Homily

This Gospel of Zacchaeus is like a signpost, a reminder every year that the Great Fast is coming soon, it’s just around the corner. And it also serves as a reminder that I need to do my taxes for this year. With just a few details St. Luke paints a fine picture of this most unusual man, who stands for us in comparison with the rich young man we heard about two Sundays ago. Here’s how Luke arranges his story: First, he tells the story of the rich young man who said he wanted eternal life, but could not give up his wealth to follow Jesus. Then, last Sunday we heard of the blind man who told Jesus he wanted to see, and he was cured. Today we hear of a wealthy man who also wants to see, but not because he is blind. What he wants to see is Jesus.

According to the culture of his day for Zacchaeus to be climbing up a tree was to open himself up to ridicule from the people of the town. Even today that might happen, but back then it was something a proper gentleman would never do and he was already on the list of despised persons because he was a tax collector. But Zacchaeus doesn’t care. He wants to see Jesus. He must have heard about Him and His work, and His teaching. He doesn’t want to be healed, he doesn’t have a question to ask; he just wants to see Jesus. Something is moving within him, some spiritual longing and desire for something more. On the one had, by working as a tax collector for Rome, he has the scorn of his fellow Jews as a collaborator with their foreign occupiers. And yet we see that he was a man of faith and compassion as the story moves along.

I can’t imagine his shock when Jesus looks up at him, sitting up there in the tree branch, and calls out his name and tells him He is going to stay at his house. Stop and think about it for a moment! Jesus tells him to hurry up and climb down out of the tree. And what does Zacchaeus do? He hurries up and climbs down. Notice the instant obedience that Luke wants us to see. And then he welcomes Jesus with great joy. Instantly the crowd around them starts to mumble and complain, for they have no joy here in front of Jesus. They are not surprised that Jesus knows this man’s name, but they are surprised that Jesus would go to the house of a sinner.

Zacchaeus hears this complaining of the crowd and he makes his defense before Jesus. And here, again, after reading the Gospel thousands of times I still learn something new this year. This tax collector tells Jesus that he gives half of his possessions to the poor. Sometimes this is translated as “I will give half to the poor” but it is probably better to see the Greek text as saying “I give half of my possessions to the poor.” Not as something he will do in the future, but something he is already doing at the present time. And if he finds anyone has been cheated or not bargained with fairly he repays them four times over. That’s pretty amazing. Now notice that Zacchaeus only gives half of his possessions to the poor, which doesn’t mean that he is not a wealthy man. If he is worth, let’s say one million dollars, you can still have a fine living on half a million, right? And yet Jesus says that this day salvation has come to his house, but the rich man was asked to give all his wealth up to the poor and follow Jesus in order to be saved. So obviously it is not about how much money a person has that makes the difference, so we should not sit satisfied that we’re okay because we’re not rich. What matters, what really makes the difference is in how much we desire to follow Jesus. How joyfully do we welcome Him into our life?

It’s easy to fall into complacency about our Christian life. “Oh, I go to church on Sunday, and sometimes I give for the poor, and I hardly ever murder anybody.” The rich man kept all the commandments, which is better than we are doing, and yet, when the moment of truth and decision came, he could not give himself over to Jesus. He couldn’t really trust Him. He couldn’t welcome Him with great joy and that’s why he walked away in sadness. It doesn’t mean that obeying the rules is not important, because the fact that he obeyed all the rules should have put him in the best position possible to follow Jesus—and it did put him in that best position. Yet, when the moment came to make that leap of faith and trust, he would not do it. He wouldn’t follow Jesus. He could obey commandments but he could not obey Christ.

We find ourselves in a society today where many people deny the truths of Christian morality that have stood for 2000 years as guides for life, not only here, but for eternity as well. We hear people today say “We don’t accept that rule, we don’t follow that commandment, we will not uphold that law, we will not be told what to do, we demand freedom to do this, and this and this, and we will teach this in the schools, and on T.V. and in movies and online and everywhere we can, and we will use all the power we can muster to change the rules to our liking.” For people such as this it’s all about law and freedom, they say. As though laws alone can bring us into good living, as though freedom means the ability to do what we want. One word you will not hear these people say is “Jesus.”

All they talk about is rules and laws and freedom to do as they wish. They won’t mention Jesus, because to them, for whatever reasons they may have, Jesus is irrelevant to what they desire. He’s out of the picture, not needed, not relevant, not important. No need to bring Him up. Understood.

But for us, dear friends, we should never consider rules, commandments, or even the teachings of the Church in the first place, or we risk a downfall like the rich young man. Jesus Christ must always be for us in the first place. He is the one we follow. We are His disciples and His beloved. He must always come first, my Lord and my God. And the, if He is first, then I will follow His rules, I will obey His commandments, I will accept the teachings of His Church because I am His disciple and all He gives tot me is for my good.

I cannot accept the arrogance of those who say they are Christian but do not follow Christ in obedience and submission to His complete Gospel, as though we know better that Jesus. How can there be anything but sadness in the end of that arrogance; if we end up not following Jesus, just some of His commandments, the ones we decide are good to obey. And that will never be enough. That will never be an occasion for great joy. It is true that we likely will not change the moral climate of our society by arguing that certain practices go against the teachings of Jesus. But I do believe we can change society if we first strengthen our own faith as disciples, never hesitate to declare our faith in Jesus and never fail to welcome Him with great joy. Then salvation comes to our homes. And from our homes we can go out to offer it to others. No matter what law is in place, no matter what moral fad is popular, no matter what hardships we may face, the truth is still the truth: Jesus Christ is Lord! Let us welcome Him with joy.