Reflection
Lost and found. It’s a familiar signage in many public places like malls, offices and even in churches. It’s not uncommon that people will come to the parish office looking for an umbrella that was left behind, a bag or wallet that was forgotten or even asking for directions on how get a Jeepney ride to a particular college or building in the university campus or get out of it. Sadder are announcements on the public address system of a mall saying about a lost child wearing a particular kind of dress. You could just imagine how frantic the parents or companions of that lost child is. And you can equally imagine the relief and joy they have once reunited with their lost child. But more so is the relief and joy from the lost child!
Jesus is an expert on lost and found. How many Gospel stories did he narrate in his parables about it? So many. Remember the story of the Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin? How about the Prodigal Son? We realize that Jesus is in the business of finding what was lost. The Gospel today is another case about lost and found. It is about a man named Zaccheus. He is the chief tax collector and therefore a rich man. That is also why he is considered lost. He was rejected by his own people for enriching himself through the Roman occupation and collecting taxes for the enemy, keeping an ample amount for himself. He hid behind his riches. But he was a lost soul. One day he heard a crowd coming. He inquired what the commotion was all about and was told Jesus, the messiah, was passing by. Initially, he was just curious about Jesus. He ran ahead, but being small in height, he climbed a tree to get a glimpse of the great man. But then Jesus stopped under the tree and called him. The Good Shepherd found the lost sheep. Zacchaeus came down from the tree and pledged himself to God. “Half of my belonging I give to the poor. If I have extorted anything from anyone, I’ll pay him back four fold.” With that declaration, the lost, little man was on the road not only of recovery but restoration and repentance. Jesus responds to his declaration of conversion and tells him, “Today, salvation has come to this house!” Zacchaeus was no longer lost. Jesus found him, and he responded. He now found himself in Jesus Christ.
A spiritual writer gives the following insight: “Perhaps some of us have had times that we have really been lost. We go to Church every week, and that is a very good thing.
But sometimes we are just going through the motions. We stand and sit and kneel and sing. The hardest times for us are often the quiet times. That is often a sure sign that something is very wrong. It is hard to hide non Christian behavior when it is only we and the Lord. Those are the times when our consciences are telling us: I’m lost. Maybe, I shouldn’t even be here.”
Response
We all come to Church to attend mass, pray and find peace. Some more regularly, others intermittently. When we do, we have taken the first step to see who Jesus is. Entering the Church is like climbing the sycamore tree Zaccheus did to get a glimpse of Jesus. And we look, not only down but inside us, we find Jesus saying, “_________ (put your name in the blank space), come down from there. I want to stay in your house and in your heart from now on.” What is our response? Do we want Him in our house and in our heart? It is going to cost us. We will have to let go of that which has no place in our house, in our lives. We don’t need an IQ of 120 to make the right decision. Nothing can compare the tremendous joy of having Jesus in our lives. Remember, Jesus himself was once lost to Mary and Joseph but was found in his father’s house.
