31st. Sunday Year C 2022

 

 

 Thirty-First Sunday (Year C)

(Wisdom 11:22 – 12:2;  2 Thessalonians 1:11 – 2:2;  Gospel of St. Luke 19:1-10)

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Dear People of God, some scholars (e.g. J.D.M. Derrett) tell us that according to the Law, Jews were not allowed to even handle money belonging -- if one can rightly use that word! -- to a publican, because it was considered to be money extorted by fraud or force, ultimately at the behest of the occupying power of Rome.   Since Zacchaeus (= ‘the Righteous’) was a chief tax(toll?)-gatherer, it was therefore presumed by his Jewish compatriots, that he himself used force and threats to exact money from sub-collectors under his control; and that those sub-collectors, in their turn, applied pressure on the poor – a fact well-known from common experience – to get the money required first of all by the Roman occupying authorities, plus what they had to pay ‘in commission’ to Zacchaeus and his ‘ilk’, and then, finally, to make whatever profit they might want or could get for themselves.  Wicked?  Yes, most wicked; but that is the way things were done in Palestine at the time of Our Lord’s public ministry, and that is why the tax-, toll-, MONEY collectors were hated in Israel.

Not only the strict and zealous observers of the Law of Moses, but also the great majority of  Israelites, in those days shared that attitude of strong hostility towards publicans: avoiding contact with them -- ostracizing them -- as best they could.  Hence Zacchaeus in today’s Gospel, being unable to get through the large and unaccommodating crowd standing along the roadside where Jesus would pass by, could not -- because of them and as a result of his own short stature -- see Him making His way through the town.  A tree, however, offered Zacchaeus a way out of his difficulty, although it would not be without the dilemma of having to clamber up it and risk exposing himself to the mockery of those observing his attempt to do so.

 Zacchaeus, though heartily despised as a publican ‘quisling’, was yet able to be in the vicinity of, even though not actually among, the crowd awaiting Jesus’ passing by.   It would appear that despite the fact of his being despised,  he was not in any direct personal danger; perhaps, because he was a chief  tax-collector who did not personally ‘grab’ the money demanded by the hated Roman occupying forces.   Soon he would be able to say to Jesus, ‘Lord, if I have extorted anything from anyone, I shall repay it four times over’; as a top official, that is, although he could not guarantee his subordinate’s behaviour, nevertheless, he himself had not practiced extortion so far as he could remember.  He would therefore seem to have been a man of some personal integrity and consequently allowed a greater measure of tolerance by his fellow citizens of Jericho.

Zacchaeus -- a Hebrew name -- was obviously at odds with the contemporary religious authorities in Israel since he had chosen to make his career as a prominent publican.  Nevertheless, he was not dead to the traditional faith of his people, because the reputation of Jesus was such that, news of His coming to Jericho -- even if only passing through on His way to Jerusalem -- was of great interest and possible importance to Zacchaeus: for, although Jesus proclaimed the faith of the fathers, nevertheless He was not part of the current Sadducee, Scribes and Pharisees, religious ‘set up’.  Indeed, Jesus was known to be coming with a call to repentance for all believers, religiously prominent or not, obedient to God’s Law and Israel’s covenant or not; a renewal which offered the possibility for those willing to accept His teaching to become part of, enter into, what He called the ‘Kingdom of God’.   Zacchaeus realized that -- at whatever cost – he had  to see such a man!

 To do that, however, he realized that he would have to throw away his dignity and dress -- his only title to some measure of respect in Jericho -- by scrambling up that dusty, dirty tree in order to catch a glimpse of Jesus walking along the road under his somewhat perilous perch!  

Remember St. Paul’s words:

I consider everything as a loss because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have accepted the loss of all things and I consider them so much rubbish, that I may gain Christ.  (Philippians 3:8)

 

In Zacchaeus’ case those words could be, ‘I consider myself, my dignity and my bearing, as so much rubbish, that I may catch a glimpse of this Jesus of Whom I hear so much.’

Therefore, as Jesus was walking silently along the street, He recognized His Father’s grace at work in a man awkwardly straddled up a tree a few yards ahead of Him.   Looking up quite deliberately at the man, and taking calm and loving notice of him, Jesus changed His mind about passing straight through the town, and called out:

             Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house.

 Zacchaeus having thus – eventually -- not only caught sight of Jesus, but even, and most amazingly of all, caught His attention, had now been publicly called to receive Him as a guest in his own house!

 However, Zacchaeus was, all of a sudden, deeply troubled at that call: for this Jesus was – Zacchaeus knew it immediately – a truly holy and mysteriously powerful man; and Zacchaeus also knew -- now most surely -- that he himself was not holy.  Oh! how honoured he felt himself to be by Jesus’ wish to stay at his house; but he did not want this wonderful Man to be ill-spoken of because of himself: he did not want Jesus to be tarred with his own, Zacchaeus’, brush! 

Therefore, as a surprisingly humble and sensitive person as well as a truly intelligent man, Zacchaeus resolved to protect Jesus by speaking out -- making full and accurate use of his own intimate knowledge of both Jewish Law and Roman practices – in such a way that Jesus’ coming into the house of a publican might not cause any disrespect for His Person or bring about any diminution of His reputation in Israel.

 And so there followed a wonderfully delicate display of mutual respect, awareness, and appreciation, which served to bring about the healing embrace of two apparently diametrically opposed people and attitudes that day:

             Zacchaeus received with joy, Him -- of Whom it was said -- ‘He has gone to stay             at the house of a sinner.’

Jesus, recognizing Zacchaeus as one sent to Him by His Father, patiently followed the publican whose heart was open to Him, though his house was as yet still closed; and Zacchaeus, for his part, even before Jesus could enter his house:

 

Stood there and said to the Lord, ‘Behold, 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.’

  

Those words were loudly spoken, not because Zacchaeus was boasting before the Lord or whoever of the crowd might have followed them, but because he wanted it clearly understand by all, that Jesus would not be incurring any legal fault whatsoever by entering his house.   Jesus, likewise, wanted to use this His-Father-sent-opportunity to help all around, and indeed the whole people of Israel, understand the true nature of His salvific coming by addressing words of divine wisdom, goodness, and clarity to them:

Today, salvation has come to this house, because this man too is a descendant of Abraham.  For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost.

 

Love and respect (remember St. Paul speaking of the relationship between Jesus and the Church, between husband and wife?), love and respect had met!  Divine Love and deep human respect (comprising sincere humility and reverential awe) had overcome any and all division.  Jesus could – even according to the Law – accept Zacchaeus' joyful hospitality and give His own gifts to His host in return.

 And how did this most beautiful scenario of divine compassion and deep human joy, of most sensitively accommodating holiness and humble self-surrender, arise?  Because Jesus, passing through Jericho, had suddenly become aware of His Father drawing His attention to one being sent to Him: one making something of a fool of himself at that very moment, being well dressed and yet perched most uncomfortably up a tree, and suffering the mockery and probably coarse jibes of the unfriendly crowd beneath.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ there is much said about Zacchaeus among scholars who are not sure who he was!!  For us, however, he is undoubtedly a source of inspiration in our relations with Jesus, and perhaps he now actually rejoices in himself being one being so greatly privileged as to bring to our notice something of the hidden beauty of Jesus our Lord and Saviour.   Let us now, therefore, allow Zacchaeus – for love of Jesus – to help us in our service of and love for the Lord, for the lessons he can teach us are of supreme importance.

Having shown total disregard for his own personal standing,  and having made himself to look like a ‘nutter up a tree’ in order to catch just a glimpse of Jesus, does Zacchaeus not shame many Catholics who cling so tenaciously to their own self-love and obsessive solicitude for their own reputation in the eyes of others, fears perhaps greatly harming their own peace before God or even leading them to hide behind silence when the words of Jesus and the teaching of Mother Church are subject to opposition or ridicule?  Surely, Zacchaeus’ great, indeed overriding, concern for the good name of Jesus confounds the half-hearted devotion and spineless commitment of many soft-centered Catholics today.

Oh, dear People of God, you have ‘seen’ Zacchaeus yielding himself totally to the heavenly beauty of Jesus among men, and the wonder of Jesus’ own treasuring of His Father’s gift by so patiently understanding and sympathetically encouraging Zacchaeus.  Remember, all who are true disciples of Jesus are likewise gifts to Him from the Father, gifts being treasured now -- if we allow Him -- and to be treasured by Him throughout our lives for the Father.

I can do no better now than to close this address and leave you with your own memories of a most beautiful Gospel episode, and the grace of God it enshrines for all who love and will learn from it.