DEACON ALAN LAYDEN’S HOMILIES

November 4, 2007

Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time

We are coming to the end of our liturgical year.  Throughout the year Luke has been our focus gospel most of the Sundays. In the past weeks, we have heard Jesus’ criticism of the wealthy and his warnings that the rich will have a hard time entering the kingdom of God. In fact, in the previous chapter that we read, some weeks ago, Jesus had just advised the rich ruler, “How hard it will be for the rich to go into the kingdom of God. Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye than for a rich person to enter the kingdom. (Lk18: 24-25). And, now we have Jesus interacting with a rich tax collector, Zacchaeus.

Over the years I have been intrigued by Zacchaeus’ place in history.   I remember when, in another life, I worked in real estate.   We used to talk about the factors that made a house attractive to prospective buyers, by saying that there were three major selling points: “location, location, location.” That’s also what made Zacchaeus into a wealthy man—location. Luke tells us that Zacchaeus was the chief tax collector in Jericho.  Jericho was a city built on what was a primary trade route. It was a rich city because of this location. The city was also a popular vacation spot for the wealthy.  King Herod, himself, had built a palace with vast gardens and a theater there. In Palestine’s barren surroundings, Jericho was an oasis of fruit trees and greenery.

There, the upper class, were very wealthy and that meant lots of taxes for the Romans and a very good living for tax collectors, especially the chief tax collector, Zacchaeus.  To the resentment and hatred of subservient Jews who were burdened with the unreasonable taxes imposed by the Romans and collected by the tax collectors. “Location, location, location.” Jericho was the location where Zacchaeus made his fortune.

Speaking of location.  Let me digress a bit and mention Zacchaeus’ location in this Gospel.  Being a man of short stature, he has picked a good location to see and be seen by Jesus—he climbed a sycamore tree. We are used to hearing this story, but let’s not overlook its unusual elements, for this is when Jesus breaks the expected pattern and does something quite unexpected.  In the light of the negative things Jesus had been saying about riches and since Zacchaeus was a dishonest and disloyal Jew, we would have expected that if Jesus were to single out Zacchaeus, it would have been to criticize him and use him as an example of a sinner who needed to repent.  Zacchaeus should have been warned about his impending doom and God’s displeasure with him.  We would have felt justified if Jesus would have also preached against the injustice of gaining riches off the backs of the poor. That’s what we would have expected—certainly that’s what the crowd expected since, most likely, they were among Zacchaeus’ victims.

But that is not what Jesus did. He broke the pattern of what we humans expect and revealed God’s accustomed ways of acting—Jesus offered God’s grace to Zacchaeus, as he does to us today.  And Zacchaeus responds in what we might think is a surprising manner.

The question we might ask is why?  First, what did you hear in today’s first reading?  In his time Zacchaeus had either heard or read this same reading from the Book of Wisdom.  Lets hear it again…

What did we hear first?    Before God, we, our universe, is small and like a grain or drop of morning dew.

What next?  Didn’t it tell us that God will have mercy on all?

What was the third thing we heard?  God loves everything he made and he did not make anything bad.  Including us!

What next? Doesn’t God Spare all things?

And finally, what was the last thing we heard?  Doesn’t God rebuke the offenders (us) little by little so that we will abandon our wickedness and believe in Him?

This is what Zacchaeus knows too, deep down in his heart.

Back to Zacchaeus and his moment, and his location.  A moment, when everything that he has studied and heard about scripture finally makes sense to him.  And guess what?  He repents! “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.”

 There certainly were plenty of deserving and respected people among those who lined Jesus’ route that day. We would have been among them, good, decent, hard working and needy people trying to get a glimpse of a dynamic religious leader upon whom so many of the desperate had hung their hopes. Why didn’t Jesus pick out one of them and go to the home of a respectable and religious person?  Why Zacchaeus?  Had we been there that day and heard the exchange between Jesus and Zacchaeus wouldn’t we be among the grumblers? What had Zacchaeus done, besides finding a good spot, (location), to catch sight of Jesus, to earn him Jesus’ noticing him and inviting himself to the tax collector’s home?

Nothing!  Remember, this is a story of grace and we don’t earn grace. Grace is offered to us and after we get over the shock and surprise, we grab it, like Zacchaeus did.  Firmly, and with both hands and clutch it to ourselves as we receive it with joy! Again, just the way Zacchaeus did. 

We are invited to see God’s mercy, God’s grace, at work. Zacchaeus may have committed a lot of offenses to make himself worthless in the eyes of those who had gathered to catch a glimpse of Jesus. The story immediately preceding this one tells of Jesus’ giving physical sight to a blind man who says to Jesus, “Lord, I want to see” (18: 35-43). The cure takes place on the outskirts of Jericho. Now, in Jericho, another kind of sight is offered to Zacchaeus, the onlookers and us. Jesus seems to have been looking specifically for Zacchaeus, because he was lost. Jesus announces the grace God is offering the outcast, “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost.”

All of us have those lost moments.   When we are in a location we would rather not be.  Isn’t comforting to know that Our Lord seeks us even though we are lost?   If we wish to be saved, we have to admit that we are lost.  It sounds easy...but it is not!  Something in our human nature resists such an admission, maybe its because of stubbornness or pride, but it does seem to be a universal obstacle.  Perhaps the way to go is to relinquish our portion of this huge boulder that gets in our way and simply let God's imperishable spirit consume it, in big chunks or little ones, according to His will.  Focusing on the "being loved" part seems to make the admission of imperfection so much easier!  Like Zacchaeus, we need to be willing to clime a tree.  More clearly stated, we need to place ourselves in a different location. 

Remember, being a Christian isn’t a private affair. We can’t stay in the tree and just savor Jesus’ words and company. We can’t hide our faith in church, this place of encounter with the Lord. Zacchaeus took Jesus home with him and his family were the first beneficiaries of this grace-filled meeting with Jesus. Zacchaeus wasn’t supposed to become a monk, with the tree as his retreat. He was a family man and a citizen of the world where he was to live and see others with new sight. There, out in the world, he was also to follow through on his resolve.  Move to a different location.  Possibly, we all need to move to a new location too?