In this week’s Gospel reading, we hear the story of Zacchaeus, the man who climbed a sycamore tree to behold Christ. Fr. Micah presents the question, “Do we see God?”
Just as Zacchaeus was small of stature, causing him to have to climb a tree to see Christ, we too are small. We are sinful and must also climb trees to see the Lord, giving up our comfort and ease in the process. If it’s easy, Fr. Micah says, we’re missing something.
To demonstrate this, he gives examples from the Old Testament. Abraham climbed the tree of hospitality, King David climbed the tree of repentance and humility, Elijah climbed the tree of silence and stillness, and King Josiah climbed the tree of struggling to obey God’s commandments. We, too, have many different trees that we can climb to behold God—to see his providence in our life, see his mercy in our hearts, and see him in the face of our neighbor.