Thirty-first Sunday Integral 2025 (yr C)
The book of Wisdom, which we have heard recently, is a late OT writing that is preserved in Greek rather than Hebrew. Its theology is very advanced. Here the writer addresses God poetically as creator, ruler and master of wisdom: “Before the LORD the whole universe is as a grain from a balance . . .” He answers some of the thorniest questions ever asked about God, like “why aren’t the wicket punished?” He replies: “you have mercy on all, because you can do all things; and you overlook people's sins that they may repent.” God gives the evildoer an opportunity to change his mind, will and behavior, because He loves all He created. He tells us that God didn’t just create what exists and then turn His back. “what you hated, you would not have fashioned. And how could a thing remain, unless you willed it; or be preserved, had it not been called forth by you?” God’s creative action also sustains His creation in existence.
Moreover, God loves us so much that when we sin, He mercifully nudges us gradually toward conversion: “you rebuke offenders little by little, warn them and remind them of the sins they are committing, that they may abandon their wickedness and believe in you, O LORD!” Such words prepare the reader for the coming of Jesus, the Messiah, with His message of repentance and mercy and Resurrection.
Our psalm today takes up the theme of Divine Mercy. “The LORD is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and of great kindness. The LORD is good to all and compassionate toward all his works.” So much of the sacred music literature is focused on the deep and enduring love of God toward all His creation, especially us sinful humans.
This takes us to the central Scripture of this Sunday, the beautiful and even humorous tale of Zaccheus, the renegade Jew. I call him “renegade” because only such a person would collect taxes for the despised Roman occupiers of the Jewish homeland. He was short, so he was probably ridiculed as he grew up by his grade-school classmates. But he got his revenge by collecting taxes from them when they were all adults, and he was able to do that because the Roman soldiery, whom he probably bribed, protected him in his occupation.
You see, tax collectors, called “publicans” in some Bible translations, were the most despised members of Jewish society. They were really “tax farmers,” given a Roman franchise to collect taxes, and a commission on top of that. They were told what to get for the Romans, and they were allowed to take twenty or thirty or even a higher percent above that for their own sustenance and treasury. It was a lot like the Chicago streets in the days of Al Capone and the mob.
Zacchaeus probably knew Levi, the tax collector, whom we know as Matthew the Gospel writer. From him and other sources he certainly had heard about Jesus and His message of repentance, conversion, and hope for eternal life with God. He was a good bookkeeper, so he knew how much he had cheated his neighbors out of. The crowd prevented him from seeing Jesus, and they probably liked getting back at Zach in that way, so he climbed one of the sycamore-fig trees that still grow by the road in Jericho. Jesus was probably much amused to see this little guy in his fancy robes holding on to a limb for dear life. He looked into the tax-collector’s eyes and heart and loved him enough to order: "Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house."
This caused some grumbling in the crowd. “Jesus has gone to stay at the home of a sinner.” St. Luke probably edited out some of the language that was used. But Jesus already had a rep for His compassion for prostitutes and tax farmers and other public sinners. It was very much in character for Jesus to have a heart-to-heart conversation with Zach. The tax collector came right down from his perch, brushed himself off and told Jesus, “Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone I shall repay it four times over." Zach was not only going to make restitution, he was also to give interest along with the stolen property.
Jesus not only forgave the man, He declared, "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." Zach’s community had shunned him because of his occupation, but Jesus brought him back into communion with Himself and the other Jews. This is what Our Lord has in mind for every one of us who has sinned, and that means every one of us. We are all sinners, are we not. Make restitution, repent and ask forgiveness. If it’s a big sin, confess sacramentally and be absolved.
That, of course, is not the end of the change Jesus wants for each of us. St. Paul moved all over Greece and Asia Minor, and that’s only the areas that Scripture records. He set up little house churches wherever he went and preached and baptized. Then he wrote back, as we see him doing to the Christians at Thessalonica today. He prayed for every community for God to make them worthy of His calling. He prayed for the fulfillment of their purpose, which was to make their whole community disciples of Jesus. Thus would the name of Jesus be glorified in them, and they would be glorified in Christ.
Now remember that a big part of glorification, in the theology of Paul and John, was and is the role of suffering. Jesus said, “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” That would be His glorification, but it would first take place on a Roman cross. Only after that beginning would He be lifted up from the tomb, and be forty days later lifted up from the earth to the right hand of His Father in heaven.
That, recall, is our road to the glory of heaven, as St. Paul tells the Roman church: “we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.”
All that suffering ultimately leads to the second coming of Christ, this time in majesty and power. That is the triumph, the glory that we look forward to sharing. Most likely, as for all Christians before us, that will come because this mortal life ends. For Christians of a later time—and we don’t know when—that will come when the Father tells Christ to bring us all together at the Last Judgement. At either time, the referee blows the whistle, or trumpet or something and the contest is over. Let’s not fear the judgement. All our deeds, good or bad, will be revealed, but for those who are justified by Christ, even the evil will be sorted out as we take our place in heavenly glory. Blessed be the Lord forever, Amen.
