ZACCHAEUS AND I

REFLECTION FOR HOMILY FOR 31ST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME OF THE YEAR C

THEME: ZACCHAEUS AND I

R1: Wisdom 11:22-12:2

R2: Thessalonians 1:11-22 

Gospel: Luke 19:1-10

The story of Zacchaeus in the gospel reading of today is a very touchy one. He was a tax collector and he longed to see Jesus but was prevented by the crowd because he was a short man. When he went forward and climbed a tree, Jesus saw him and told him to come down, that he will dine in his house that day.  This story is embedded with many wonderful significances.

ZACCHAEUS’S DESIRE TO SEE JESUS:

Within the time of Jesus, there was hunger in the land. Many Jews only ate once a day. Most of them followed Jesus because they knew that after his teaching there would be food to eat(John 6:26). They imagined that the kingdom of God was a place of merriment, where there will be enough food to eat and drink (Lk 6:21, Is 25:6). They saw tax collectors as sinners because apart from defrauding others in the process of collecting high tax to enrich themselves, they were wealthy and ate to their full(Lk 6:25) from what was stolen from the poor. They were to avoid these sinners because in the kingdom of God there will be no room for them. Since people hated and avoided them (tax collectors), Zacchaeus headed to Jesus, knowing he will not be despised at least to have just a view of him.

HIS PREVENTION FROM SEEING JESUS:

Even though he wanted to see Jesus, he was prevented because he was short. Being short means he was small, insignificant, unimportant and invisible. That is, as a tax collector and sinner, coming around Jesus he becomes worthless in the midst of others (righteous) because that was not where he was supposed to be. Also, there were many tall people around that stopped him from seeing him, they didn’t want to give him a chance. The tall people implies , important people, holy people and significant persons, these prevented the unholy Zacchaeus because he was supposed to be with sinners.

The attitude of these tall people is a  common characteristic of the crowd and many of us, we see people as unimportant and worthless thereby discouraging them from growing. We sometimes see nothing good about the other; we condemn, we segregate, we hate to see certain people around us even in the church because we feel we are better, just as in the eyes of the Pharisee, Zacchaeus is just a tax collector. They avoided him and neglected him as we do towards those we consider as worthless.

HE MOVED FORWARD AND CLIMBED A TREE:

Knowing his limitations; his short height and the tall crowds that prevented him from his target (to see Jesus), Zacchaeus moved ahead of everyone to overcome such limitations by climbing a tree so that he may not miss his target.  We too must develop a strategy to overcome our weakness and limitations and the discouraging voice of the crowd. It is important that we too should discover what our limitations are and move beyond that. This includes overcoming the voice of the crowd. This needs courage. Strategy is an important element of success. 

Having overcome his limitations with his strategy,  Jesus saw him and called him by name, “Zacchaeus, come down.” It was no longer he that saw Jesus but Jesus that saw him.  The same thing happens when we put in an effort and develop a strategy to overcome our limitations and the discouraging voice of the crowd, God visits and changes our situations, just as he changed that of Zacchaeus from a tax collector to a son of Abraham (Lk 19:10). Zacchaeus experienced God’s love, this led to a total conversion of him and he expresses this love for others by returning whatever he had collected from them.

It is important for us to understand that being angry with anyone because of one’s behaviour, state of life, situation or attitude can’t lead to anything better. The anger of the Jews never changed Zacchaeus until he encountered the love of Christ. Christ’s love made him a changed person. So too, we can change the world with love. We can convert the world with love. 

This also answers why God allows even the bad people to exist in the world. The first reading says, he hates no one, he hates nothing that he created but he gives the bad time to change. He corrects everyone little by little until they are brought back to him. If the Lord loves everything he has created, we too, instead of despising and creating unwanted differences between us, let us give everyone an opportunity for repentance. Let us pray that God will make us worthy of his call to love, so that we may join the Psalmist to bless his name forever.

Rev Fr. Chukwuemeka VINCENT Livinus, SMMM.