Jesus Came To Seek And Save, Not Condemn
1. I Must Stay at Your House Today
2. A Small Person
Introduction
1. I Must Stay in Your House Today
What a consolation and encouragement for us that the Lord Jesus wants to be our guest, our friend, our companion on the road! And this holds true whoever we are, whatever we have done wrong. The Lord Jesus sees us and knows us and he wants to stay with us today, now, in our actual situation. In this Eucharist we ask him that we may become more aware of his offer and accept it with great joy.
2. A Small Man
There are people who keep searching for higher values in life. Perhaps one is only half satisfied with the kind of life one is leading, or feels guilty about his or her way of life. The gospel of today shows us a small man, literally and morally, in search of the Lord. To his surprise, Jesus sees the hunger in the man’s heart and turns to him. Jesus wishes to encounter him. If we ourselves recognize our smallness, the Lord will show himself to us, and invite himself to go with us and to stay with us. He will make us great in love and goodness.
First Reading: God, the Lover of Life
The patient, merciful God gives the sinner a chance to repent, for he loves people. Even his punishments are “educational,” intended not to condemn but to correct and to lead to conversion.
1 Reading: Wisdom 11:22-12:2
Before the LORD the whole universe is as a grain from a balance or a drop of morning dew come down upon the earth. 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. And how could a thing remain, unless you willed it; or be preserved, had it not been called forth by you? But you spare all things, because they are yours, O LORD and lover of souls, for your imperishable spirit is in all things! Therefore 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, O LORD!
Responsorial Psalm: Ps 145:1-2, 8-9, 10-11, 13, 14
R. (cf. 1) I will praise your name for ever, my king and my God.
I will extol you, O my God and King,
and I will bless your name forever and ever.
Every day will I bless you,
and I will praise your name forever and ever. R.
The LORD is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and of great kindness.
The LORD is good to all
and compassionate toward all his works. R.
Let all your works give you thanks, O LORD,
and let your faithful ones bless you.
Let them discourse of the glory of your kingdom
and speak of your might. R.
The LORD is faithful in all his words
and holy in all his works.
The LORD lifts up all who are falling
and raises up all who are bowed down. R.
Second Reading: God’s People, Sign of Christ’s Glory
No sensational rumours about the coming end of the world can upset us if we live up to our calling as Christians, and thus become the signs of the glory of Jesus Christ.
2 Reading: 2 Thessalonians 1:11-2:2
Brothers and sisters: We always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and powerfully bring to fulfillment every good purpose and every effort of faith, that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, in accord with the grace of our God and Lord Jesus Christ. We ask you, brothers and sisters, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our assembling with him, not to be shaken out of your minds suddenly, or to be alarmed either by a “spirit,” or by an oral statement, or by a letter allegedly from us to the effect that the day of the Lord is at hand.
Alleluia: John 3:16
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him might have eternal life.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel: I Have Come to Seek Out What Was Lost
A real encounter with Jesus cannot leave us indifferent. Zacchaeus meets Jesus and is converted.
Gospel: Luke 19:1-10
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.”
Commentary
Whenever I do homily on this Gospel, I highlight these obstacles on our way to encountering Jesus (salvation) symbolically presented as: short stature, tax-collector, wealth (obstacles from his nature and job); crowd (external obstacle). Zacchaeus overcame all. Think about what they might mean in your concrete life. However, there are people who have an image of an avenging God. Sometimes people even warn their children not to do certain things because God will punish them. This image of God is in direct contrast with the idea, which is repeated often, that God is love and is a very loving father. People demand from the God who deals justice, punishment of evil people; but we rarely see such behaviour in the God of Jesus; on the contrary, again and again we see a merciful God, loving everything he created.
In contrast to the Jesus that some would rather not see getting close to sinners, we see one who invites himself to eat with the tax collector and, in so doing, he invites Zacchaeus to his own table. The story of Zacchaeus, the host of Jesus, is really a story about the hospitality of God toward all. God includes those who are lost, those who have made mistakes, those who have been unjust with others. When Jesus eats with Zacchaeus, salvation comes into the house: that is, Zacchaeus is invited to the banquet of God, which is a banquet of justice, sharing, and self-giving toward others. When it appears that Zacchaeus will lose, since he will give half of what he owns to the poor and repay all he has stolen, when it seems he will become poorer, it is when paradoxically Zacchaeus is happier. Zacchaeus, the story says, was a short man, which could be a symbol of his moral identity and also of how easily he was overlooked; but Jesus sees him and, in doing so, restores his dignity as a person and as a being created by God. When others do not see him, the manner in which Jesus sees him restores his humanity and reincorporates him into the community.
This is the manner in which God sees us. When we feel most insignificant and small, when we are tempted to believe that we are indifferent to God, God looks at us with love, invites himself to supper with us and invites us to his table. When God does that, salvation comes into our house: not to make us wealthier or help us advance in life, but to give us the joy of being human, being recognized by God and invited to follow him. The loving glance from God, who loves everything created grants us life. Hence, we are so short in stature before the Mighty God and therefore need to climb the tree of his grace to be able, not only to behold his face, but to dine and live with him in eternity.
Blessing
Genuine love is gratuitous,
a free, undeserved gift.
This is why God, the source of all true love,
is responsive to people’s miseries.
His Son came to forgive our sins
and to put us back on the way of life and love
simply because he loves us.
Should our Christian communities, then,
not care more for marginal people
with the same kind of generous love
that God has shown to us?
May you do so with the blessing of almighty God:
the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. R/ Amen.
Go in peace and love one another.
R/ Thanks be to God.