'Today I must stay at your house'. 31st Sunday of Ordinary Time Year C, 31 October 2010
Submitted by FatherSean on Wed, 10/27/2010 - 16:29.
Zacchaeus by Niels Larsen Stevns (1864 - 1941). Public Domain
Readings
New American Bible (Philippines, USA)
Gospel (Luke 19:1-10)
At that time, Jesus came to Jericho and intended to pass through the town.
Now a man there named Zacchaeus,
who was a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man,
was seeking to see who Jesus was;
but he could not see him because of the crowd,
for he was short in stature.
So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus,
who was about to pass that way.
When he reached the place, Jesus looked up and said,
"Zacchaeus, come down quickly,
for today I must stay at your house."
And he came down quickly and received him with joy.
When they all saw this, they began to grumble, saying,
"He has gone to stay at the house of a sinner."
But Zacchaeus 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."
And Jesus said to him,
"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."
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I have often used this story on retreats with young people here in the Philippines, especially in penitential services. For many young Filipinos it is their favorite gospel story. One possible reason is that Zacchaeus was short, as so many Filipinos are, though I notice that there is a higher percentage of all persons among the younger generation than among the previous one. For whatever reasons, young retreatants can identify with this man who climbed the sycamore tree.
One of the deeper reasons why people respond to the story of Zacchaeus is that it shows God's mercy and how responding to that can transform a person. Last Sunday we had the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector where the latter had a sense of his own sinfulness and of God's mercy while the former was focused on his own perceived virtuousness.
Fr Thomas Rosica CSB in his Biblical Reflection on this Sunday's readings, I need to stay at your house, quotes from Pope John Paul's letter to priests for Holy Thursday 2002 I've highlighted some of the text.
"Everything that happens to him (Zacchaeus) is amazing. If there had not been, at a certain point, the 'surprise' of Christ looking up at him, perhaps he would have remained a silent spectator of the Lord moving through the streets of Jericho. Jesus would have passed by, not into, his life. Zacchaeus had no idea that the curiosity which had prompted him to do such an unusual thing was already the fruit of a mercy which had preceded him, attracted him and was about to change him in the depths of his heart. [...]
"Luke's account is remarkable for the tone of the language: Everything is so personal, so tactful, so affectionate! Not only is the text filled with humanity; it suggests insistence, an urgency to which Jesus gives voice as the one offering the definitive revelation of God's mercy. He says: 'I must stay at your house,' or to translate even more literally: 'I need to stay at your house' (v 5). Following the mysterious road map which the Father has laid out for him, Jesus runs into Zacchaeus along the way. He pauses near him as if the meeting had been planned from the beginning. Despite all the murmuring of human malice, the home of this sinner is about to become a place of revelation, the scene of a miracle of mercy. True, this will not happen if Zacchaeus does not free his heart from the ligatures of egoism and from his unjust and fraudulent ways. But mercy has already come to him as a gratuitous and overflowing gift. Mercy has preceded him! [...]
"This is what happens in the case of Zacchaeus. Aware that he is now being treated as a 'son,' he begins to think and act like a son, and this he shows in the way he rediscovers his brothers and sisters. Beneath the loving gaze of Christ, the heart of Zacchaeus warms to love of neighbor. From a feeling of isolation, which had led him to enrich himself without caring about what others had to suffer, he moves to an attitude of sharing. This is expressed in a genuine 'division' of his wealth: 'half of my goods to the poor.' The injustice done to others by his fraudulent behavior is atoned for by a fourfold restitution: "If I have defrauded any one of anything, I restore it fourfold" (v 8). And it is only at this point that the love of God achieves its purpose, and salvation is accomplished: 'Today salvation has come to this house' (v 9)."
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A boy rests at the base of an ancient sycamore tree in the West Bank city of Jericho. Tradition says it is the same tree featured in the biblical tale of Jesus and the tax collector. (Majdi Mohammed, Associated Press / October 1, 2010)
Other Resources
This is a homily of Fr Dominic White OP. Here is a quotation:
'But the extraordinary thing is that Zacchaeus repented without any word of rebuke from Jesus. All Jesus asked was that Zacchaeus come down from the tree so that he could get things ready for him to stay. It was not that Zacchaeus was looking at Jesus: it was that Jesus was looking at Zacchaeus. That gaze, the gaze of God's love, transformed Zacchaeus. Something about what he'd heard of Jesus attracted him, but in spite of his efforts to make sure he saw Jesus, it was Jesus who saw him first. And that moment, that moment of Christ's gaze, transformed Zacchaeus, because Jesus recognised him and appealed to what was best in him.' Full text here.
'I need to stay at your house'
This is the full text of the Biblical Reflection of Fr Thomas Rosica CSB from Zenit.
Intention alone is enough for God.
For the many times I encountered this reading, it just struck me this time that it did not take Zacchaeus to prove his word.
The intention alone was enough for Jesus to forgive and bless him in his life. That was Zacchaeus. And for us, God continues to see us in His unfailing eyes. But how do we purify our intention?
God's grace be ours.
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'Love is embracing all and loving especially the unlovables.'