Catechism Links[1]
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| “Zacchaeus” Artist and Date are UNKNOWN |
Readings and
Commentary:[4]
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!
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Wisdom (from the
Second Diptych) tells us that God created all that is and has being, and
because his creation is loved by him, all things and people are loved (see
also Hosea
6:4-6; John
3:1-4:11). “Origen used
this passage to draw lessons about God's all-embracing love: "Because we
are his children, the Lord encourages us to develop the same attitude, and
teaches us to do good works for all mankind. For that is why He is called the
'savior of all people, especially of those who believe in him' (1
Timothy 4:10), and his
Christ the 'expiation of ours sins, and the sins of the whole world' (1 John
2:2)" (Contra
Celsum, 4, 28).”[5]
Implicit in that relationship,
however, is the need for repentance by those who have sinned. In that
repentance is salvation, for God corrects:“…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!”
CCC: Wis 11:23 269; Wis
11:24-26 301; Wis
11:24 373
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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. I will
praise your name for ever, my king and my God.
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. I will
praise your name for ever, my king and my God.
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. I will
praise your name for ever, my king and my God.
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. I will
praise your name for ever, my king and my God.
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This hymn of thanksgiving praises
God for his mercy, and reflects the same relationship as that described
in Wisdom 11:22-12:2 .
God loves his creation and tries to conform all to his image. He punishes those
who sin against him and gives support to the downtrodden.
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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.
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St. Paul concludes his introduction to his second letter by
telling the Thessalonians that his prayer is that all may be worthy of the
faith to which they were called. He tells them that their actions would bring
Glory to God, and Jesus, God's Only Begotten Son. He begins the second chapter
warning them not to be taken in by a false letter, purportedly from him (St.
Paul), which said the Lord had already returned and the end times were upon
them.
“Those who try to mislead the people of God by teachings contrary
to Christian faith often use methods of the same sort. By twisting the meaning
of Sacred Scripture (cf. Matthew 4:6) they not
infrequently promote wrong teaching as if it were a revelation from the Holy
Spirit. The Second Vatican Council has reminded us how to identify subjective interpretation
of that kind: "The task of giving an
authentic interpretation, whether in its written form or in the form of
Tradition, has been entrusted to the living teaching office of the Church
alone. Its authority is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ" (Dei Verbum, 10).[6]
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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."
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In this passage, we hear the
story of Zacchaeus, the tax collector, and Jesus. While still on his final
journey to Jerusalem, this encounter takes place in Jericho, on the western
edge of Jordan Valley, about 6 miles north of the Dead Sea, northeast of
Jerusalem. Jesus chooses Zacchaeus’ home for his resting place (an unpopular
choice: “…they began to grumble, saying, ‘He has gone to stay at the house
of a sinner’”).
Jesus uses this occasion to give
us a clear idea of why he came. When Zacchaeus tells him what he has done with
his material possessions, Jesus proclaims: “…the Son of Man has come to seek
and to save what was lost.” The Lord's mission is salvation.
The story of Zacchaeus is another
of the stories unique to the Gospel of St. Luke. The Tax Collector exemplifies
the attitude the faithful should take. He detaches himself easily from his
wealth. Zacchaeus' offers go beyond what Mosaic Law calls for (assuming some of
his dealings were dishonest: Exodus 21:37; Numbers 5:5-7) to give
half of his possessions to the poor, and to make amends four times over for any
accounts he has wrongly settled. This action, the Lord tells those present, has
earned him salvation.
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Reflection:
There
is an axiom in the first reading from Wisdom that must not be forgotten and
bears on all the things that the Church teaches. In short, the key words are:
“For you love all things
that are and loathe nothing that you have made; for what you hated, you would
not have fashioned.”
This
is especially important as we deal with issues reported in the media and
supported by many in popular or secular culture. As members of the Catholic Church we are
considered by many to be non-inclusive and, in some quarters, even bigoted
because we refuse to change our stance on the Church’s long-held moral
principles. Our first response to those
who challenge our views must be to point first at this principle from
Wisdom. First, it must be understood
that we are called to love all that God has created as he loves it. We are called to love people who differ from
us, even our enemies, for they too are God’s creation. When people call us names because we do not
support and cannot accept what we consider to be immoral behavior, we must tell
them it is the actions of some we detest, not those who have sinned.
We
next consider Zacchaeus the Tax Collector (Publican [not Republican-humorous
political comment suppressed]).
Zacchaeus was trying to see Jesus, and we find irony here because Jesus,
as it turns out, was also seeking him.
Zacchaeus, once his encounter with the Lord had taken its effect, understood
what God wanted from him. He understood what scripture said and required, and
he exceeded the demands of the Law in his restitution.
We
contrast this story with what was going on with St. Paul as he wrote to the Thessalonians in
the second reading. The Apostle addresses
a very real concern. A letter was
apparently being sent around that he (St. Paul) is supposed to have written.
The letter says the end of life on earth is at hand (sound familiar?). We can imagine what kind of disruption this
causes with the Christian community.
We’ve seen what happens when modern-day self-proclaimed prophets do
likewise. Most are viewed as fanatics or
kooks, but some (David Koresh of Branch Davidian infamy,
Jim Jones with Jonestown) can cause incredible harm.
What
Paul speaks out about, and what Jesus evokes from Zacchaeus, is what could be
called in a cliché kind of way, “God’s Truth.”
The problem Paul faces is that others are claiming this same
authority. They claim to speak with
either their own version of truth or have commandeered the Apostle’s authority,
claiming he has said things about Jesus and his mission that he had not said.
We
find the warning given to the Thessalonians germane: “…not to be shaken out of your minds suddenly, or to be alarmed either by
a ‘spirit,’ or by an oral statement.”
There are many people who are trying to justify their actions using
sacred scripture; twisting the meaning of it by either taking it out of context
or by attempting pseudo-scholarly interpretations that change the meaning. Here’s just one example:
A
friend of mine recently became quite upset because his denomination, the
Presbyterian Church, was considering ordaining openly homosexual individuals as
ministers and pastors. The arguments put
forward for accepting this behavior by his minister, a PhD in Theology, cited
scripture (Genesis19:4-11; Judges19:1-30; Leviticus 18:1-30; Leviticus 20:1-27; 1 Corinthians 6:9-17; 1 Timothy 1:3-13; Jude 1-25; Romans 1:26-27), and said they really didn’t mean that
homosexual behavior was necessarily immoral.
The rationale was that there was no reason to exclude an openly
homosexual person simply because the marriage covenant did not extend to
same-sex partners (From a civil contractual standpoint, this has now been
changed by Obergefell v. Hodges and the Supreme Court). He completely ignored the biblical teaching
that identified sodomy (and by implication its female counterpart) as
“unnatural [disordered] acts.”
There
are numerous other examples of attempts to weaken the concept of “Christian
morality” in the name of “inclusivity.” (The
same friend tells me that a protestant church in his rural hometown recently
removed the cross from its steeple because they wanted to send the message that
they were more inclusive.)
While
some of the more liberal individuals within the Church might find these
arguments compelling, the Church’s teaching authority on this subject and many
others is firmly rooted in biblical and traditional moral theology. This has not been changed, as popular media
are contending, by our current Pope, Francis.
While he has placed our moral battles in perspective, prioritizing the
need to proclaim the Gospel, he has not changed the consistent teaching on these
moral truths. Our constant battle as
Church is to make sure those teachings remain clear and that those who claim to
be telling us what the Church believes or teaches are doing so with appropriate
authority; not something usurped to promote their own agenda or interpretation
of morality.
Zacchaeus
found the truth in Christ. Jesus in turn
passed the keys of truth to St. Peter, and he to his successors. Today we cling to that authoritative teaching
body as a source and wellspring of truth as we strive to do God’s will.
Pax
[1]
Catechism links are taken from the Homiletic
Directory, Published by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the
Discipline of the Sacraments, 29 June 2014
[2]
The picture used today is “Zacchaeus” Artist and Date are UNKNOWN
[4]
The readings are taken from the New American Bible with the exception of the
Psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for
English in Liturgy (ICEL). This
re-publication is not authorized by USCCB and is for private use only.
[5]
The Navarre Bible: “Letters
of St. Paul”, Scepter Publishers, Princeton, NJ, © 2003, pp.534-535
[6]
Ibid 1 Thessalonians 2ff
