Word to the Wise
Sunday, October 31, 2010 - Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time
[Wisdom 11:22 - 12:2; 2 Thessalonians 1:11 - 2:2; Luke 19:1-10]Jesus came to Jericho and intended to pass through the town. Now a man thee named Zaccheus, who was a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man, was seeking to see who Jesus was......
The Gospel of Luke is a story rich in stories of God's mercy! The parables of the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son are two vivid examples. In today's gospel scripture, we are once more treated to a vivid character, Zaccheus! If we allow our imagination to work alongside the account, we can envision Zaccheus' efforts to "see" Jesus. Ask any short person about the challenge of seeing over a crowd that is taller! He may first stand on his tiptoes and then jump up and down before getting the bright idea of climbing a tree. Perhaps he saw children doing it. Perhaps he had tried it before! But it is one thing to climb a tree as a child, and another to climb a tree as an adult! In any case, what matters is his DESIRE TO SEE JESUS. This is the beginning of salvation for him! That desire places him squarely in Jesus' path and our imagination could allow us to see a bemused and touched Lord who becomes aware of Zaccheus sitting above the path. Perhaps someone calls attention to him or perhaps Jesus has already spotted him because of Zaccheus' efforts to get up in the tree and hang on to keep from falling! Recognizing Zaccheus' desire, Jesus invites himself to Zaccheus' house! If we have been reading the gospel before this incident, we should know that tax collectors and sinners were no strangers to Jesus. He ate and drank with them as much as he did with Pharisees, and seemingly with better results! That "better result" is witnessed here in the change that occurs to Zaccheus. We know from the first line of the story that he is a tax collector and a wealthy man. His position gave him ample opportunity to extort money and he likely supervised the efforts of others as well, becoming wealthy in the process. His reaction to Jesus' initiative is to not only restore ill-gotten gains at a rate twice what was required by law, but also to divide his possessions and give half to the poor! Jesus proclaims this tax collector to be "a son of Abraham!" - much to the chagrin of the Pharisees! It is difficult to want to be saved if we do not think we are lost in the first place! Zaccheus would know that he would be the subject of hatred and resentment. His desire to see Jesus may be part curiosity and part Spirit-driven! But there is no doubt that in his response to Jesus' he acknowledges that he was lost and has now been "found." In concluding the story, Jesus points out that Zaccheus is an example of the reason why he (Jesus) has come! The challenge to the Pharisees and to ALL OF US is whether or not we want to be included in that number? What is our desire? What are we going to do with it? And if we do "see" Jesus, what will we do in response? AMEN
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