Sunday Gospel Comment
Alberic Jacovone OSB
YEAR C THIRTY-FIRST SUNDAY - 31.10.04 Wis 11,22-12,2; 2 Thess 1,11-2,2; Lk 19,1-10 Who’s the seeker, Who the sought? Text,
context & pretext: Luke’s
story of Zaccheus is a favourite of children; it’s used for Children’s First
Reconciliation, & is a story that can easily be acted out or read in parts:
with Zaccheus, Jesus, Crowd, Narrator & with a chair for a sycamore tree.
Today’s text should be contrasted with the story of the “young ruler who was
very rich & had kept all commandments” (Lk 18,18-23), which comes just
before our story and is not included in the Lectionary for this year. In that
text, Jesus challenges the rich man to sell all he has & distribute the
proceeds to the poor, but the rich man is unable to give up his wealth. Our text
comes also after last Sunday’s story of Pharisee & Tax-collector, where a
man as despicable & hated as Zaccheus, is featured: both extorting money for
the hated Roman Enemy & both making themselves filthy rich in the process).
Still, both are acceptable to God while their counterparts are rejected. In the
3 stories, Luke plays the dissonant cord: between saints & sinners, rich
& poor, honourable & despicable people, it’s always sinners, poor
& rejected people who are included in Jesus’ Kingdom, never those who
claim to be saints, rich & honourable. For Zaccheus the same applies: he is
rich but is considered a despicable sinner for cooperating with the hated Roman
Enemies; still he is the one who is honoured by Our Lord’s visit and who
spontaneously offers to give half his wealth away and make generous restitution
to those he has extorted. Jesus’ response is in stark contrast. ‘Sinners’
make themselves look undignified & are accepted, while the stand-offish
righteous are excluded. In our story, ‘small’ Zaccheus, lets himself look
ridiculous by climbing a tree, in order to see & encounter Jesus, just as a
hated ‘tax-man’ humbled himself in the temple in last Sunday’s Gospel. Lesson: “Good news” is that Jesus not only tells parables, but
lives them out in real life. He searches out for us ‘lost’ sheep, & our
encounter leads to conversion & salvation, while the ‘righteous’ are
left out. Saints
& Sinners:
The reversal of values is typical of Luke’s Gospel. To explore and tease the
text, it’s is helpful to visualize the story by questions & answers: who
is in the scene? What did Zaccheus do? Why? why did people hate him? Why did
people want to see Jesus? Why did Jesus & Zaccheus meet? who sought whom?
Who spoke first? Why did Jesus seek a sinner like Zaccheus? What did Jesus say
to him? why were people offended? How did Zaccheus respond to change his life?
What can we do to be like him? Historically, we know nothing about Zaccheus apart from what we read
today. He is certainly a Jew: the word which in Greek is rendered as
‘Zakchaios’ is a well known Hebrew
name, ‘Zakkai’, which appears in Old Testament. It means “clean
& upright”. At Luke’s time, lived the famous Johannan ben Zakkay,
founder of Jamnia’s Rabbinical Academy, & was responsible for the survival
of Judaism after 66AD Jewish Revolt. Later Church historians say that Zaccheus became Bishop of Cesarea,
appointed by Peter. Today’s story has been variously assessed: as a legend
with a teaching of Jesus to it; as a conversion story, a vindication story, or a
biographical incident with a point that Luke intends to impress on us readers.
As a person, Zaccheus is portrayed as complex, yet gentle person, as humorous
yet driven by Providence (‘it is necessary’, v.5), as a despised cooperator
with the enemy and a hopelessly lost sinner. The point of the story is that a
‘little’, disadvantaged person who seeks to encounter the Lord &
experience his contact, is himself sought after by the Lord, eager to save him.
Is He now, seeking you out? How? ______________________________________ |
