16 October 2021 LUKE 19:1-10
Tuesday of the 33rd Week in Ordinary Time
SPIRITUAL DISTINCTIVENESS
So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way (Luke 19:4).
This is a manifestation of the spiritual trait of distinctiveness. This trait can be simply understood as a will to stand out or to go against the prevailing opinion of the day. It is a spiritual trait that leads to the discovery of God and self (personal conversion) as manifested in Zacchaeus. He did it amidst possible high social pressure of being physically a dwarf, politically a traitor (because he collected tax for Romans, their enemies), religiously a sinner (illegal amassing of wealth) and socially an outcast. With all these negative labels what was possible to be expected from him was to hide himself from the crowd. Apart from that being the richest in Jericho it was possible to think, ‘how can he, being the richest, climb a tree as a child? Zacchaeus never thinks about what people would think of him or how people would look at him. He only thought how God would look at him and what God would think of him. This is the trait of spiritual distinctiveness.
People with the spiritual trait of distinctiveness discover God. A mystic is the one who (1) discovers God and (2) discovers oneself (Zacchaeus discovers the sinner in him). We are all religious people because we believe in God and have different religious practices. We are all religious people, but it does not mean that we are mystics! Amen.