He sees you

Thirty First Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C

As I grow older and as my vision grows dimmer, more things seem to fall off my field of vision. I’ve learnt to excuse myself for this for the sake of preserving my sanity and assuring myself that this is part of the natural process of aging. It does seem frustrating, especially to others because my lack of cognisance may suggest that I really don’t care.

Many of us suspect God is like that too - that He doesn’t see us because we are just too insignificant, which is to say that He doesn’t care. But I think today’s readings tell us who God really is. He’s not a God who loves from afar. He’s a God who cares about the details of our lives. Nothing is too small to present to Him. Nothing escapes His attention, His care, and His love. God is never too busy, He is never too big and important, He is never too foggy for being more ancient than the universe, to miss out on anything. The author of the Book of Wisdom acknowledges this: “In your sight, Lord, the whole world is like a grain of dust that tips the scales, like a drop of morning dew falling on the ground. Yet you are merciful to all, because you can do all things and overlook men’s sins so that they can repent.”

In comparison to its creator, the entire universe is a mere “grain of dust” or “a drop of morning dew,” yet nothing happens without the Lord’s knowledge. The reason for God’s vigilance is not brought on by His intention to police us and catch us at our weakest moment but because He loves us. The author of Wisdom confidently professes this: “since if you had hated something you would not have made it.” And yet the God who misses nothing, overlooks nothing, forgets nothing, is willing to overlook our sins in His mercy, should we repent.

This is what we see in the gospel. We have the familiar story of Zacchaeus and his conversion. In this, the final turning point in Luke's Gospel, we discover exactly what Jesus' mission on earth is - to seek and to save the lost. And we see it demonstrated beautifully in the life of a very extreme candidate, a hated chief tax collector. On account of his occupation and his collaboration with the Roman imperial forces, he was “a sinner” in the people’s estimation. What made Zacchaeus’s conversion more incredible was that he was also rich, given our Lord’s warning about the rich and how it would be almost impossible for the wealthy to enter the Kingdom of heaven by their own effort.

Most people fail to recognise that the story of Zacchaeus has a parallel in the story of the blind man of Jericho, which precedes today’s passage. As with the blind man by the roadside, Zacchaeus is also disadvantaged by his physical short stature and therefore must first overcome this disability to get to see the Lord. Zacchaeus must suffer the humiliation of climbing a sycamore tree to catch a glimpse of the Lord above the towering heads of the crowd. In both instances, the crowds posed an obstacle by keeping them from getting to the Lord. But in this case, the crowds posed no obstacle for the Lord. He misses nothing and sees everything. For the Lord, no one is lost in the crowd, nor is anyone reduced to a mere statistic.

Just like how our Lord ordered the crowd to bring the blind man to see Him, in today’s episode, the Lord commands Zacchaeus in this fashion: “Zacchaeus, come down. Hurry, because I must stay at your house today.” For the first time in the gospel our Lord demands hospitality. Our Lord’s request for hospitality is matched by His description of Zacchaeus: “this too is a son of Abraham.” This description would make sense if we remember that Abraham was renowned for his warm hospitality, a hospitality that was extended even to divine visitors.

The interplay between Zacchaeus, Jesus, and the crowd revolved around one issue: the worth of the sinner. The crowd rejected the sinner. In fact, rejection would be an overstatement because one has to be consciously aware of something before you can choose to reject it. Zacchaeus’ fell below the crowds’ radar but it never disappeared from our Lord’s. No one, no matter how small, no matter how insignificant in the eyes of the world, would disappear from God’s radar. He sees everyone, He knows everyone and He personally loves everyone.

The crowds had no place for Zacchaeus in their society. He might as well be the Invisible Man. But the Lord saw beyond the reticence of the crowd and the bravado of the tax man. The shepherd was willing to leave the 99 in order to seek out the lost. He had come for the sick and the sinner, not the healthy or righteous. Zacchaeus had been denied hospitality by his own brethren. He had little value in the eyes of his fellowmen, but he was of great worth in the eyes of the Lord. The Lord seeks to include the excluded in His Kingdom.

Here is the irony of the Divine Comedy, an irony of cosmic proportions: Zacchaeus had gone up a tree seeking Jesus, but it was Jesus who came down from heaven to the level of sinners and the marginalised, to seek Zacchaeus. As Jesus declared at the very end of today’s passage, “for the Son of Man has come to seek out and save what was lost.”

Today, let us heed the call of St Augustine who tells us, “Climb the tree on which Jesus hung for you, and you will see Jesus.” Today, we are invited to ascend the ‘Tree’, not the sycamore tree that Zacchaeus climbed. The sycamore tree reminds us of the Tree of Life, once denied to Adam and Eve when they fell into sin; the very Tree which now awaits us in the gardens of Paradise. It is the Tree on which our Saviour hung, the Cross, once barren and wintry but now burgeoning with new life, announcing a new springtime of the Resurrection. Our Lord climbed this tree, to open to us the way to return to the Father. The cross invites us to look at Jesus who looks back at us with those loving but piercing eyes, who sees our beauty despite the ugliness of sin, and who now invites us to see all things in Him, with Him and through Him. He is the light of the world, and in His light, we see light.

Even if we can’t face ourselves because of the shame we feel for our brokenness and sinfulness, even if we feel that no one sees us because of our unworthiness, we can be certain of this truth - God sees us, He knows us and He loves us. We name Him as did Hagar, the maidservant of Sarah, wife of Abraham: “El Roi” - “the God who sees me.” Nothing escapes the vision of God, not even when we have descended into the very depths of the abyss.

When God’s eyes gaze upon you, He sees the unique and precious child He created. He is right beside you in every step you take. God knows you right down to the number of hairs on your head. When God sees you, He sees Jesus who died for your sin. He sees you in the hard places. He sees you in the dark places. We are never left alone! God is faithful and is waiting to welcome you home and will accompany you even during hard and dark times, even when you can’t see what’s down the road or around the next bend.