From the Sunday Note, with additional thoughts:
At that time, Jesus came to Jericho and intended to pass through the town.
Now a man there named Zacchaeus,
who was a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man,
was seeking to see who Jesus was;
but he could not see him because of the crowd,
for he was short in stature.
So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus,
who was about to pass that way.
When he reached the place, Jesus looked up and said,
“Zacchaeus, come down quickly,
for today I must stay at your house.”
And he came down quickly and received him with joy.
When they all saw this, they began to grumble, saying,
“He has gone to stay at the house of a sinner.”
But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord,
“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.”
And Jesus said to him,
“Today salvation has come to this house
because this man too is a descendant of Abraham.
For the Son of Man has come to seek
and to save what was lost.”
Sunday’s Gospel, Luke 19:1-10
Zacchaeus the tax collector in this week’s Gospel reminds us of the tax collector in the parable Jesus used in last week’s Gospel. A parable about a man praying in the Temple, so aware of his own unworthiness before God that he would not even raise his eyes to heaven. Is it possible Jesus himself may have seen this very man before in the Temple, and now recognizing him in the sycamore tree, realizes the man’s sincere hunger for mercy?
Keep in mind the first reading for this Sunday from the book of Wisdom, where the writer describes how God normally works with us wayward people: “You rebuke 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, Lord!” (Wisdom 12:2) That is, God patiently lets us experience the consequences of our sins, he stirs our conscience and works to bring us around to true repentance, a deep desire to change, and a firmer belief in His goodness towards us. Undoubtedly there have been opportunities for this to take place in a tax collector’s life.
In the second reading Paul instructs Christians that we cannot achieve salvation on our own. Rather, it is God’s task to “make you worthy of his calling.” It is up to God to “powerfully bring to fulfillment every good purpose and every effort of faith” in one who believes in Him. (See 2 Thessalonians 1:11)
Whether or not Zacchaeus was the same tax collector beating his breast in repentance in the Temple as Jesus told of in last week’s parable, he was certainly someone ripe for salvation, someone eager to gaze upon Jesus and open to becoming a new man. Sensing this, Jesus calls him down and announces he “must” (that is, his Father wills it) go eat Zacchaeus’s food and stay in Zacchaeus’s house. Zacchaeus reciprocates this sign of divine favor with a public declaration of living faith—a commitment to give half his wealth to the poor and make overwhelming restitution (far beyond what was required by the Law) to anyone he had cheated.
Jesus’ offer of divine hospitality does exactly what Paul says—it makes Zacchaeus worthy of the very call he was receiving from the Lord, and it brings to fulfillment the firm purpose of amendment and budding faith within his heart.
Jesus warns us all in parables to become like fig trees producing the sweet fruits of repentance and good works. In today’s Gospel, he sees a ripe fig, unlikely growing in a sycamore tree, and he plucks it.
For further reflection:
Zacchaeus has been touched by Salvation and committed to a large change in his life. He has made what we think off as a decision for Christ, and now gets a taste of the joy involved in such a decision and reorientation. BUT! But now begins “the rest of the story.” That is, he will have to live on, dealing with more and more consequences of his original decision. He will have to hear of and deal with Jesus’ suffering and death, of his Resurrection and his leaving this earth for his Heavenly home. He will have to come to understand the “communion banquet” Jesus invites us to in the Mass. He will have to come to understand all the further changes he will need to handle in his life as part of his own giving up of his earthly life to follow his new-found Master. His own walk to his own Cross.
His reorientation has taken place. His walk with Christ through all the rest of a “life in Christ” is just beginning.
God is not finished with any of us yet.