Readings: Wisdom
11:22 – 12:2; 2 Thes.1:11 – 2:2; Lk 19:1-10
God Calls us to
Repentance
God calls us to communion and friendship
with him. Jesus said: “It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and
appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain…” (Jn.15:16). Even when we
are not faithful to God’s covenant of love, He never abandons us. “For God so
loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him
might not perish but might have eternal life” (Jn.3:16).
According to the Catechism of the Catholic
Church: “Jesus calls to conversion. This call is an essential part of the
proclamation of the kingdom. ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is
at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’ In the Church’s preaching this call
is addressed first to those who do not yet know Christ and his Gospel. Also,
Baptism is the principal place for the first and fundamental conversion. It is
by faith in the Gospel and by Baptism that one renounces evil and gains
salvation, that is, the forgiveness of all sins and the gift of new life.” (1427).
The first reading of today states: “But
you have mercy on all, because you can do all things; and you overlook people’s
sins that they may repent. For you love
all things that are and loathe nothing that you have made; for what you hated,
you would not have fashioned.” We are special before God; no one is
loathsome before him. When we sinned, God does not abandon us. He rebukes
“offenders little by little, warn them and remind them of the sins they are
committing, that they may abandon their wickedness and believe in you, O Lord!”
Since we are so loved by God, do we feel
His love? If we are special to Him, do
we love who we are? Are we willing to acknowledge our sins and go to Him
for mercy? These questions are answered in the Gospel reading of today. Last
week we read of two men who went to the temple to pray. We reflected on the
Pharisee as he prayed to himself. He had no need of God. The tax collector, on
the other hand, found mercy and was justified. His humility showed his need for
God. Today we are presented with another tax collector, the chief of them all –
Zacchaeus. He was a Jew, a son of Abraham and a member of God’s chosen people. In
spite of his exulted status, his profession as a tax collector, brought him
indignity and notoriety. It reduced him to a public sinner, nay, the enemy of
the people. He was wealthy but lacked recognition and respect. He was looked
down upon, despised and ridiculed. His being small in stature was more than a physical
appearance. He was nobody. He had money but no salvation. He yearned for
fellowship but found none.
And, so his search began. Zacchaeus might
have heard about Jesus and his love for the poor, the rejected, the nobodies,
the despised, the tax collectors, prostitutes and sinners. On hearing that Jesus
was on his way to Jerusalem, passing through Jericho, Zacchaeus was anxious to
meet Him. But then there was the crowd. The crowd could represent so many
things. It could be the barriers that could prevent him from pursuing his goal.
It could be fear of what people might say to others about him. It could be fear
of rejection, of not being good enough, fear of his height, his background, his
race. Oh, the fault-finding crowd; the finger-pointing crowd, the unforgiving
crowd, the self-righteous crowd. There were people in the crowd who wanted to
take revenge on him, those who felt he had betrayed their race by working for
the Romans. Others felt that Zacchaeus’s riches deprived them of their wealth;
and just wanted to punch him in the face. Yes, this was intimidating crowd in
deed! But Zacchaeus was determined to see Jesus. This was his only chance, nothing
and nobody will prevent him. So, Zacchaeus climbed a tree, away from the crowd,
just to catch a glimpse of Jesus.
Lance Wallnau relates a story of the fight
between an eagle and a snake. “The Eagle does not fight the snake on the
ground. It picks it up into the sky and changes the battle ground, and then it
releases the snake into the sky. The snake has no stamina, no power and no
balance in the air. It is useless, weak and vulnerable unlike on the ground
where it is powerful, wise and deadly. Take
your fight into the spiritual realm by praying and when you are in the
spiritual realm God takes over your battles. Don’t fight the enemy in his
comfort zone, change the battle grounds like the Eagle and let God take charge
through your earnest prayer. You’ll be assured of clean victory.” Zacchaeus
took his fight up the sycamore tree. He changed the battle ground, and the Lord
Jesus found him up there and made him an offer he could not refuse: “Zacchaeus,
come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house…Today salvation has come
to this house because this man too is a descendant of Abraham.” (Lk. 19:5-9).
One can only imagine the joy of this
sinner who found favor with the Lord. Zacchaeus may have been one of the
reasons Jesus Christ passed through Jericho on his way to Jerusalem. He had
unfinished business there, to seek and find he who was lost. Christ always
searches for the lonely, the sick, the sinner, and those who have no friends;
to restore them to their rightful state in life, to give them the grace they so
desperately need. He knows our weakness, He understands our faults, He sees our
hearts and knows those who seek Him with a sincere heart. He thirsts for our
love and calls us to a new life. Today Salvation has come to this house. There
is joy in Heaven over a sinner who repents than over the ninety-nine who have
no need of repentance. (Lk. 15:7).
Despite the grumbling of the crowd, that
Christ dared to enter the house of a sinner, Zacchaeus renounces his
possessions: “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.”
Can anyone really prove that he had extorted anything from them? Is it possible
that he could have been rich without stealing from people? Regardless of what
the crowd thought of him, he came clean and made restitution. He needed Christ
more than material wealth, and so I will give it all away just to have Christ my
Lord. He showed his gratitude to Christ by accepting to live like Christ. “His
public confession shows the sincerity of his repentance. As part of his
repentance, Zacchaeus wants to right his wrongs. Biblical repentance always
goes hand-in-hand with restitution because conversion is a radical life-changing
event.” (Fr. John Pichappilly – Kindle
Your Spirit).
Christ calls on us to repent of our sins
and embrace His life of grace. We may be confronted by the crowd of our lives,
but Zacchaeus has shown us the way. Take your fight away from the crowd, change
the battle ground and allow Christ to find you. Accept His invitation and
welcome Him to your house and allow Him to eat with you. “Behold I stand at the
door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will enter his
house and dine with him, and he with me.” (Rev. 3:20).
Questions to ponder:
·
Do
you know that you are loved personally, specially and intimately by God?
·
Do
you know that He wants you to enjoy a life of grace with Him?
·
When
did you go to confession last?
“And
this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of
what he gave me, but that I should raise it on the last day” (Jn. 6:39).
“Don’t
forget to pray today because God didn’t forget to wake you up this morning”
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