Homily 31st Sunday: The Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost

Homily for 31^st Sunday of Ordinary Time Year C 2016

Wisdom 11:22-12:2, 2 Thessalonians 1:11-2:2 and Luke 19:1-10 

Introduction

One of the accusations levied against Jesus by the Pharisees was that he ate and drank with tax-collectors and sinners (Mt. 9:11).  And this accusation was not entirely without foundation.  If you recall in last Sunday's gospel, Jesus praised the tax-collector rather than the Pharisee.  And in today's gospel he is hanging out with the chief tax-collector, Zacchaeus.  Jesus must have a good reason for behaving in this way.  And the reason is this: "I did not come to call the righteous but sinners” (Mt. 9: 13); at the top of this list of sinners were the tax-collectors.

Scripture and Theology

Tax-collectors were automatically considered sinners by virtue of their occupation.  This was because they were collecting taxes for the Romans, the foreign occupying power,– much like during the colonial days in this country of taxation without representation. Moreover, many tax-collectors were corrupt, collecting more than was required and keeping the difference for themselves, or simply asking for and taking bribes.  But Zacchaeus was not just a tax-collector; he was a chief tax-collector.  If an ordinary tax-collector was considered a crook, a chief tax-collector was probably twice as crooked, since he was at the top of the corrupt food chain, stealing the most money, receiving the biggest bribes.

And yet, it is to this man's house, that Jesus invites himself saying: “Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house.” You can probably imagine the collective gasp of the disciples and the Jewish leaders asking themselves: "What is Jesus doing?  Does he not realize that this man is public and notorious sinner?"  Just imagine today, if your pastor or the bishop were to invite himself for Christmas dinner at the home of a notorious drug dealer, who gets wealthy on a product that destroys the lives of thousands of people; or for Thanksgiving at the home of the local mafia chief, who bleeds small businessmen dry through threats, extortion and murder; or for Easter at the home of the guy who owns several strip clubs on Bourbon Street.  That would be a serious scandal?

But like with everything he does, Jesus intentionally visits Zacchaeus to teach his followers a good lesson: that he has come to seek and save what was lost.  And moreover, in this particular incident, he provides us with a model of reconciliation, showing what the sinner must do to get back into  God's good graces.  This story shows us the three steps needed to achieve reconciliation with God: Contrition, Confession and Penance.

(1) Contrition is being sorry for one's sins and desiring to leave behind a life of sin; that is always the first step towards reconciliation with God.  Zacchaeus is clearly sorry and wishes to leave his life of sin behind.  Like with many people, his contrition does not come about fully developed and perfect; it started from a mere curiosity, to see this great rabbi from Nazareth, about whom he had heard many good things.  In fact his curiosity gets the better of him, so that he throws away all the dignity of a powerful government official and climbs a sycamore tree like a teenage boy looking for mangoes.  This seed of curiosity will grow into full blown contrition and sorrow for his sins, when he meets Jesus.

(2) Confession is the next step in the process of reconciliation.  Confession is naming our sins, not because God needs to hear them, but because we need to hear them and then leave them behind.  Zacchaeus confesses that he has extorted people, perhaps by charging more tax than was required.  In fact, that is why he willing to pay back four times what he extorted; for the law of Moses says: "When someone steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters or sells it, he shall restore five oxen for the one ox, and four sheep for the one sheep" (Ex. 21:37).

(3) Penance: this is the third step on the journey of reconciliation.  Penance is concrete act, which demonstrates externally the sorrow and contrition inside us.  The purpose of penance is not only to repair the damage we have caused, but also to give us some practical help to remain on the path of righteousness.  That is why Zacchaeus not only offers to make reparation, by paying back those he has cheated four times what he stole, but also he is ready to give half of his possessions to the poor.  Giving back to those he stole is certainly required by justice.  But why give half of his possessions to the poor?

Remember the story of the rich young man in the gospel?  He asked Jesus what he should do “to gain eternal life” and Jesus’ answer was: “Keep the commandments!”  And when the young man insisted that surely there must be more that he could do, Jesus told him “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to [the] poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”  While Jesus wanted this man to put his money where his mouth was, Zacchaeus simply volunteers to do so.  This is his way of showing that he has turned a new leaf in his life; and the first order of business of that new life is almsgiving, a concrete act of charity, in which he shares with the less fortunate.

Fortunately for Zacchaeus his contrition, confession and offer to do penance is not in vain: Jesus reconciles him to God.  Jesus does this in two ways:

First, Jesus invites himself to the house of Zacchaeus.  Even today, sharing a meal with somebody, having someone over at your house, is a sign of friendship and communion.  By inviting himself to the house of Zacchaeus, entering under his roof and breaking bread with him Jesus is welcoming him back into communion.  Zacchaeus realizes that he has just been forgiven and that is why he quickly comes down from the tree and receives Jesus at his house. 

An even better of reconciliation are the magic words of absolution that Jesus says: “Today salvation has come to this house because this man too is a descendant of Abraham."  Zacchaeus is now back in the good graces of God.

Christian Life

Like Zacchaeus, you and I are also sinners.  Like Zacchaeus, the Lord invites himself to enter under our roof and be in communion with us.  Can we learn something from the example of Zacchaeus to get rid of our sinful life?

Like Zacchaeus we start by responding to God's grace, which coming to us in many different ways, moves us to regret our sin and wish to leave it behind.  Perhaps we hear a homily that convicts us, or a friend says something to us about our behaviour, or we just come to a point and say, "I must stop this."

This sorrow for our sins then leads us to confession, where we name our sins framing in our own words, the kinds of things that offend God and our neighbour and we admit that we have done them.

The priest then gives us a penance to do, sometimes a prayer to say, or a bible passage to read, or an action to perform like an offering, works of mercy, service of neighbour, self-denial and sacrifices.  These penances are not primarily meant to be punishment, since there is no punishment adequate to offending God, except eternal death itself.  But these penances, like they did for Zacchaeus serve the purpose of repairing the damage we have done as well as the purpose of keeping us on the straight and narrow path of righteousness.

At the end of this process, the priest says to us: "I absolve you from your sins, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."  And like Zacchaeus we are allowed back into communion with God.

Conclusion

But these words are not said just to you and me; they are said to many others, even the worst sinners.  For as Jesus says to them also:  “Today salvation has come to this house because this man [this woman] too is a descendant of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost.”