Homily -- 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time

Readings: Wisdom 11:22-12:2; 2 Thessalonians 1:11-2:2; Luke 19:1-10

Since the earliest days of astronomy, the time of Galileo, astronomers have shared a single goal — to see more, to see farther and to see deeper. The launching of the Hubble Space Telescope in 1990 sped humanity to one of its greatest advances in that journey. Hubble is a telescope that orbits Earth. Its position above the atmosphere gives it a view of the universe that typically far surpasses that of ground-based telescopes.

However, for all its power, the Hubble telescope, can offer us only a lens-full of creation, like a slide under a microscope; it can appreciate magnificence but not meaning. For those we have to turn to God’s revelation in Scripture and Tradition. The lens through which we see the universe in scripture is the very eye of God who does not see only snippets of his creation, but he sees the whole in its entirety as we read “God saw all he had made, and indeed it was very good “(Gn. 1:31). 

The opening words of today’s first reading today state: ‘Before the Lord the whole universe is as a grain from a balance, or a drop of morning dew come down upon the earth.’. Here is the power of all scripture in a nutshell because in scripture we see reality through God’s eyes. Hubble telescope sees by the light of the stars; in scripture we see, and we walk by the light of God.

This Sunday we are reminded that the world and all it contains is like a grain of sand compared with the greatness of God. But God created humankind out of love. Because of his love, God does not desire destruction or death of humankind. God is always ready to pardon their sins, desiring only that they repent and return to him. This ties in with today’s Gospel where Jesus seeks out the tax collector, Zacchaeus and calls him to repentance and conversion.

In the figure of Zacchaeus, we have a portrait of a lost soul. What do you think drove Zacchaeus to go out and look for Jesus? As the chief tax collector, Zacchaeus was a wealthy man and very busy. He was hated by the people who considered him a traitor and a crook. Zacchaeus had every reason to avoid the crowds that gathered to see Jesus and every reason to think that, as a sinner, he had no right to even lay his eyes on such a holy man. However, something compelled him to leave his home, run into the streets of Jericho and even climb up a tree to get a glimpse of the wonderworker from Galilee.

What led him look for Jesus? Could it be that there was something missing in his life? Despite all his wealth, despite all his power, he was not happy. And in this, Zacchaeus is very much like us. We run after happiness, fulfillment, and pleasure. We dream about what our lives would be like if we just had more money, more friends or more comforts. As hard as we work, happiness always seems just beyond our grasp. No matter how much we have, they never seem to be enough. We grow bored with them and look for something new. In the end, we are left with the same ache within us.

What a surprise it must have been for Zacchaeus to hear Jesus call out his name. He doesn’t say, “Hey, you guy in the tree, come down,” but “Zacchaeus.” Jesus not only singled him out from the crowd but already knew who he was. Saint Luke goes on to tell us that Zacchaeus “received Jesus with joy”, a true joy that no doubt had been eluding him all his life.

Like Zacchaeus, we can discover the one whom our hearts long for, the one who can give us true peace and joy. All we have to do is invite him into our hearts and into our homes. We do not have to convince him that we deserve it because we are nice people. We do not have to grovel because of all the sins we have committed. Like Zacchaeus, we will discover that he already knows us, he knows our story. 

Though he was a public sinner, his heart was open to the power of Jesus’ love. By discovering that he is loved despite his sins, he becomes capable of loving others making money a sign of solidarity and communion. God condemns sin but tries to save the sinner.

We are all anxious about many things and among this list, is there space for God? Zacchaeus was anxious to see what kind of man Jesus was and was quick to find ways to overcome every obstacle. Clearly Jesus was far more valuable than anything else.

• What do you need to do to get a better view of Jesus and establish a personal relationship with him?

• How often have I been like the members of the crowd, focused on the mistakes and wrongdoing of others?

• How often have I grumbled about a perceived inequity that someone I felt was less deserving than me, less hardworking was granted recognition?

As human beings, we might prefer ‘search-and destroy’ missions, tearing lives apart, but God knows only one mission; “For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”  ###