself to the tax collector's house!).
Interestingly, we often read Zacchaeus' response to Jesus as a change of heart and ways. Because of his encounter with Jesus, we most often think, Zacchaeus turned over a new leaf. The Greek here, however, is a bit more ambiguous. Indeed, verse 8 could read like this: "I am in the habit of giving half my possessions to the poor and I am in the habit of paying back double to those whom I have inadvertently cheated."
If that's the case, and the context suggests that it may be, then Jesus' invitation is less about "converting" Zacchaeus individually, but more about demonstrating to the crowd in Jericho that this tax collector, who was excluded from the community because of his vocation, is restored to the community as a sign of the Kingdom mission that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem to bring to a climax.
Whichever interpretation you use, the point is that Jesus seemed to instinctively know what was needed in the life of the people he met because he did not look away. He looked people in the eye, made a connection, and was always fully present.
Perhaps we need to learn the same lesson that Brendan shares with us. How would we view the world today if we look into the eyes of the people we meet and choose to be fully present? Think of the homeless person, the child, the person who waits on you at lunch…how might being fully present with them be a kind of invitation? Perhaps it will be your full presence that makes them feel more a part of the community in some way.
PRAYER: Lord God, help me to be fully present to those whom I meet today, that I might be an instrument of your Kingdom invitation. Amen.
