Jesus want to enter into deep friendship with you.
If you grew up in Sunday School, you remember the story of Jesus calling a runt of a man named Zacchaeus down from a tree with the news, "Zacchaeus, I want to have dinner in your house today." In the Jewish tradition, to say, "I want to have dinner with you" means "I want to enter into friendship with you." Even today an Orthodox Jew will not invite you to his home to dinner, unless he wants to enter into friendship or deepen an already existing friendship. It's a very sacred encounter. (That's good to recall, by the way, every time you receive communion. Jesus Christ is the Host and when He invites you to come to His table, He is declaring, "I want to enter into a deeper friendship with you.")
Zacchaeus, as you also might remember, was a greedy, disrespected lowlife. He collected taxes for Rome from his own people and kept a kickback for himself. By his enthusiastic response to Jesus, we can guess he didn't get invited to "deeper friendship" very often! When Peter wrings his hands over Jesus' unfortunate social choice, Jesus reminds him - and us too - of His mission. He says, "I did not come to call the just. I came to call sinners" (see Luke 19:10).
The gospel is not for the good guys with the white hats. It's for poor, weak, sinful men and women with hereditary faoults and limited talents - people like you, people like me. And on Judgement Day, our lives will be measured soleley in terms of our personal relationship with the risen Jesus. The Lord is going to ask each of us a question that will encompass all other questions: "Did you believe that I loved you? That I desired you? That I watied for you day after day?"
Reading: Luke 19:1-10
May you alone enlighten me, You alone speak to me.
May all that I know apart from You be nothing more
than a change traveling companion
on the journey toward You. ~ Karl Rahner
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