It has been said there is so much good in the worst of us and so much bad in the best of us that it is hard to tell who can reform the rest of us.

Human nature is so fickle; it can turn any which way; it can break bad or it can break good. This is the theological problem of original sin: the downward pull of our nature towards selfishness and evil. But, it need not be that way for there is hope.

There is hope in the story of Zacchaeus  in Luke 19 : 1 – 10 who shows the change that can happen when Jesus touches the human heart.

Zacchaeus was a notorious sinner who worked as a tax collector for the brutal, Roman rulers of the Jewish people.  He was shunned with good reason by his own people, and when Jesus invited Himself into the home of this outcast, the Jews were in shock. (Luke 19 : 7 ). Jesus answered their objections, saying that He “has come to seek and to save what was lost.” ( Luke 19 : 10 ).

The little man who feared to approach Jesus in person in Jericho, and climbed up a tree to catch a glimpse of Jesus as He walked by is a symbol of hope. In Jesus, Zacchaeus found the one who can reform, not only himself, but the rest of us.

Zacchaeus became a new man. He said he would give half his possessions to the poor, and if he extorted anything from anyone he would repay it four times over. ( Luke 19: 8 ).

Jesus offers the same hope to all of us by giving us a new commandment to love one another as He has loved us, and He spells out what He means by this in the parable of the last judgement in the gospel of Matthew, chapter 25. He wants us to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, welcome the stranger, visit the sick, and bury the dead. This is what He means by loving one another. Zacchaeus indeed rose to this task. He could put his past life behind him and lead a new life. He abandoned the love of money and embraced the love of others instead.

Fr. Hugh Duffy