By Fr Francis Gonsalves, SJ –
31st Sunday of the Year – Cycle C – November 3, 2019
Readings: Wis 11:22 – 12:2; 2 Thess 1:11 – 2:2; Lk 19:1-10
“Hurry, because I must stay at your house today” (Lk)
Three Scriptural Signposts
- The author of the Book of Wisdom—a learned Jew from the diaspora who provides insights and instructions to his people some 30 years before the birth of Christ—compares the littleness of the whole earth and all its creatures with the incredible immensity of God who has created everything and everyone out of deep, divine love. Indeed, the whole cosmos is simply like “a speck of dust” and “a drop of morning dew”—totally tiny and underserving of any consideration at all.
Nonetheless, the Omnipotent, Omnipresent and Omniscient God is concerned about created realities, especially of human beings created in the image and likeness of God. The reading expresses the loving kindness and unlimited compassion of God beautifully: “Yes, you God are merciful to all and overlook people’s sins so that they may repent … you love all things that exist…. You spare all things because all things are yours, Lord, lover of life.” God’s love is manifest in creation, in preservation and in forgiveness of sins. The “immortal spirit” (12:2) is the breath of life given to all creatures as God’s gift, which keeps everyone active and everything functioning in a proper way.
- God’s loving kindness, mercy and compassion—which could seem a little abstract in the first reading—are given a face, a name and a voice in the gospel reading that tells the story of Jesus’ encounter with a tax collector from Jericho: Zacchaeus. Now, Jericho was a big city and there was a lot of money floating around. Being Jericho’s “chief tax collector” and “a rich man” (v.2) would make Zacchaeus the ‘biggest cheat among cheats’, so to say. Jews hated him and his ilk all the more since the money that tax collectors collected and hoarded was not really theirs. Truly, everyone in the Palestine of Jesus’ times knew that tax collectors sucked taxes in excess of what the Roman authorities demanded. And all excess money was pocketed as profit. In sum, Zacchaeus was a cheat and a robber who no sane Jew would befriend, leave alone visit his house to share a meal, which would mean giving legitimacy to his cheating and corruption. But Jesus is very different. The scene needs to be re-created in its minute details.
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Zacchaeus—whose name ironically means ‘pure’—was reportedly short in stature. Was he cut down to size by what people thought of him? In any case, he certainly didn’t fit in with that crowd. It wasn’t his ‘circle’. The people would’ve gladly pushed him out for he belonged to the margins inhabited by the pagans, the defiled and sinful tax collectors. What made Zacchaeus seek Jesus? Was he simply curious or did he expect something miraculous to happen? No one knows.
Interestingly, while all supposedly pious people look down at Zacchaeus, Jesus looks up to him! “Come down!” cries Jesus and invites himself to stay and dine at Zacchaeus’s house. Zacchaeus welcomes Jesus joyfully and we can be sure that Jesus was even more joyful at the conversion of Zacchaeus since he had said, “There will be great rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents!” (Lk 15:7).
By entering Zacchaeus’ house, Jesus dramatizes the coming of divine salvation: “Today, salvation has come to this house!” The ‘house’ refers not only to Zacchaeus but also to his whole family since in the Jewish understanding of that time, the conversion of the head of a family implied the conversion of all its members too. What is remarkable is that the measure of restoration far exceeds that which is stipulated by Law (see Lev 6:1-7) and this shows how deeply repentant Zacchaeus is, and how radical his conversion is. The passage ends with a punchline: “The Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.” Indeed, it was not only Zacchaeus who was seeking Jesus but rather Jesus who was seeking Zacchaeus to sup with him, and to save him. Jesus is the seeker guest bringing saving grace.
Linking the Psalm and Second Reading to the Theme
The second reading is from Paul’s 2nd letter to his newly baptized converts in the flourishing church in Thessalonica, capital of Macedonia. He first exhorts his flock to thank God for their call, which is fruit of God’s grace. Second, he cautions them about irresponsible rumours and speculations about Christ’s second coming. They ought not to indulge in such futile talk, but cultivate their faith in Christ. In echoing the theme of mercy and compassion, the responsorial psalm (145) proclaims, “How good is the Lord to all, compassionate to all his creatures!”
A Text from Tradition
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI [Homily on November 4, 2007]: “What a message in this simple phrase! ‘Zacchaeus’: Jesus calls by name a man who is despised by all. ‘Today’: Yes, his moment of salvation is now. ‘I must stay’: Why ‘must’? Because the Father, who is rich in mercy, wants Jesus to go and ‘seek out and save what was lost’ (Lk 19:10). The grace of that unforeseeable moment was such that it completely changed Zacchaeus’ life: ‘Behold,’ he confesses to Jesus, ‘half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone I shall repay it four times over’ (19:8). Once more the Gospel tells us that love, flowing from the heart of God and working through the heart of man, is the force that renews the world.”
Reflection on Jesus, the seeker-guest Jesus says, “Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me” (Rev 3:20). Jesus comes in many ways: (a) as word in the Bible, (b) as bread in the Eucharist, (c) as neighbour in the ‘least’ of society. He comes whenever we invite him, but, often, uninvited. However, he forces himself upon no one. One can either open the door joyfully or show him the door angrily. The choice is ours. Zacchaeus gained a few inches in stature and lost a load of guilt when he opened his door and laid the table for his uninvited, seeker-guest. Will you?
In Lighter Vein
An atheistic artist was skeptical about the forgiveness of sins. On consulting a holy priest about the need for forgiveness, he was asked, “When your paintings get old and soiled, do you destroy them?” The artist laughed and said, “Certainly not! I touch them up once again until they look like new.” The priest then said, “Friend, that is how it is with God who touches us and transforms us.” Jesus touched Zacchaeus, transformed him. Jesus loved him and forgave him all his sins.
Fr. Francis Gonsalves is a Gujarat Jesuit, former Principal of Vidyajyoti College, Delhi, and currently Dean of Theology at Jnana-Deepa Vidyapeeth, Pune. He is also the Executive Secretary of the CCBI Commission for Theology and Doctrine. He has authored many books and articles and is a columnist with The Asian Age and The Deccan Chronicle national dailies.