31^st Sunday in Ordinary Time (C); 10-30-2022

Wis 11:22-12:2;  Ps 145;   2 Thes 1:11-2:2;    Lk 19:1-10

Deacon Jim McFadden

            Zacchaeus is the “chief tax collector,” the head honcho of those who were despised because he lined his own pockets with money extorted from his fellow Jews and who was a quisling of Rome as he cooperated with the oppressive Roman Empire.  No one would take the job of tax collector  unless he was desperate.  But, once Zacchaeus found his niche, he found a way to work the system, made himself very rich, and became the “chief tax collector.  One wonders what values he had to compromise to reach his stature.  How many people had he defrauded?  What relationships had he sacrificed for economic gain?  

            In an instant Zacchaeus is going to risk his economic and social stature that he has so carefully built up.  They guy is small in stature, so he acts in a very undignified way.  He climbs up a tree; he’s willing to make a fool of himself just to see what kind of a man this Jesus was.  This action was the first necessary step towards metanoia, conversion.  By climbing out on the limb, he was taking the chance that Jesus was going to burst into his life.  Seeing what Zacchaeus has done,  Jesus calls him, down, and he invites himself over to Zacchaeus’ house for dinner!  Immediately, there was a lot of grousing and grumbling from the crowd that Jesus would stay with a sinner. But, Jesus is willing to take the risk because Zacchaeus is worth it.

            In their brief encounter, something profound has happened to Zacchaeus: he’s willing to embrace surrender; he is willing do all that the Lord expects.  Luke has him saying, “Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone, I shall repay it for times over” (Lk 19:8).  Now there’s a free and generous heart.  And, what we are witnessing is some who is falling in love with Jesus, who is willing to give himself away, to let go of the stuff that stands between himself and God.

            We can read this Gospel on two levels simultaneously.  To those who are handicapped—i.e., lacking in something—little and poor.  Jesus is always telling them, the anawim, in effect, “Come up!”  The last shall be first in the Kingdom of God.  To those who are rich and comfortable like Zacchaeus, he inevitably says, “Come down!”  (v. 5), which is exactly what Zacchaeus does.  Jesus must have been pleasantly surprised by his response because, as mentioned previously,  he even goes to his house for dinner!

            Why is it that more of us don’t respond to Jesus as Zacchaeus did?  It seems that we’re reluctant of welcoming Jesus into our lives at any meaningful level, because we’re so stuffed with the goods of the world that there is no room for Jesus.  The real thing we have to do is to let go of our egoic self—to climb the sycamore tree and make a fool of ourselves.  We really aren’t free until we realize that our life is not about ourselves, but is about Jesus. 

            Zacchaeus was willing to risk his dignity and reputation; he was willing to risk his financial security and his social standing among his rich cohorts. The Gospel doesn’t say why Zacchaeus made this shift or what prompted him to look to Jesus for a different way of living.  All we know is that he did make this shift.  Jesus perceives this shift and leaves him the saving grace to negotiate the challenge that lie ahead.  We hear, “Today salvation has come to this house because this man too is a descendant of Abraham” (v. 9). 

            It’s noteworthy, that Jesus does not ask Zacchaeus to leave his possessions or to give away the rest of his possessions, like he did with the Rich Young Man.  Rather, Jesus meets him in the place of seeking communion and opens a way he can go forward in his particular circumstances.  Zacchaeus will live out of this saving grace. What remains to be seen is whether Zacchaeus as he grows in faith will follow Jesus onto the final and definitive limb, the tree of the Cross?  Will his life, like that of Jesus, seed new shoots of hope and life?  Will ours do the same?

Amen.