They grumbled
Zacchaeus is a sinner, a thief, a crook, a money lender, but he uses his eyes to see Jesus, he uses his ears to listen to the Lord's Word and inspirations, he uses his mouth to consecrate into Jesus's hands his metànoia, the change of his inner dialogue, first devoted to robbery, now to giving and sharing. On the contrary, people, described in the Gospel by the term all, has eyes, but actually only for an inquisitorial and judging sight, has ears indeed, but only to listen to criticism and gossip, has mouth, but only to murmur, grumble and denigrate. People has eyes, ears and mouth but nothing else. If, by chance, people were provided with something else, even at cerebral level, in any case it has been trained not to use it for any reason.
Zacchaeus climbs the sycamore, reaches a higher place, high enough to spiritually elevate himself to the highest peaks, to meet the Master on time. Zacchaeus pulls himself out from that mortal all, from the blind, deaf, murmuring mob and he uses all of himself to meet his Lord who saves him, restores him from within, re-centers the axis of his life. Zacchaeus climbs the sycamore and saves himself from the flood of stupidity and arrogance that is judging the Son of God, His choices, His actions. Zacchaeus is a thief, a dishonest but, in an instant, his intelligence meets his spirituality and it joins his desire to meet the One who saves. On the contrary, people grumbles about Jesus, about Zacchaeus, about God, about man. By continuously grumbling, people will fill their mouth, ears and eyes of the mud that has been coming out from themselves with such gratitude and pride for long, and they will drown without even any possibility of crying and asking for help.