Homily for the 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year C

Lately I have been hearing the phrase, “We must hate the sin but love the sinner” a great deal. Most often lately it is coming up in the context of the gay marriage debates. But I begin to wonder as I read our Gospel today, who has the right to judge about the sin, and whether we shouldn’t just love and accept people as they are.

Traditionally, we have been told that tax collectors were sinners, and certainly the people around Jesus, shocked that Jesus was going to go to this tax collector’s home and eat with him, thought that way.  I mean, Zacchaeus was rich and must have gotten his money through ill-gotten gains, mustn’t he? They all made judgments about the sinfulness of this man Zacchaeus.

However, in researching a little bit about the period, and the job he had and the meaning of the word rich, as well as one little mistranslation in our text, I have come up with a different feeling. I think that Zacchaeus was a good man, and that Jesus knew this, and that is why he stayed with him.

Why do I say that, and go against so much of the traditional descriptions of the story?  First of all, his name means ‘righteous one”.  Often in the Gospel stories the names can be a clue to understanding.  Secondly, the mistranslation involves Zacchaeus’ statement which is translated “I will give…” but in actuality the tense in Greek is an active, ongoing tense – “I have been giving….” Even the sense of “If I have taken anything wrongly..” does not imply guilt or that he has been illegal or unfair in his transactions. It simply implies that if he finds anything has been done , he will rectify it – not just the Biblical 20% but 400%!  Does this sound like a bad man?  Even more, he obviously was interested in who Jesus was and what he had to say.  It would be rather demeaning to climb a tree to see Jesus, as it would even in our own day. The hatred for the tax collector’s position was not always because they were cheats. They were, however, always despised by the Jews because the Romans would hire these people to collect, and give them a percentage of the taxes they were able to squeeze out of people. Because the Jews hated the Romans, it carried over into those who worked for the Romans. To be rich in these times also didn’t mean you had a lot of money, but actually meant that you didn’t do any work yourself.  So Zacchaeus probably had many people working for him and didn’t do anything much himself. This is why he could say if anyone has been cheated or taken advantage of it, he will find out and make reparation.

So, if Zacchaeus is a man who was unfairly judged to be a sinner by the Jews, how does this change our story and what it means?

For me, it means a return to lines in Matthew like “Judge not, lest you be judged”, where it is clear we must not have a self-righteous attitude in judging others, we must not judge the motives of other people. By knowing Zaccheus, and I am sure, even Zacchaeus wondered how Jesus knew his name! – Jesus invites himself and sups with him as a lesson to those who would judge. Instead, Jesus show his love for Zaccheus. He is the true shepherd who brings the sheep together, who picks up the strays and joins them to the flock.

It also means that Jesus loves those who we see as bad sinners, and is the one who can judge their motives and their inner hearts. This acceptance by Jesus often brought people to repentance and salvation and forgiveness. Even if people do wrong, we need to care for them, love them and see what that brings about in them.

When Jesus says “Today salvation has come to this house” it could mean simply that he is the salvation that has come into Zacchaeus’ house through his own invitation – again, the gift of grace. If the last reference – The Son of Man has come to seek and save what was lost – refers to Zacchaeus, the descendent of Abraham, perhaps Jesus is merely talking about the Jews who have been invited to have Jesus come and save them.

So, going back to hating the sin and loving the sinner- I think this still implies a judgment on our part.  Jesus always chose love over judgement. His followers were wrong in their judgement of Zacchaeus.

Now let’s put this in the context of the other readings as well, for as we know, the first reading especially is often an Old Testament look at the same issues. The Book of Wisdom is a beautiful, loving reading today as well. It begins by saying that we are very insignificant in the whole universe – we are like a grain or a drop of dew – but despite our insignificance in relation to everything, we are totally loved by God.  God made all things and loves all things made. If God didn’t think about us, we wouldn’t exist, so we know he is thinking about us, and even if we sin against him, forget him, he never forgets us or stops forgiving us. God is the perfect parent – he finds ways to let us know we are doing wrong or forgetting him, but only so they come back to Him.  He is the perfect parent, the Good shepherd.

Our psalm today says it succinctly: God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love. God is good to all, and compassionate to everything he has made.

So the two readings are tied together by the image of God as parent and shepherd, caring for all – sinner and saint! And how can we respond to this joyous news? St. Paul suggests today that try our best to be worthy of that great love of God, looking forward to being joined with him, but also realizing that the kingdom is already here. Like Zacchaeus, he calls us by our name and asks to be invited to our homes, to our lives, helping us to see our obligations to each other and recognizing what God’s son has done for us.

What is difficult is to state what we need to do in response to this good news. Zacchaeus’ response was that he would continue to give half of his possessions and repay those whom he has offended or defrauded. What can we say that we are doing to merit the salvation that is our gift, our heritage, our promise? It demands a response, so perhaps, that is what we need to do this week. Find a way to respond to Jesus, to help others, to repair any damage we have done, and to show our love for God. How can we stop judging others, and only look at the ways that we ourselves may not be meeting the expectations of God and Jesus? Not easy, but Jesus told us it wouldn’t be!

Boris Becker was the world’s number one tennis star. At the height of his tennis career, he had won Wimbledon twice, once as the youngest player. He was rich and could afford all the material comfort and luxury he wanted. Yet he was an unhappy man. In spite of all his achievements, his life was so empty and meaningless that he contemplated suicide. “I had no inner peace,” he said. Becker is not alone in this feeling of emptiness. Many successful people who have ignored the inner life have felt that way. According to J. Oswald Sanders in his book Facing Loneliness, “The millionaire is usually a lonely man and the comedian is often more unhappy than his audience.” Jack Higgens, author of such successful novels as The Eagle Has Landed, was asked what he would like to have known as a boy. His answer: “That when you get to the top, there’s nothing there.”

Who else would have known this than Zacchaeus in today’s gospel? As the chief tax collector of the city of Jericho, Zacchaeus would have been stinking rich by those days’ standards. The chief tax collector was not a worker on a fixed salary, he was the sole proprietor of a business enterprise. The Roman administration would levy a city the amount of money they expected the city to contribute in a year. The chief tax collector would pay that amount to the Roman authorities and then have the sole right and freedom to impose and collect taxes from the inhabitants of the city. He himself determined how much each person would pay. He would employ the actual tax collection agents to go round and take the taxes. Whatever money they collected over and above the lump sum he paid to the Roman administrator was his profit. Though the chief tax collector made a lot of money, he was hated in the city, not only because he overtaxed the people, but also because he was helping the pagan Romans to exploit his own people. He was regarded as a public sinner, as a traitor and as someone unclean before God. You can see that, although he was financially well to do, the chief tax collector lived a life of loneliness, alienated from his own people and alienated from God.

Zacchaeus was fascinated with Jesus, this poor Galilean who enjoyed the goodwill and the loyalty of the people. What was his secret? Zacchaeus would love to find out. But how could a wealthy man of his stature be seen in the crowd with the same people he has milked year after year to amass his wealth. He thought of a way to see Jesus without anybody seeing him. He would climb a tree and hide himself up there. This was something below him to do, for tree climbing was something for only boys and slaves. Someone in the crowd must have spotted him first. Can you imagine the shame and embarrassment he must have felt to be spotted up on that tree? The people must have jeered at him. But the jeering stopped as Jesus looked at Zacchaeus up there on the tree and spoke: “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today” (Luke 19:5). He hurried down the tree with a big smile on his face and the crowd made way for him as we went to hug Jesus and lead the way to his house.

At the dinner Jesus did not preach to Zacchaeus that he must repent or go to hell. But his non-judgmental and unconditional acceptance of the sinful Zacchaeus spoke more eloquently to his heart than the best sermon ever could. Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord in full view of everybody, “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much” (verse 8). By giving half of his wealth to the poor and using the other half to repay fourfold all those he had defrauded, Zacchaeus’ wealth would be all but gone. Who needs all that money when you have found a meaningful life?

There are many Zacchaeus-men and women hiding on the tree under which we pass everyday. Jesus challenges us to look up and invite them to a meal. We must take the first step to reach out to them because many of them have been so intimidated by religious enthusiasts that they have resigned themselves to their fate. When we invite them with unconditional and non-judgmental love to share a meal with us or have a drink with us, we might be surprised to see that we are spreading the Good News of God’s love in a way that touches their hearts more than any amount of preaching can do.

Bible scholars who believe that the First and Second Letters to the Thessalonians were both written by Paul say that the second letter was written very soon after the first. The reason, they say, is that Paul had given a teaching in the first letter, which the Thessalonians misunderstood. He, therefore, needed to write a second one to correct the misunderstanding of the first. The teaching in question has to do with the second coming of Christ. This is a very important teaching of St. Paul, which many Christians today unfortunately still misunderstand just as the Thessalonians did.

There was a popular belief among the early Christians that some of them were still going to be alive when Christ would come back in glory. This belief was so widespread that we have evidence of it in all four gospels (Mt 16:28// Mk 9:1 // Lk 9:27 // Jn 21:23). It is likely that Paul spoke about this belief when he preached in Thessalonika. Years after Paul had left Thessalonika, a problem arose. Some of the first believers began to die. The Thessalonians were thrown into a crisis of faith. How come their first generation Christians were all dying off and the Christ still had not come? Some of them began to suggest that maybe the Second Coming had already taken place. Maybe the Coming of Christ was a spiritual reality that happened to the first believers, who were now dead, and that those of them still alive could, in fact, be the left behind people (2 Thess 2:1). Such believers would settle down to making the most of life in this world, since they have given up hope that the Lord was still coming to establish his reign of peace and justice on earth.

When Paul heard of the crisis of faith among the Thessalonians , he wrote them a letter. That was his first letter to the Thessalonians. In that letter he reassured the Thessalonians that the Coming of the Lord was at hand and would include both the living and the dead.

The Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel's call and with the sound of God's trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever. (1 Thess 4:16-17)

Paul meant to rekindle in the hearts of the Thessalonians hope and expectation of the Lord's coming. But the graphic way in which he depicted the teaching led to an undesired consequence. If the Lord was coming soon to take his own people out of this world, why then should believers bother about making the world a better place? Why would someone plant a tree or build a house if Christ is coming tomorrow to take them out of this world? This kind of reasoning made some of the Thessalonians to stop working and spend their time watching the skies for signs of the Lord's appearing. Such people believed in the Lord's coming but they believed to an excessive degree. Paul had to write a second letter to the Thessalonians calling such people to moderation and reminding them of a command he had given them, "If any one will not work, let him not eat" (2 Thess 3:10).

There is a moral principle that says, "virtue stands in the middle." This means that for every sound doctrine, there are at least two possible errors, error by deficiency (not believing enough) and error by excess (believing too much).With regard to the doctrine of the Lord's coming, we see these two errors among the Christians in Thessalonika. Those who believed that the day of the Lord had already taken place did not believe enough in the future coming of the Lord. It led them to despair regarding their own salvation and to a materialistic lifestyle. Others who believed that the coming of the Lord was so literally imminent that they stopped working to improve themselves and the world around them erred by believing in excess. We call that presumption. Between the deficiency of despair and the excesses of presumption lies the golden mean of hope. The golden mean of hope enables us to believe in the coming of the Lord on a day we do not know while doing everything possible to improve our lives and those of our neighbours here in this world till the Lord comes whenever he chooses to come. Let us pray for true hope that overcomes both despair and presumption.

By Bishop Kasomo Daniel PhD; D.Sc

The Catholic Bishop of The Society of St. Peter and Paul (SSPP)