Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish

FR MICHAEL BIBLICAL IMAGERY

(Fr Michael Boakye Yeboah: Vice Rector of St Gregory Seminary, Kumasi-Ghana)

ZACCHAEUS

            The Gospel of the 31^st Sunday in Ordinary Time introduces us to a biblical figure worthy of study. Zacchaeus is considered as a figure of repentance, detachment and imitation of Christ. He represents those who though wealthy, have a place in their hearts to desire the ways of the Lord and seek his presence.

            The story of Zacchaeus (Luke19:1-9) is meant to contrast with that of the ruler in Luke 18:18-23. Both men were powerful, both wealthy. The first 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 the prophet, and to signal that commitment by selling his possessions and giving them to the poor. Zacchaeus, in contrast, was regarded as a “sinner” by those accompanying Jesus because of his occupation as chief tax-officer. But he is eager to receive the prophet “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 Torah.

            Luke produces another beauty of a literature piece, when with style and penmanship precision he crafts the story of the conversion of Zacchaeus. He sets the story in Jericho. Jericho was a very wealthy and very important town. It lay in the Jordan valley and commanded both the approach to Jerusalem and the crossings of the river which gave access to the lands east of the Jordan. It had a great palm forest and world-famous balsam groves which perfumed the air for miles around. Its gardens of roses was known far and wide. It was known as ‘The City of Palms’. Josephus called it ‘a divine region’, ‘the fattest in Palestine’. The Romans carried its dates and balsam to worldwide trade and fame. All this combined to make Jericho one of the greatest taxation centers in Palestine. Zacchaeus was a man who had reached the top of his profession; and he was the most hated man in the district.

            The Gospel sketches a strange picture for us. An extremely wealthy man clambers up a tree to see Jesus. As the “chief tax contractor” he was viewed as a great sinner, yet Jesus specifically wishes to stay at his house. And Jesus knows that wherever he enters, grace enters with him: “Today salvation has come to this house” – precisely “because the Son of Man has come to search out and save what was lost.” He stays with Zacchaeus because there was something salvageable there, certainly not because good deeds were done there and he wished to reward them. Instead, he stays with him because “this man too is a son of Abraham”, who is not excluded from God’s faithfulness and love. Thus, we cannot answer the question whether the man’s assurance that he will give half of his fortune to the poor is based on something that had happened earlier or whether it was simply his response to the grace extended to him by Jesus. The Evangelist has no interest in that question. All he is concerned with is the salvation that Jesus brings to this household. It is good to know that he also lodges with the immensely wealthy – if they are to be recipient of Christian salvation. His beatitudes for the poor ought to be interpreted theologically rather than sociologically. There are poor men who are rich in the spirit (of lustfulness), and there are rich men who are poor in the spirit (because they “press their resources into service” [Lk 8:3]).

            The primary mission of Jesus in the world was to save the lost and Zacchaeus was one of the lost that Jesus had come into this world to save. This story illustrates the kind of risk that God is prepared to take in order to save a single soul. God is prepared to run the risk of “scandalizing” a whole lot of “good” people in order to save a single soul that has gone astray. Every soul, including that of a sinner, is that precious, that valuable to him.

            The Church of Christ can do no more or less than God himself. The Church too should stop at nothing in her effort to save a single soul that has gone astray. If in the process of her doing that, some “good” members of the Church are offended or scandalized, it is just too bad. The Church cannot let go of an erring soul simply because some of her members think she should. If she did that, she would no longer be the Church of the Son of Man, who came to seek out and save what was lost. It is not surprising that one of the Sacraments Jesus left his Church is meant precisely to seek out and save what was lost: “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them…” (John 20:22-23).

            The marvelous point of the first reading is that God loves everything he has made, or else he would not have made it. In view of the countless evils in the world, many people, Christians included, do not want to believe this. Yet the proof that the Book of Wisdom gives is so simple and convincing that one can scarcely contradict it without either denying God or accusing him of self-contradiction. “You love everything that exists, for if you hated something, you would not have created it.” Sin we certainly find in abundance, and it must necessarily be tracked down, but since even the sinner belongs to God, he is not punished according to naked justice, but is “spared” and punished in such a way that afterward he can recognize a call to conversion in the punishment. The astonishing wisdom of this Old Testament book is found in the statement that God loves everyone and thus punishes sinners solely out of love and with the aim of returning them to love.

We pray that many will see Jesus passing by and descend from “the tree of sin” to embrace conversion. It is for us sinners that Jesus came to the world: hurry down; for the Lord wish to stay in your house today.