November 3rd 2019.Thirty-first Sunday of Ordinary Time

GOSPEL: Luke 19:1-10

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading ...

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GOSPEL: Luke 19:1-10

Jesus entered Jericho and was going through the town when a man whose name was Zacchaeus made his appearance; he was one of the senior tax collectors and a wealthy man. He was anxious to see what kind of man Jesus was, but he was too short and could not see him for the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to catch a glimpse of Jesus who was to pass that way. When Jesus reached the spot he looked up and spoke to him: ‘Zacchaeus, come down. Hurry, because I must stay at your house today.’ And he hurried down and welcomed him joyfully.

They all complained when they saw what was happening. ‘He has gone to stay at a sinner’s house’ they said. But Zacchaeus stood his ground and said to the Lord, ‘Look, sir, I am going to give half my property to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody I will pay him back four times the amount’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house, because this man too is a son of Abraham; for the Son of Man has come to seek out and save what was lost’.

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . Zacchaeus is a tax-collector, someone who has become rich by the systematic exploitation of others. He appears to be beyond redemption. Why does Jesus visit his house? Because the Lord is looking for the precious gem that exists in the heart of Zacchaeus and in the hearts of you and me. As the first reading tells us, God created us and appreciates what is good and noble in us. Jesus is desperately seeking out the goodness and beauty that lies in the depths of each of us. And when we allow the Lord to visit us, then this beauty comes to the surface and we become the authentic person that the Lord created us to be. As soon as Jesus enters Zacchaeus’ house, the tax collector is transformed! He becomes joyful and promises to undo all of the wrongs that he has done to others. He discovers an incredible generosity inside of himself. If you or I wish to spread the Gospel, then we must do as Jesus did and seek out the child of God that exists within every person. Spreading the Gospel is not about spreading a system of moral rules or regulations! No-one embraces the Gospel because they are looking for an ethical system. We embrace the Gospel in order to be reborn, to become our true selves! God made us for relationship with him and others. Our hearts are restless until, like Zacchaeus, we allow Jesus to enter our hearts with his love. How many false and wayward relationships we engage in! Let us consider the extent that Jesus goes to in order to seek us out and enter into communion with us. Once Jesus enters our house then we become fully ourselves. We discover the generosity, joy, goodness and love that God planted in our hearts when he created us.

Zacchaeus is someone who appears to be beyond redemption, a violent gangster who has profited by extorting money from others

The Gospel this Sunday recounts the story of Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus was a senior collectors and would have been considered as someone beyond any hope of salvation. He was also someone rich. On previous Sundays we have heard various passages about how difficult it is for the rich man to be saved. All of this helps to confirm the conviction that Zacchaeus is someone who is outside of the Kingdom of God. Tax collectors in those days were infamous, a group of mafia-like gangsters that actually formed a legitimate part of the Roman system of revenue collection. They violently extracted excess taxes from the people in order to generate their own income. Zacchaeus, as a member of this class, seemed beyond redemption, but it to his very house that Jesus chose to go.

Jesus is searching for something in Zacchaeus that he searches for in the depths of every human being. Anyone who wishes to spread the Gospel must search for this hidden gem that exists in the heart of every person.

Why does Jesus go to the house of such a notorious individual? The first reading provides the key for interpreting this story. We hear that God has compassion for everyone and everything that exists because they were created by him. How could something exist if God had not wished for it to be? The indulgent magnanimity of God sees something precious in every creature, and pre-eminently in the human being, who was made in his image. Everything God does - his corrections, his consolations, his affirmations, when he prevents us from doing something, or affirms us, when he blesses us, fills us with gifts, or takes everything away from us at once – all of this is part of his searching out of his creatures. Every blessing or admonition is part of his strategy of salvation. In fact, this Gospel tells us that “the Son of Man has come to search out the lost”. If you know that something doesn’t exist you would not bother searching for it. We only look for that which we are convinced exists. When we are sure that something is in a particular location, we continue to probe after it. In Chapter 15 of Luke we are told how the woman keeps searching intently for the coin that is lost. When Jesus visits the house of Zacchaeus, he too is searching for something. He is looking for a son of Abraham, that which is hidden in this tax collector who is an Israelite, a member of the people that has been blessed and elected. Jesus is looking for that which every evangelizer ought to be fighting to bring out in his listeners; namely, the good that is in the heart of every human being. We do not spread the Gospel in order to bind people in chains or give them rules and regulations. No-one is drawn to the Gospel in order to have regulations but to be reborn, to rediscover ourselves, to begin again from the correct starting place! Evangelizing is not about convincing people, by coercion that is more or less subtle, to accept a certain moral or ethical framework. The primary aim is not order or security, which can be our own personal fixations. Rather, the goal is to seek out the light that is in the heart of every person.

All of us will continue to have restless hearts until Jesus comes to visit our house with his love

Jesus spots this man on the tree and immediately understands everything. By trying to see Jesus, Zacchaeus demonstrates that he is really seeking a relationship with this strange preacher who is passing by. Zacchaeus would have had plenty to keep him occupied as a tax-collector. What did it matter to him if this famous preacher was in the area? Clearly Zacchaeus was searching for something and Jesus comprehends that perfectly when he notices him up the tree. In fact, Jesus now goes in search of him. In various ways, human beings demonstrate that they are searching for something. They buy objects, go to the strangest places, follow the weirdest doctrines. They do all this because they are searching out truth for themselves, looking for the solution to the inquietude in their hearts. Each one of us will remain restless until we are touched in the heart by God.

Zacchaeus is transformed by the visitation of Jesus because Jesus helps him to become his true self. Each of us will become our true self when we enter into relationship with Jesus, when we appreciate that he is desperately seeking us out, when we open the door and allow him to enter

None of us is truly ourselves, none of us feels that he is in his place, until Christ enters our house with his love and his generosity. Our identity is fundamentally relational. We are most ourselves when we are with others. The Old Testament commandment, “It isn’t good that man should be alone”, is a commandment of awesome profundity. But we engage in a lot of relationships that are wayward and false. When we embark on a relationship with God, when we respond to his initiatives towards us, his abiding concern to seek us out, then we begin to become our authentic selves. Zacchaeus discovers an unexpected generosity within himself, exclaiming that “I am going to give half my property to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody I will pay him back four times the amount”. He becomes a joyful man for finally he has found himself. When we discover the goodness in our hearts, the love we have in our hearts, the joy we have in our hearts, only then do we become our authentic selves.