Out of the 52 Sundays of the year, 34 are Sundays in Ordinary Time. When we reach these '34' weeks, we know that the Church's year is drawing to a close. During these final weeks, the Church focuses on what are called 'the Last Things': that is, those realities that we associate with the end of the world.

All that God has created is good. The first reading says that God loves all his creatures; otherwise he would not have made them. How then can we hate anything? The gospel brings before us a man who, according to the thinking of the time, was evil and despised.

How Jesus saw Zacchaeus teaches us how we should see people. The gospel gives us the image of a God as a Father who sent his Son 'to seek out what was lost'. What went on in Thessalonica can happen in our communities. False preachers may try to spread another gospel, a gospel of their own invention, a gospel encouraging fear of God. The words of St. Paul in the second reading put us on our guard against them.

God loves all his creation. Even when someone misbehaves, God still loves the person and sees the good in him/her. Is this the way we see and act? His fellow Jews hated and despised Zacchaeus because he was a tax collector. All they could see in him was a thief, an exploiter, a hopeless liar! Their eyes were blinded to his good side. But Jesus was different. He looked at Zacchaeus with eyes of love and compassion. He saw the good in him, and was delighted to dine with him. Seeing Jesus' love for him in spite of his misdeeds, he felt empowered to change. If we want people to change, we must begin by seeing the good in them and loving them, conscious that despising them is no avail.

This gospel is more eloquent about the mercy of God than about the conversion of a sinner, a mercy so wonderfully described by our Lord in his parables (Lk.15:1-32). Zacchaeus is a son of Abraham (v. 9), but one who seemingly was not living up to what the covenant entailed (v. 2, 7). Jesus has come to save even those who have gone astray (Ezek. 34:1): "I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the crippled and I will strengthen the weak". Therefore, when Zaccheaus' curiosity leads him to climb up the tree, Jesus responds by calling him by name and inviting himself to Zaccheaus' house (v.5). The outcome of this meeting with Jesus is joy (v. 6) and salvation (v.9-10).

The simplicity of this story helps us, though, to relate to it. We can be impressed or even awed by dramatic stories about the end times, but it's hard once we return to the ordinary grind of daily life to convince ourselves that those stories have anything to do with us. But the story about Zacchaeus is easier for us to relate to because it's so humble.

Jesus offers Zacchaeus hope. Zacchaeus knew that he was coming up short in life, but he didn't know if Jesus would offer him what he was lacking. But in the last sentence of today's Gospel passage, Jesus does. Jesus proclaims, 'The Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost.'

The heart of the human person was lost. In Zacchaeus' case, he admits honestly that the way that he has been leading his life has been sinful. Can you and I have the honesty and humility of Zacchaeus? This demands a two-part admission. (a) Admitting that apart from God, our souls are lost. (b) Admitting that Jesus has come here for us, 'to seek and to save what was lost.'

All of this can help us as we renew our commitment to parish stewardship. It would be good for us to consider ourselves as Zacchaeus: to consider the many ways in which we, also, are 'small' in the Lord's sight, but not overlooked. By the sharing of our gifts, we share in Jesus' work of seeking and saving what was lost.

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