Wisdom 11:22 – 12:2 / Thess 1:11 – 2:2 / Luke 19:1-10
There is one thing that young children like to do, and that is to climb.
From the moment they start crawling around, they will also begin to look for things to climb.
So, when they see a flight of steps they will go and climb it. And it is not just steps. They will also climb things like chairs, low tables, sofas, beds and whatever catches their interest.
And they will also want to climb as high as they can, regardless of whether they can come down after that or not.
We may be amused by the climbing abilities of the young children, but it is not that funny anymore when they climb onto windows and even climb out of it.
But this instinct and ability to climb is not just during childhood. It continues into adulthood.
Adults also like to climb but it is not a flight of steps or chairs or tables or sofas anymore.
Adults like to climb ladders, but it is not the ladders that we are thinking of. Adults climb the career-ladder, the ambition-ladder, the status-ladder, the power-ladder, the wealth-ladder.
And with each rung of those kind of ladders, they step harder and deeper into selfishness, into greed, into desires, and into other things like pride and jealousy.
The climb is always up and higher, and as it is said, the higher you climb, the harder you fall.
In the gospel, we hear of the senior and wealthy tax collector Zacchaeus who heard of Jesus and was anxious to see what kind of man He was.
But Zacchaeus was short and he couldn't get through the crowd, so he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree.
Instinctively, he knew he needed the advantage and climbing up a sycamore tree would make him higher than the rest.
But when Jesus came along, He stopped and looked up and said to him: Zacchaeus, come down. Hurry, because I must stay at your house today.
Obviously, Zacchaeus would be surprised, but he obeyed and came down from the tree and welcomed Jesus joyfully.
To come down can be seen as an act of humility. To come down is to give up the advantage over others. To come down is to let go of wanting to be at the top and to be with the rest.
And Jesus said to Zacchaeus: Today, salvation has come to this house.
And Jesus also said that He came to seek out and save what was lost.
To be lost is like a kite that has been detached from the string. The kite will fly and even float higher with the wind, but eventually it will come crashing down.
The human instinct is to climb and to be higher, to be better and to be faster than the rest. But like a kite that is detached from the string, we will lose our grounding, and go along with the ways of the world.
Jesus calls out to us to come down, and to be grounded in His ways of truth, of life and of love.
Yes, Jesus calls out to us to seek us out, so that we won't be lost but will walk in the ways of salvation.
The 1st reading says this about God: Little by little, therefore, You correct those who offend, You admonish and remind them of how they have sinned, so that they may abstain from evil and trust in You.
We don't want to come crashing down from the ladders of our ways and the ways of the world.
Jesus will help us to come down slowly, little by little, and He holds us by the hand to help us along.
There is no need to keep climbing the ladders of self-achievement.
We just have to climb down to seek divine salvation and Jesus will be there to welcome us.