31^st Sunday of Year C ordinary Time.

30 October 2022 at St. Vincent de Paul

After all the political turmoil of the past months and faced with the declining economic situation, there was some hope this week when Mr Sunach was chosen by the Few to lead the government. He is the first non-British White person to reach the doorstep of 10 Downing Street. He is a sign of hope that Britons are freeing ourselves from our imperial past and from the scourge of racism and are ready to accept each and every person as a fellow human being, made in the image of God. There is hope that everyone will be equally respected and prejudices will no longer govern choices and decisions.

However, that hope was quickly thrown into doubt on Tuesday, when at Prime Minister's Questions, Mr Sunach defended his appointment of the new Home Secretary by attacking Sir Kier Starmer for things he has done or said in the past. As we say, he went digging in his past to seek mud to fling at him. How disappointing that, instead of explaining his decision so as to win the approval of the Opposition, he had to dig into the past and seek out mistakes or failures to expose them and hope that this would silence the search for the Truth.

Such behaviour is exactly the opposite of what Jesus would do. It’s the antithesis of today’s gospel account of Jesus’ meeting with Zacchaeus, the tax-collector. And what a lovely account it is. We all know it by heart because it’s such an attractive story and easy to remember. It’s a humorous story with a profound message of conversion and pardon.

We have to remember just how much Zacchaeus was despised by his own people and how excluded he was from the society of those who thought of themselves as true sons and daughters of Abraham. Zacchaeus was a public sinner, who made himself rich by exploiting the people, by abusing their vulnerability before the Roman occupiers. He was a small man who had become too big for his boots, so to speak, using his wealth and power to become even richer. Any other short adult who absolutely wanted to see beyond the crowd, would have gone into someone’s house and climbed onto the flat roof to see what Jesus was doing. But no one would open the door to Zacchaeus. No one wanted to be seen letting this sinner into their house for they would be associated with him and be excluded too.

Any other powerful person like Zacchaeus would have accepted the situation and kept his dignity and walked discretely away. But some great desire had entered into the heart of Zacchaeus. He had to see and he had to hear Jesus. Was this desire already the stirrings of a desire to change his life? Had he already heard the message of Jesus and knew that his life could no longer go on like it was? Was he seeking a way back into being at home with God? Whatever was going on inside him, he threw all caution aside, mocked his own dignity, and climbed a tree in the manner of an inquisitive child.

And Jesus saw him. And Jesus gazed at him. And the words Jesus addressed to him melted his heart. They melted away all his greed and his pride. They melted away all his resistance to God’s love, and the incredible thing happened. Jesus says, “Zacchaeus, I want to come to your house and eat with you tonight”. No condemnation. No admonition. No conditions… No “If you change, or if you convert, or if do this or that”. Just a straightforward, “I want to come to your house, now, just as you are. Only get down from that tree and stop making a further fool of yourself”.

Jesus knew the power of love. He knew too that this man wanted to find peace in his life;  wanted to be on good terms with God, with his conscience and with his people. Jesus knew that Zacchaeus was ripe for a change in his life and he gave him the means to achieve it.

We know that Zacchaeus responded in the most generous and radical way and his life changed. Zacchaeus touched the child within himself, as he had not done for many years. He found his self-respect and a new joie de vivre – a new, intense joy in being the friend of God that would also allow himself to be the friend all his neighbours. His conversion was profound, it was radical, it was complete.

This is what Jesus does for each of us. There is no prejudice in Jesus. He does not look at us and say “I can see the bad in you. I know what you have done, in the past, and your mistakes, and I will expose them to all…” That’s not the way of Jesus. He only sees the good within us. He sees the love that is seeking to reach out to others, despite our fears and our doubts, despite the mistakes we have made, the wounds we have suffered or have even imposed on others. He sees our desire for peace within. He sees our loneliness and our pain. And he calls us down from our precarious position and says, “I want to dwell in you tonight”.

Prayer

Father, you call us to live and to change. May we hear the call to conversion, so as to live life abundantly. Through Jesus Christ Our Lord.