Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 153

"Today salvation has come to this house
because this man too is a descendant of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost."

The first reading today, from the Book of Wisdom, reminds us of the radical Benevolence of our God. Where you and I hesitate to forgive or even overlook wrongdoing, the Author insists,

But you (God) have mercy on all, because you can do all things; and you overlook people's sins that they may repent. For you love all things that are and loathe nothing that you have made;

Overwhelmed by God’s mercy, Saint Francis began each day with, 

“Almighty, most holy, most high and supreme God, all good, supreme good, totally good, you who alone are good, may we give back to you all praise, all glory, all grace, all honor, all blessing and all good, amen, amen, so be it, so be it.”

We rely on this goodness continually. If the existence of the universe fluctuated with my attitudes and moods the whole project would have perished a long time ago. But God’s benevolence is constant and dependable. It is solid like the earth beneath our feet and pervasive like the air we breathe. It adapts like bacteria, making a home in the harshest environment.

God’s goodness penetrates and transforms the worst situations. Like yeast in bread it makes blessings where we see only a curse. Even the killing of the Son of God, sanctioned by religion and endorsed by government, the most wicked deed in history, transmuted, is a source of blessing.

Knowing God as only Jesus could, he did not hesitate to pronounce a blessing upon the house of Zacchaeus: “Today, salvation has come to this house.” If to the Pharisees Zacchaeus seemed lost, beyond the pale of God’s mercy and subject only to his exacting judgment, Jesus saw him as a descendant of Abraham. He is one of us.

Jesus saw not simply the potential in Zacchaeus. He didn't say, "Maybe this guy will work out. Maybe he'll prove himself worth the effort." Jesus saw his innate worth as a human being, eminently lovable and inherently human.

We can suppose many in that crowd, eager to be close to -- and seen with -- the Messiah, were astonished by Jesus' announcement. They knew this tax collector. His climbing a tree only proved what they had said all along, "He's a fool." Zacchaeus gave them all the more reason to laugh at him and scorn his company. When Jesus saw him he saw a charming, beautiful man. A man he would want to have dinner with.

Saint Luke reminds us that Jesus looked at Zacchaeus. How did Jesus look at him? Or better, how did God look at this tax collector? With human eyes. They were entirely open. They could see the man's human nature created in the image of God. They could be charmed by his climbing a tree, knowing that a professional stuffed-shirt must utterly forget himself if he is to do something so childish. 

They -- Jesus and Zacchaeus -- looked in wonder at each other. Both saw something the crowd could not see. The tax collector saw a man who would welcome his company regardless of his black heart, financial assets and comfortable position. Jesus saw the heart of his mission on earth:

For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost.