My homily for the 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time Luke 19, 1-10 Have you ever climbed a tree? I have but I’ll never go higher than six feet. I just can’t. When I was in the seminary, a lot of my classmates would go up the tree with almost no effort and sometimes they would make fun of me because I can’t climb one. My usual excuse is that I’ve lived in Manila, and because I lived in the city so trees are hard to come by. With that I have accepted my fate that I just can’t climb a tree. In today’s gospel, we know of somebody who knows how to climb trees, Zaccheaus. To able to appreciate this gospel, we should know who he is and what does he do why is so hated by society. The first thing that we notice is that he the chief tax collector and a wealthy man. In Jewish society, tax collectors are frowned upon because of two things. First, they serve their colonial masters, the Romans. And Jews are very resentful of the presence of the Romans and because of this various insurgencies have erupted across Palestine and efforts to liberate Israel from the Roman colonisers have always been constant and many Jewish men have believed that they are doing a service to God if they drive out any colonial forces out of their land. So people like the tax collectors who are virtually serving the enemy are frowned upon by society. Second, as people who are employed by the Roman empire, they are allowed by the Romans to get commission, usually after they have accomplished their “quota”. So these tax collectors wanted to enrich themselves by collecting excessive taxes so that they would be able get higher commissions and enrich themselves. With this we can conclude that Zaccheaus has a double whammy, no wonder he is hated by everyone. In the gospel we realise that Zaccheaus is looking for Jesus. He wanted to see Jesus. Even if Zaccheaus is just driven by mere curiosity to see Jesus, there must be something in there that made him wanted to see or at least get a glimpse of Jesus. Has Zaccheaus started the long period of conversion that slowly he wanted to give up his former way of living or at least no longer cheat tax payers. In Jewish society, honour is paramount. Zaccheaus must have lost his honour because of his wicked way. And the only way to regain that honour is to be associated with somebody of high regard in the society. And as far as credibility goes, you don’t have anybody more honourable like Jesus. So for Zaccheaus, he wanted to regain his honour by following or being associated with Jesus. However, because of his reputation, he must have given up the possibility of being associated with Jesus, but at least if he would get a glimpse of him, it would give him added inspiration to continue his conversion. Being small of stature though, he found it tough to see Jesus by just standing, so he had a good idea and that is to climb a tree. And for a wealthy man like Zaccheaus, to be seen in an awkward situation or a situation where he could be embarrassed, that would be the last thing that wants to happen. And yet, he is humble enough to set these all aside in order to see Jesus. Jesus recognised his effort and even demanded Zaccheaus that he must stay in his house. And with that, Zaccheaus promised to give half of his belongings to the poor and to repay four times over if he had extorted anybody. And with this Zaccheaus’ conversion is now complete. Do we also feel like Zaccheaus sometimes? Are we also like him in seeking Jesus? Do we want to have a glimpse on who he is? Or are we like the crowd grumbling that Jesus is going to a sinner’s house as a guest? We are all like Zaccheaus. We are all sinners no exemptions. The only question is that, do want to see Jesus? Do we want to know him? If Jesus demanded that he wants to visit our house, are we willing to welcome him? Our lives is a journey of conversion. We pray that Jesus would visit our house and that we maybe humble enough to accept his invitation so that salvation can come to our house. Fr. Elmer I. Ibarra, SVD Wellington, New Zealand
Posted on: Sat, 02 Nov 2013 06:31:55 +0000
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