Whether we like to admit it or not, most of us find change quite difficult, especially as we get older. We feel comfortable in what is familiar and form lifetime habits and ways of thinking. This thinking includes our views of other people. This week’s Gospel story about a tax collector named Zacchaeus, however, shows that change is possible.

The usual interpretation of the story is that Zac is a despised individual who has grown very wealthy at the expense of the poor. The crowds label him a ‘sinner’ and grumble when Jesus goes to share a meal with him. The good news is that Zac has a change of heart after meeting Jesus and commits himself to give away half his money to the poor in the future. A lost person has been found and their life transformed by an encounter with Jesus. Zac changes for the better.

There is an alternative reading of the story, however, that turns on a point of grammar. The verbs that describe Zac giving money to the poor and repaying anyone he has defrauded are both present tense, which suggests actions and attitudes that Zac is already doing. So who needs to change? In this reading of the story, it is Zac’s neighbours who need to change their thinking towards him. Rather than seeing Zac as a despicable tax collector working for the Romans, Jesus encourages them to see Zac as he really is – a son of Abraham who is acceptable to God.

I wonder what prejudices we hold of certain types of people that might need to change – whether towards indigenous people, the LGBTQI community, other drivers on the road or even towards other Christians. The story of Zacchaeus shows us that we all have prejudices and blind spots but that we can change our thinking and our attitudes towards people.