Wisdom 11:22-12:2; 2
Thessalonians 1:11-2:2; Luke 19:1-10
A man was bothered with continual ringing in his ears,
bulging eyes, and a flushed face, Over a period of three years he went to one
doctor after another. One took out his tonsils, one removed his appendix,
another pulled all his teeth. He even tried a goat-gland treatment in
Switzerland – all to no avail. Finally, one doctor told him there was no hope –
he had six months to live.
The poor fellow quit his job, sold all his belongings and
decided to live it up in the time he had left. He went to his tailor and
ordered several suits and shirts. The tailor measured his neck and wrote down
16 ½.
The man corrected him. “It’s 15 ½ .”
The tailor measured again: 16 ½.
But the man insisted that he had always worn a size 15 ½.
“Well,, all right,” said the tailor. “Just don’t come back
here complaining if you have ringing ears, bulging eyes and a flushed face!”
God is like this tailor!
He offers us good and solid advice, but it is up to us to
follow with it.
As a matter of fact God has offered us through the gift of
His son the best ever advice regarding the most important issue of our life.
The issue and the question regarding of who
can be saved and how she or he can be saved.
Today's gospel story of Zacchaeus helps us to understand
that advice more clearly. But to have even better understanding of the story of
Zacchaeus we should contrast it with another story of Luke's gospel, the story of the Rich Official.
Let me than first read the story of The Rich Official before we continue our
reflections.
18 An official asked him this question, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit
eternal life?”
19Jesus answered him, “Why do you call
me good? No one is good but God alone. 20 You
know the commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery; you shall not kill; you
shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; honor your father and your
mother.’”
21And he replied, “All of these I have
observed from my youth.” 22* When
Jesus heard this he said to him, “There is still one thing left for you: sell
all that you have and distribute it to the poor, and you will have a treasure
in heaven. Then come, follow me.” 23But when he heard
this he became quite sad, for he was very rich. 24 Jesus looked at him [now sad] and said, “How hard it
is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! 25For it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye
of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”
Zacchaeus
and the Rich Offical were both powerful, both wealthy.
The Rich Official kept
all the commandments, and could be considered as righteous. But he could not do
the "one thing remaining," which was to hand over his life utterly to
Jesus, and to signal that commitment to sell his possessions and to give them
to the poor. The Rich Official left Jesus sad because he chose to keep serving
his wealth over serving God and God's poor. He has rejected God's invitation
extended to him through Jesus.
Zacchaeus,
in contrast, was regarded as a "sinner" by those accompanying Jesus
because of his occupation as chief tax-agent.
But
Zacchaeus is eager to recieve Jesus "with joy" and he declares his
willingness to share - indeed if this reading of the story is correct, his regular
practice of sharing - his possessions with the poor, not as a single gesture
but as a steady commitment. And far from being "rapacious," when he
finds any profit made on the basis of shady practice, he pays it back at the
maximum demanded by the law.
Everything
about the Rich Official suggested piety. But he was closed to the call of
Jesus.
Everything
about the tax-agent would suggest corruption. But he is righteous in his deeds
and is, as Jesus declares, a "child of Abraham."
Jesus
is not against wealthy people. He just invites them, as he does everyone else,
to keep open their hearts to God and their neighbors.
So
here comes the kicker. The invitation for each one of us to reflect upon this
weekend:
Do
we close ourselves to the voice of Christ:
· by putting too much trust in our own wealth
disregarding God and His people, the needs of his people, the needs of our own
local and church communities,
· or by separating ourselves from God and His people by
our various pious practices or titles or meanness or crankiness,
· or by being enslaved by prejudice that we know who
people are and that they cannot change?
Or we:
Welcome Christ with joy, the way Zacchaeus did, and we let
go, if this is indeed a case, of ringing
of our ears, bulging of our eyes and flushing of our face, and we become
overcome with an outrageous good news that a camel passed through the eye of a
needle!
That we have opened our hearts to the voice of Christ and
have indeed accepted his salvation.
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