31st. Sunday Year (C)
(Wisdom 11:22 –
12:2; 2 Thessalonians 1:11 – 2:2; Luke 19:1-10)
St. Luke has been picking out for us incidents from Jesus'
journey towards Jerusalem where He was to be crucified. He has told us of the ten lepers cleansed by
Jesus; of the Pharisee and the Publican, praying side by side (!) in the
Temple; of the Rich Young Man who wanted to be perfect; and now he tells us of
Zacchaeus endeavouring to catch a glimpse of Jesus passing through Jericho.
Notice that there is something unexpected, from the Jewish
point of view, in all of these accounts: first of all, of the ten lepers healed
only one -- a Samaritan -- returned to Jesus giving thanks to God; the prayer
of the despised publican in the Temple was more acceptable to God than that of the
publicly esteemed and respected Pharisee.
St. Luke obviously wants to
insist that no one is so far fallen that Jesus cannot raise them: why, he even
ends his gospel on the same note, being the only evangelist to tell us of the
good thief who, having asked Jesus on the Cross to remember him in His Kingdom,
received that unique promise:
Today you will be with Me in
Paradise.
No one is too far gone, no one is excluded; and so no one
should give up or despair. On the other
hand, absolutely no one can presume anything.
The nine Jewish lepers, the Pharisee praying in the Temple, the Rich
Young Ruler whom Jesus loved, all of these compared badly with others who might
have been considered non-starters: a hated Samaritan who was truly grateful and
responsive to God in Jesus; a despised publican who could pray more humbly than
a publicly respected Pharisee; and now Zacchaeus, gladly doing what the rich
young man -- who thought he had been seeking eternal life from his youth -- sorrowfully
could not do, namely, give up his money.
Absolutely no one can ever be sure of salvation; none, not even one
apparently last or least, is out of Jesus’ saving reach; all of us have to seek
for ever greater proximity to Jesus throughout the whole of our life. With that in mind let us now take a closer look
at our Gospel reading.
Jesus was not intending to stop, let alone stay, in
Jericho; as He walked purposefully along He was being followed by a crowd of
people hoping to see a miracle or something notable, not particularly wanting
to hear Jesus' teaching.
Zaccheus, (however) who
was small in stature, had climbed up into a sycamore tree to see
(Jesus) (as He passed) that way.
This man, Zaccheus, was a prominent citizen: no ordinary
tax collector, but rather a Tax Commissioner with much responsibility and
authority in what was an important centre for the Romans, since Jericho was a
frontier city through which passed vital roads much used by camel trains carrying
exotic wares over desert expanses from Syria and further East on their way
westwards towards Rome, and which also facilitated a large local trade in
costly balsams. This very considerable civic
official, however, exposed himself to both ridicule and contempt by his vain
struggles to glimpse Jesus through the crowd, and subsequently, running ahead
of the crowd in order to clamber up a tree so as to be able to see Him clearly.
Picture the hustling, struggling, figure of Zacchaeus: he
wasn't hanging around in the crowd hoping vaguely for something to happen; he
was deeply interested in the Person of Jesus and was making every effort to
catch a glimpse of Him. This aspect of effort and haste is reflected by Jesus'
words to Zachaeus:
‘Zaccheus, make haste and come
down, for today I must stay at your house.’
So he made haste and came down
and received Him joyfully.
Can't you see the picture of a true disciple, the model for
a true Christian, being traced before our eyes? Zacchaeus, striving, hurrying to see Jesus;
and then hastening again to receive Him ever so gladly into his house; and
finally, in total spontaneity, giving up all that might hinder his
companionship with Jesus:
Look, Lord, I give half of my goods
to the poor, and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore
fourfold.
Surely St. Paul words in our second reading today can be
applied to Zachaeus:
May our God count you worthy of this
calling, that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in Him.
However, to arrive at the full meaning of this Gospel
passage for us today we must just look at the words Jesus chose when first
addressing Zacchaeus:
Zaccheus, make haste, come down,
for today I must stay at your house.
I want to draw your attention to those two words I must.
Jesus "must" stay at Zacchaeus' house. What does that mean? Jesus does not say "I will" nor
does He say "I would like"; instead He puts it in such a way as to
imply that it was not simply His choice but something pre-ordained for Him by
His Father.
Listen to the other two occasions in St. Luke's Gospel, and
one in that of St. John (10:16), where Jesus uses the phrase, "I
must":
At daybreak, Jesus
left and went to a deserted place. The crowds went looking for him, and when
they came to him, they tried to prevent him from leaving them. But he said to them, “To the other towns also
I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God, because for this purpose I
have been sent.” And he was preaching in
the synagogues of Judea.
At that time some Pharisees came
to him and said, “Go away, leave this area because Herod wants to kill you.” He
replied, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and I perform
healings today and tomorrow, and on the third day I accomplish my purpose. Yet I must continue on my way today, tomorrow, and the following day,
for it is impossible that a prophet should die outside of Jerusalem.’
(Luke 4:42-5:1) (Luke
13:31-33)
I have other sheep who do not
belong to this fold. These also I must lead.
It was pre-ordained that Jesus should preach first of all
in the synagogues of Judea, because He had been sent to the lost sheep of
Israel; after that had been done it was pre-ordained that He should bring other
sheep in, not of the fold of Israel, because that was required for the fullness
of redemption that He had been sent to achieve.
Finally it was pre-ordained that His work had to be completed in Jerusalem where He would be nailed on the
Cross bearing an inscription -- written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek – that
would proclaim Him, Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah to and for the whole world.
Now, how could Jesus' staying at the house of Zacchaeus be
of such importance that it too could be said to be pre-ordained?
To find our answer let us now look at the word
"house" used by Jesus when speaking to Zacchaeus. Obviously it was another way of saying:
"Zacchaeus, I must stay with you", because Jesus when leaving said:
Today salvation has
come to this house
Salvation had indeed come to Zacchaeus, not to the building
which was his house. In that way
"house" can -- in certain circumstances -- mean the person, his mind,
heart and soul. We find this confirmed
in a parable told by Jesus:
When an unclean spirit goes out
of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he says,
"I will return to my house from which I came.' (Luke. 11:24)
In the OT God dwelt among His Chosen People and His presence
was shown by the pillar of cloud which hovered first of all over the tent of
meeting in the desert and then filled Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem. In the New Testament times, however, God not
only dwells, makes His home, among His People, He also dwells within His
People, in their minds and hearts, in their souls, by His Spirit. Now Moses had said to the Lord, when Israel
was experiencing difficulties in the desert:
If Your presence does not go with
us, do not lead us up from here. Is it
not by Your going with us, that we … may be distinguished from all the other
people who are upon the face of the earth? (Exodus 33:15-16)
God's presence with
them was—Moses said -- the distinguishing feature of Israel: not the
literal keeping of the Law, not circumcision, not Sabbath observance; for,
necessary though these observances were, ultimately it was God's presence among
them which distinguished Israel from the pagan nations around them.
Now, it is the same today in Mother Church, because it is
God's presence -- by His Spirit -- which alone preserves, protects, guides and
sanctifies Mother Church today; and that presence of God's Gift-through-Jesus-of-His-Spirit,
must not only dwell among His People in the tabernacles of Mother Church, but
also, and supremely, abide within
her children.
This meeting of Jesus with Zacchaeus is so essential
because Zacchaeus is being shown as the figure of the disciple of Jesus, and the
"house of Zacchaeus" means much more than a building, it means his
heart, his soul, his mind, as we find again in these words of Jesus:
When you pray, go into your room,
and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret
place, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. (Matthew
6:6)
There, the mind and heart of a man at prayer, the secret
depths of his soul, are pictured as an inner room of his house.
So Jesus must stay at the house of Zacchaeus, because He must
enter and abide in the soul, the mind and heart, of His true disciples. He must do this because it is
essential for His work of salvation: salvation is not to be gained by
law-keeping alone, even though those laws be religious laws. Salvation can only be gained by becoming, in
Jesus and by the Spirit, a true child of God: worshipping the Father, knowing,
loving and trusting Him, with one’s whole mind, heart, soul, and strength. Zacchaeus was personally chosen to show the
power of Jesus and of God's grace, because Zacchaeus had practically everything
against his becoming a disciple: he was a lapsed Jew, spiritually lost and
absorbed in a world where he was powerful, influential, and very rich. Everyone would have said that he was
completely chained by worldly desires and expectations. Jesus changed that by His call:
Zaccheus, make haste, come down,
for today I must stay at your house.
But, People of God, notice why Zacchaeus is being portrayed
as a model disciple. First of all,
because Jesus' supreme power is to be seen: forming a spiritual failure, one
addicted to worldly success, into a true disciple. Secondly, because Zacchaeus, for his part,
co-operated with the grace and calling of Jesus. He first of all struggled in the crowd to see
Jesus, and then left the crowd behind and made himself look ridiculous by
running ahead in his fine official clothes and climbing a tree in order to glimpse
Jesus passing by. He then, to the
disgust of the Jews and no doubt the amazement of his influential friends,
gladly welcomed Jesus into his house and whole-heartedly gave his riches away
in order to respond to Jesus.
People of God, can you see yourself in Zacchaeus searching
for Jesus, striving to see Him, responding wholeheartedly to Him? I hope that you truly can, because the great
failing in Mother Church as we know her today, is that many Catholics, even some
apparently devout ones, want to live in a way that Moses, even in OT times,
knew to be impossible for us, and unacceptable before God. Salvation is not a reward for politically
correct words and publicly approved deeds; merely statistical fulfilment of our
obligations with regard to Mass attendance and reception of the Sacraments are
equally fruitless; only the presence of the Spirit of Jesus guiding our minds,
ruling our hearts, and consecrating our lives can save us. Jesus’ Spirit of love and of truth must be
able to move and guide us constantly – even though well-nigh imperceptibly – along
the way of Jesus throughout our lives: appreciating His truth more deeply, loving
His Person -- yes, and His Church -- ever more warmly and sincerely; and, with
unwearying patience and humility, listening to hear and waiting to obey His
call though it come at an hour we might not expect. Even in Mother Church we cannot be content to
remain in the crowd, doing what others seem to be doing and nothing more. Each of us is personally called to follow the
example of Zacchaeus: searching to see Jesus more clearly, to welcome Him into
our hearts more joyfully, and to be ever more willing and glad to get rid of
all that would hinder us from responding to His plans for us. It is so easy and comfortable to remain in the
crowd and to rely, as did the Jews, on the old formalities: doing what we have
always done, thinking as we have always thought, whilst satisfyingly enjoying what is going on in the world around us. That I say is comfortable, but it is also
very harmful. Therefore, today, Mother
Church invites us to hear Jesus calling us as He did Zacchaeus:
Make haste and come down,
(come out of the crowd), for today I must stay at your house.
