HOMILY FOR 31ST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME—C

JESUS’ GOSPEL TODAY HAS TWO LESSONS FOR US.  THE FIRST LESSON IS GOD’S CREATION IS STILL GOD’S CREATION EVEN WHEN WE’VE PUT IT AND OURSELVES OUT-OF-WHACK.  NO MATTER WHAT SHAPE IT IS IN, HE LOVES IT.  THAT’S WHAT WE HEAR IN THE READING FROM WISDOM: ONE, GOD STILL LOVES US EVEN WHEN WE MESS UP; TWO, GOD WILL POKE AND PROD US UNTIL WE REALIZE WE ARE MESSED UP AND THREE GOD WILL EXTEND TO US HIS FORGIVENESS.  IN THE GOSPEL WE SEE THOSE THREE POINTS IN ACTION IN THE INTERCHANGE BETWEEN CHRIST AND ZACCHEUS.  THE SECOND LESSON IS THAT WE MUST NOT BE COMPLACENT IN OUR SPIRITUAL LIVES.  IF WE WANT TO GET A BETTER VIEW OF GOD, WE NEED TO CLIMB A SYCAMORE TREE INSTEAD OF JUST KEEPING OUR SPIRITUAL FEET ON THE GROUND.  AS A RESULT OF ZACCHEUS’ CLIMBING THAT TREE TO GET A BETTER VIEW, JESUS PRONOUNCES THAT ZACCHEUS HAS SECURED HIS SALVATION.

LET’S GET INTO IT BY LOOKING AT WHAT PEOPLE THOUGHT ABOUT TAX COLLECTORS IN THOSE DAYS.  TODAY WE WOULD PROBABLY USE A TERM LIKE  ‘BOTTOM-FEEDER’.  THERE ARE OTHERS BUT WE’LL JUST HAVE TO IMAGINE THEM.  TAX COLLECTORS WERE LOATHED FOR TWO VERY GOOD REASONS.  FIRST, THEY WERE COLLECTING TAXES FOR THE ROMANS, THE INVADERS, THE CONQUERORS.  REMEMBER IT WAS A ROMAN PROCURATOR WHO CONDEMNED JESUS TO CRUCIFIXION.  HELPING THE ROMANS IN THOSE DAYS WOULD HAVE BEEN LIKE THE COLLABORATORS WHO HELPED THE NAZIS IN OCCUPIED FRANCE OR HOLLAND DURING WORLD WAR II.  NAZI COLLABORATORS USUALLY ENDED UP WISHING THEY HADN’T COLLABORATED.  SECOND, THEY NOT ONLY COLLECTED THE TAXES THAT WERE DUE, BUT THEN SOME. 

THE WAY THE DEAL WORKED WAS THIS.  THE ROMAN GOVERNOR WOULD SAY THAT A CERTAIN CITY OWED SO MUCH IN TAXES.  THE TAX COLLECTOR WOULD THEN PAY THAT ENTIRE SUM TO THE GOVERNOR MAKING THE ROMANS HAPPY.  THEN THE TAX COLLECTOR WOULD GO TO THE CITIZENS OF THAT CITY AND MAKE THEM PAY HIM THE TAX OWED PLUS WHAT THE MAFIA TODAY CALLS THE “VIG”, A LITTLE EXTRA SO TO SPEAK TO COVER EXPENSES, AS TONY SOPRANO MIGHT SAY, AND THEN SOME.  SO THE CITIZENS ENDED UP PAYING MORE THAN THEY ACTUALLY OWED.  ZACCHEUS, THE BUM, WAS THE CHIEF TAX COLLECTOR TAKING HIS CUT FROM ALL THE JUNIOR TAX COLLECTORS WORKING FOR HIM.

NOW IF I WAS WRITING THIS GOSPEL, HERE’S THE WAY IT WOULD HAVE WORKED.  WHY SHOULD THIS CREEP OF A TAX COLLECTOR GET TO HAVE JESUS COME TO HIS HOUSE FOR SUPPER AND THEN HAVE JESUS ANNOUNCE HE WAS SAVED?  HERE’S THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO DAVID ENGLAND.  FIRST, WHEN ZACCHEUS SHOWED UP, THE CROWD WOULD HAVE WORKED HIM OVER A LITTLE, A LITTLE BRUISE HERE, A SCRATCH THERE.  NOW I LIKE THAT.  THAT’S SOMEHOW VERY SATISFYING.  THE STORY WOULD HAVE GOTTEN EVEN BETTER SINCE I WOULD HAVE WRITTEN IN MY GOSPEL A REALLY GOOD EPISODE WHERE THE BRANCH OF THE SYCAMORE BREAKS AND ZACCHEUS AT LEAST BREAKS HIS ANKLE WHEN HE LANDS.  AND THEN JESUS WOULD HAVE LOOKED HIM UP AND DOWN AND REALLY WORKED HIM OVER ABOUT BEING A GREEDY, MATERIALISTIC JERK.  THEN THE CLIMAX OF MY GOSPEL.  INSTEAD OF BEING THERE TO ANNOUNCE ZACCHEUS’ SALVATION, JESUS WOULD HAVE POINTED AT HIM WHILE ANNOUNCING TO THE CROWD THAT THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS CERTAINLY NOT FOR THE LIKES OF ZACCHEUS AND THOSE LIKE HIM.

THAT’S WHAT MY GOSPEL WOULD HAVE SAID AND THAT IS EXACTLY WHY THERE IS NO GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST ACCORDING TO DAVID.  THAT’S WHY WE ARE READING THE GOSPEL OF LUKE BECAUSE LUKE GOT IT WHILE DAVID MISUNDERSTOOD THE WHOLE THING.   

ONCE AGAIN, MY PALTRY IDEAS, MY FEEBLE SENSE OF JUSTICE FALL FAR SHORT OF THE WISDOM THAT RESIDES WITH GOD.  MY ABILITY TO UNDERSTAND DOES NOT FATHOM AT ALL THE MIND OF GOD TO WHOM THE UNIVERSE IS BUT A GRAIN OF SAND, DEW ON THE GRASS AS THE READING FROM WISDOM PUTS IT.

AS OUR PSALM TODAY TELLS US THE LORD LIFTS UP THOSE WHO ARE FALLING, EVEN A ZACCHEUS.  THAT’S GOOD SINCE IT MEANS THAT IF I CLIMB A SYCAMORE TREE, IF I MAKE AN EFFORT, SALVATION CAN ALSO COME TO ME AS IT DID TO ZACCHEUS.

AND THAT’S THE SECOND LESSON FROM TODAY’S READINGS.  I DO HAVE TO MAKE THE EFFORT.  WHAT CAN I DO?  HOW CAN I FIT A SEARCH FOR GOD INTO MY ALREADY OVERCOMMITTED LIFE?   HERE ARE SOME SUGGESTIONS.  YOU CAN ADD TO THE LIST YOURSELVES WITH NO PROBLEM.

ONE IDEA IS TO WORK ON THE QUALITY OF OUR PRAYER.  WE PRAY AND ONE OF OUR FAVORITE PRAYERS IS THE ‘OUR FATHER’.  WE CAN’T IMPROVE ON THE WORDS OF THE PRAYER BUT WE CAN IMPROVE ON HOW WE SAY IT BY FOCUSING ON EACH PHRASE AS WE SAY IT.  AFTER WE ASK FOR GOD’S KINGDOM TO COME, IMAGINE WHAT THAT WOULD BE LIKE.  WHEN WE PRAY THAT GOD’S WILL BE DONE, STOP A MOMENT AND ASK WHAT THAT WOULD MEAN IN OUR LIVES.

NEXT, MAYBE WE WANT TO REACH OUT BY READING A VERY SHORT SECTION FROM SCRIPTURE EVERY DAY, FINDING A SHORT PASSAGE THERE THAT MEANS SOMETHING TO US WHERE WE ARE THAT DAY AND MEDITATING ON IT AND PRAYING ABOUT IT FOR A COUPLE OF MINUTES.

MAYBE WE COULD OFFER OUR HELP TO SOMEONE BEFORE WE ARE ASKED FOR IT.  MAYBE WE CAN FOCUS ON THE EUCHARIST FOR A YEAR AS OUR POPE HAS ASKED US TO.  MAYBE A RETREAT IS A WAY WE CAN REACH OUT FOR SALVATION AND A RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD.  IF WE CAN’T GO AWAY ON A RETREAT, MAYBE WE CAN MAKE A MINI-RETREAT FOR OURSELVES OUT OF ADVENT OR DURING HOLY WEEK.  

YOU KNOW, AT THE BOTTOM OF IT WE ARE VERY LUCKY IN OUR GOD SINCE, WHEN WE BEGIN THE SEARCH, OUR GOD IS MOST WILLING TO BE FOUND.  AS WE HEARD FROM THE BOOK OF WISDOM, GOD DOESN’T MAKE TRASH.  GOD LOVES US.  EVEN ZACCHEUS.  YOU KNOW, THERE IS A MESSAGE ABOUT GOD’S LOVE FOR US AND HOW GOOD GOD’S CREATION REALLY JUST IN THE NAME ZACCHEUS.  IN HEBREW ZACCHEUS MEANS ‘PURE, CLEAN, INNOCENT’.  TRY AS WE MIGHT, WE’LL NEVER MAKE OURSELVES DISTASTEFUL TO GOD OR DIRTY IN GOD’S EYES.  WE WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN MADE, COULD NOT ENDURE EVEN THE SLIGHTEST INSTANT UNLESS WE WERE WILLED BY OUR CREATOR AND WANTED BY OUR CREATOR.

WE ARE ALSO VERY LUCKY IN OUR GOD IN ANOTHER WAY.  IT’S A GIFT FROM GOD THAT WE SHARE WITH ZACCHEUS.  NO MATTER HOW MUCH WE ARE THE SAINT OR SINNER, NO MATTER HOW RICH OR POOR WE MIGHT BE, HOW YOUNG OR OLD, WE ALL SEEM TO BE GIFTED WITH A QUESTION IN THE CENTER OF OUR VERY BEING, A QUESTION THAT DEMANDS AN ANSWER.  WE ALL SEEM TO WANT TO KNOW WHAT THIS JESUS, THIS GOD, IS ALL ABOUT AND WILL TAKE SOME RISKS, CLIMB SOME SYCAMORE TREES, TO FIND OUT.