Luke Chapter 19 Zacchaeus
1 Jesus entered Jericho and crossed the city . 2 Then a man named Zacchaeus who was chief of publicans and was rich 3 trying to see who Jesus was, but he could not do because of the crowd, because it was small. 4 He ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he had to go through it. 5 When Jesus came to this place, he looked up and said, Zacchaeus, hurry down, for I must abide at thy house. 6 Zacchaeus hurried down and received him with joy. 7 saw this, they all murmured, saying, he went to lodge with a sinful man. 8 But Zacchaeus stood before the Lord, "Behold, Lord, I give to the poor half of my possessions, and if I did something wrong to somebody, I restore him fourfold. 9 Jesus said: Today salvation has come to this house, because it also is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.
The man is a secret which has been difficult to unravel the mysteries of the soul. He is not sure himself know the causes of his behavior. There is no need to dwell at length on all this, we know very well that we are inhabited by motivations that we do not know the origin! The specialists in this area continue to tirelessly seek causes.
It is likely that our relationship with God plays a role in what motivates our behavior. Biblical history shows us that the same man may seek God while hiding from him. This seems to show us the story of Adam and Eve hiding from God in the garden of the Scriptures while remaining within reach of his voice, as if they wanted anyway God is anyway. This is not unique, it is a lesson that we do very often without awareness.
We find the attitude of Zacchaeus this secret and mysterious aspect of human behavior. We begin to wonder about the reason which prompts him to run in front of the crowd to climb a tree. He runs probably not be seen by those that precede it. He wants to see Jesus without being seen. See the term is used by two time it said the strength of his desire. Unconsciously he plays a game of hide and seek with Jesus. The crowd also takes its share.
It 
will not be Given the crowd, so he ran ahead to climb the tree to being seen by anyone. Had he been seen by someone, the text would not have failed to say because the scene brings us to imagine little man clambering on branches low tree has some funny thing we could not pass up. Just leave the fields open our mind to imagine this little man who should not be very young and because of its function may be a significant overweight. We see him trying to cling to the branches sycamore whose particularity is to have branches close to the ground, embarrassed by his tunic in which he takes the feet while losing his slippers. No, he was well aware of the comic aspect of his situation, so it would not be seen.
But if he is astride the lower branches of the tree, everyone can see, and Jesus in particular. This is the rule of the game of hide and seek: hide to be seen. It lurks in the other, knowing that we will finally seen, otherwise the game would not of interest.
He will not be seen by the crowd, because it's tax collector, tax collector. He was disliked by his fellow citizens who considered him a traitor who had grown rich making a pact with the enemy. The publicans were Jews who bought their support to the Romans. They advanced their the amount they needed for their administration, it was a very large sum. Then they were repaid by levying on the amount of their fellow citizens what they had advanced to the occupier. Of course, they did pay much more than they had at their disposal. It is stated here, he was the chief tax collector. It said it was particularly rich and was particularly ill considered. This partly explains why he wanted to hide from the crowd.
If it was not mounted in their tree, it would have been hard to see Jesus because the crowd was too thick for him to approach her and more, it was small, we are told. But in my opinion is a false argument, as it is true that one often calls the false to hide the truth. If he knew the crowd around for mounting discreetly in the sycamore tree, he could easily bypass the to get close to Jesus in referring to his personality as significant. Nothing prevented to approach Jesus, upset those who would have crossed the road and fell at his feet, kiss the hem of her dress, and tell him he is a miserable fisherman and he repents of the evil he did.
But this was not his intention, that is what we see in what he later traded with Jesus. His intention was to see Jesus without being seen by him. In any case what he wanted to do, hiding in the branches. As for the argument to its small size, it is mentioned that to better hide the truth, as was the case for Adam who used to be seen naked by God and suddenly took this pretext to hide from him.
We are often the opposite of God. Our soul is shared between the desire that drives us towards him, and fear losing our freedom if we approach too near him, as if God could put at risk our freedom! We would like to live in friendship with God, while being free to say otherwise. That's the mystery in which we move too often. Is there not within us reverent fear of God that would establish distance between himself and us as was the case with Adam, who did not know that his act of disobedience would set him free before God, so that until he was insane? As we approached even closer to God is not about the freedom that we are going and not to a disposition? 
What produces this fear of God? I do not know! Protestant theology of grace removes a bit too fast this sentiment by saying a little too quickly that God forgives all and deliver us from everything. In saying this we ignore this fear, we fail to make and really puts us ill at ease when the closeness of God is too strong. Yet this fear is real.
Zacchaeus had found the right solution! He knew he would be spotted by Jesus. He secretly wished no doubt, but his high position in the tree allowed him to keep distance. But Jesus is not encumbered by these arguments. It goes beyond the secret wish of Zacchaeus. No way to hide, Jesus shows up at him.
Zacchaeus can then stand in truth before Jesus! More fear, more concealment. Zacchaeus is not a confession of his sins as one would expect. Was it necessary? Before Jesus, Zacchaeus discovered as he is: a kind and generous man, and this alone one as to another. Despite the views of men who make a man unclean and an enemy of mankind, before Jesus, Zacchaeus appears as a being very different. It deserves its name, which means curiously "fair." It becomes pure. It does not matter that the synagogue and his people have it rejected. He assumed as it is before Jesus and Jesus did contr 
Is not no way to change anything.
He wanted to see Jesus without wanting to meet him. He was afraid that asking him to change, to abandon everything to follow him as he told the rich young man some time to screen. But his life had changed, because his concern for others had become a priority in his behavior. This is the priority it gives to the other which is exemplary, so that his wealth is no handicap to a happy relationship and intimacy with God.
Like Zacchaeus, many people are sensitive to God's call, but do not want to be noticed. They are afraid they are forcing changes in their behavior, they did not want to join a church where they do not want to share social choices. In fact this is not of God they are afraid, but the image that men give.
This simple remark plunges us into deep reflection as it leads us to conclude that if Jesus promised salvation to Zacchaeus and called him a son of Abraham, he did not invite or follow to join the synagogue itself frequent. All that Jesus does not remain home and share his daily . For this to occur, it 
Zacchaeus must descend to Jesus of top of the tree where he hides. Zacchaeus receives no special requirement on the part of Jesus. Zacchaeus is warned enough in faith to know what to do without being told. Thus we have to be before God: men and women responsible enough to understand that without us telling them what is the meaning of our lives to move forward.
Prayer:
When shadows stretched towards evening
while the heat of summer gives way the cool autumn comes, everything seems to shrink around us, and nature is preparing for a long sleep.
We praise you, so for the beauty of the evening, when everything
folds into a green light,
and the campaign wrapped in a cloak of changing colors.
In this apparent decline of the forces of life, we praise you to participate in this great movement when nature sleeps, and where all life is interior.
You invited us to welcome you into our privacy. You deposit at depths of our life forces that nurture our faith and you make us vibrate our inner secrets of eternity where you lead us.
What this whole worship is our response to so many enthusiastic kindness.
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