Imagine for a moment the crowds gathering because they had heard that Jesus was coming; the air of anticipation and the pushing and shoving. Everybody there wanting to see or meet Jesus for lots of different reasons. In the middle of all this mayhem the small tax collector who I imagine would be play by Danny De Vito in the film version of the story trying to make his way through.

But hang on a minute. Zacchaeus was one of the chief tax collectors. He was a loan shark that the Roman authorities had sanctioned and he would have been feared as well as hated by the majority of the people who had gathered there to see Jesus. Why was he there in the first place? More to the point why did he bother climbing a tree? He would have no problem getting to the front because surely he would have had bouncers who would have cleared the way for him?

Unless something was happening to him, unless something was changing inside him. I think that Zacchaeus was undergoing a change of heart and was seeking out Christ at the deepest possible level. He was looking for Christ and Jesus knew this and accepted the invitation from his heart. The people around didn't see any of this. They just saw the old Zacchaeus but Jesus saw the new Zacchaeus and he saw potential in him.

Jesus will respond in exactly the same way with each one of us when we are prepared to leave our old ways behind and search for him. If we invite him into our lives then he will accept the invitation and transform us. The more we allow this to happen in our own lives the more we will notice that the trees are full of people like Zacchaeus waiting to be invited back into our community. Who do you know who is like Zacchaeus today? Who can you introduce to Christ and make welcome in our church? Hospitality is key to our faith. The more we welcome others the more we welcome Christ and the more we welcome Christ the more we welcome others. In this way we will allow our own lives to be continually transformed and discover ever more deeply who God is calling us to be.