And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up, and saw him, and said unto him,
Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for today I must abide at your house.
All Commentaries on Luke 19:5 Go To Luke 19
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
And when Jesus came to the place. Christ compensates the zeal of Zacchæus to see Him by His full Exhibition and Presence. Christ inspired Zacchæus with this ardour that He might perfect him by entering his house. Christ indeed went thither that He might arouse this feeling, and by it be received by Zacchæus as his guest, and bring blessing and salvation to his whole house. For, although the Saviour of the world, He came to sanctify sinners. "Jesus had not heard the voice of Zacchæus inviting him," said S. Ambrose, "but He had seen his feeling."
Christ therefore not only offered Himself to be seen by Zacchus, who wished to see Him, but He also gave Himself to be possessed by him, and therefore chose to remain in his house, rather than in the house of any one else.
Moraliter. Let us learn to desire Christ and His inner conversation and grace, for Christ will soon offer Himself to us, and fulfil our desire, and as much as is that desire will be His conversation; for Wisdom of Solomon , that is Christ, will meet him who fears and longs for God. "As a mother shall she meet him, with the bread of understanding shall she feed him, and give him the water of wisdom to drink." Sirach 15:2-3. And Sirach 24:19-20, "Come unto me, all ye that be desirous of me, and fill yourselves with my fruits. For my memorial is sweeter than honey," and John 7:37-38.
Zacchus, then, saw Christ with the eyes and sight of his body, and still more with those of his mind, by which Christ enlightened his soul to discern that he was the Saviour who would forgive the sins of those who repent, and give them salvation, that Isaiah , righteousness, grace, and glory. The countenance of Jesus therefore is not fruitless, and of no effect, but efficacious and operative. For by this alone He attracts men to His love, changes them, and brings them to salvation. Hence, says S. Cyril, "Jesus saw the mind of Zacchus striving very earnestly after a holy life."
For to-day I must abide at thy house. "Zacchus," says Titus , wished only for the sight of Jesus, but He who knows how to do more than we ask, gave him what was beyond his expectation; for Christ of His great bounty exceeds the prayers and powers of the petitioners." "Christ promised," says S. Chrysostom in his homily on Zacchus, "that He would come to his house, whose soul and its desires He already possessed."
