Gospel Reflection for Nov. 3:
Our relationship with the Lord, although principally expressed and experienced in the context of a community, is still always uniquely personal. Jesus reminds us that no hair on our heads goes uncounted. For a variety of reasons we can often decide that our best reaction to the Lord, especially when we are disjointed because of our sins, is to just hide from God. Even the most sophisticated adults still react as children in this way when it comes to a relationship with the Lord. We know we have done wrong, so we hide.
Our act of hiding was to avoid punishment but was also, at its deepest level, an expression of contrition. We knew that our relationship with our parent was off kilter, so we expressed as best as we knew how, that sense of shame and guilt that comes with doing wrong.
Zacchaeus is a man whose sins are well-known to the people of Jericho. Like the other toll collectors of his time, he had sold out to the Roman authorities, and lived lavishly on exacting extortion on his Jewish neighbors and townsfolk. His curiosity about Jesus coming into town overwhelms him, and he longingly desires to see Jesus, but needs to do so from a distance. Yes, he is too short to see over the crowd, so he feels the need to climb a tree to get a glimpse of Jesus as he passes by. Zacchaeus also knows that his countrymen would be less than welcoming as he would try to make his way to the front of the crowd.
Zacchaeus appears to be a man ready for a change in his life. He knew he was an outlier from his countrymen. Like anyone caught up in their sins there eventually comes a point of being disjointed and out of sorts. He was a man too small – not just small in physical stature, but also a man who was diminished in his sense of mercy, compassion and generosity. Yet he seems to know that he has to make things right.
Zacchaeus got caught up in the tree when Jesus spies him there and calls him forth, and, at the same time, invites himself to Zacchaeus’s home.The townsfolk, some of whom were already disciples of Jesus, are shocked and disappointed by Jesus’s decision. Certainly a prophet like Jesus would not eat with this toll collector, this sinner. Yet that is precisely what Jesus does here, as he has done many times before.
Zacchaeus, overwhelmed with a sense of hope, relief, reconciliation and peace, goes to great lengths to atone for his sins. It almost sounds that he is babbling incessantly as is the child rescued from hiding, who now knows the Mother’s love, even in the face of consequences. Zacchaeus promises to rid himself of virtually all his ill-gotten gains to atone for his sins.
He stands there somewhat in opposition to the warning Jesus delivered to the crowd on his way to Jericho in the parable of the farmer who built massive new barns to store his wealth. Zacchaeus looks more like the tax collector in the parable cited last weekend who prayed in earnest: “Lord, be merciful to me a sinner.” In that sense, last week’s parable might be seen as prophesy fulfilled in Zacchaeus.
We are now on the cusp of the last weeks of Ordinary Time, and Advent quickly approaches. Although we are always in need of mercy, we should focus more on our need to conversion as Christmas approaches. It is a good time to prepare for Advent. This is the time to get out of our trees and our hiding places and to accept the Lord’s invitation to dine with him.
Father Garry Koch is pastor of St. Benedict Parish, Holmdel.
Readings for the 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time: Wis 11:22-12:2; 2Thes1:11-2:2; Lk 19:1-10
To view a listing of daily Scripture Readings, visit usccb.org/bible then click on the date on the calendar.