Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time

Luke 19:1-10

31^st in Ord. (C-5) God forgives to show us how

We just heard in Wisdom: “you overlook people’s sins that they may repent. For you love all things that are and loathe nothing that you have made; for what you hated, you would not have fashioned.” Why is it that Paul recognized that all things that God created are good, and yet we have the audacity to create categories of judgment and condemnation? We also are so legalistic that we forget that the authors of the books of the Bible were men, and I do mean men, who had their own categories of judgment and condemnation that do not correspond to God, any more than ours corresponds to God.

Jesus invites himself to Zacchaeus’ house to dine with him, and here comes the gossip: “He has gone to stay at the house of sinner!” Jesus lives what Wisdom said: “(he) overlooked Zacchaeus’ sins that (he) may repent.” As I’ve said before, to repent means to view your life in a new way and let yourself be changed by that re-look. Zacchaeus quickly repented and showed he had changed: “Behold, 1/2 of my possessions, Lord, I’ll give to the poor, and if I’ve extorted anything from anyone, I’ll repay it 4 times over.” This is true repentance and real restitution!

Here comes Jesus. He invites himself to Zacchaeus’ house to dine with him. All hell breaks loose. Here comes the gossip: “He has gone to stay at the house of sinner!” Jesus lives what Wisdom said: “(he) overlooked Zacchaeus’ sins that (he) may repent.” As I’ve said before, to repent means to view your life in a new way, and let yourself be changed by that re-look. Zacchaeus quickly repented and showed he had changed: “Behold, 1/2 of my possessions, Lord, I’ll give to the poor, and if I’ve extorted anything from anyone, I’ll repay it 4 times over.” Now, this is true repentance and real restitution!

Today God gives us the image of a God who loves and forgives, hoping to see repentance, that is, a relook at life and let ourselves be changed by that relook. The unacceptable Zacchaeus is transformed by the love of Christ into the Zacchaeus he was created to be.

We were all called by name at Baptism and that name included being a Christian, an anointed son/daughter of God. We were given bibles, rosaries, candles, and white garments to remind us of who we are to be. We pray to maintain contact with the God who made us children of the light and future Gospel-izers.

Rev. Angela Askew wrote, “What Jesus showed Zacchaeus was that God accepts and transforms the unacceptable, loves the unlovable, and forgives the unforgiveable.”

(Paraphrased from: “A small man who was given a big heart,” Dynamic Preaching, Vol. XXVI, pg. 25-26)

Have we become unacceptable and unlovable? Have we distorted our image by our sins or by what we failed to do? Do we know who we are, whose we are, and for whom we are to love and serve? The Gospel’s message should console us. If we realize, like Zacchaeus, that God loves us and calls us to be who we were meant to be, then we can change so our image coincides with Jesus’, who lived a faith-that-does-justice.

As we break bread, let us ask Jesus for the grace to work to accept and transform the unacceptable in us and in the world. We’re called to be lovable sowers of seeds of peace, and care for and tend God’s sheep. Let us tend to our neighborhood, city, nation, and world. Let’s tend to the water, the earth’s resources, each one of us, and ourselves. When we learn to tend, our sins of commission and omission are forgiven. When we learn to tend, we become evangelizers, we become Gospel-izers.

Let us leave here as apostles, sent to work to accept and transform the unacceptable, to love the unlovable, and to forgive the unforgiveable. Let us be apostles-for-others who live a faith-that-does-justice. Do this, and the unacceptable, the unlovable, and the unforgiveable in us will be healed. Now, isn’t that worth celebrating?