November 3 2019
Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time
Jesus' Mission to the Rich
The whole world before you is like a speck that tips the scales,
and like a drop of morning dew that falls on the ground.
But you are merciful to all, for you can do all things,
and you overlook people’s sins, so that they may repent.
For you love all things that exist,
and detest none of the things that you have made,
for you would not have made anything if you had hated it.
How would anything have endured if you had not willed it?
Or how would anything not called forth by you have been preserved?
You spare all things, for they are yours, O Lord, you who love the living.
For your immortal spirit is in all things.
Therefore you correct little by little those who trespass,
and you remind and warn them of the things through which they sin,
so that they may be freed from wickedness and put their trust in you, O Lord.
Responsorial: selected verses from Psalm 145
The LORD is faithful in all his words
and holy in all his works.
The LORD lifts up all who are falling
and raises up all who are bowed down.
R. I will praise your name for ever, my king and my God.
2 Thes 1:11-2:2
Brothers and sisters:
We always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling
and powerfully bring to fulfillment every good purpose and every effort of faith,
that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him,
in accord with the grace of our God and Lord Jesus Christ.
He entered Jericho and was passing through it. A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax-collector and was rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycomore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, ‘Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.’ So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. All who saw it began to grumble and said, ‘He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.’ Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, ‘Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.’ Then Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.’
Readings from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE)
There is plenty of debate about who Jeshua is, but another question, equally important, goes something like this: 'What do you think I'm on about?' - or 'What was Jesus' mission, as he saw it?'
'To seek out and save the lost' is the way Luke puts it. To illustrate this he uses a chance event in Jericho when they were on their way to Jerusalem. They were pushing through a crush of people in the town square when Jeshua spotted a small man up a tree, trying get a glimpse of the prophet. Jeshua not only called him to come down so they could meet but deftly got himself invited to stay the night at his place. Naturally the townsfolk were scandalised. The disciples too, I imagine.
But as Cathy showed us last week, even a despised public servant, a tax collector, could be as acceptable in his prayer of self-flagellation as a respected pharisee in his self-serving proclamation of all he had to be grateful for. It's not your status but your attitude that counts. This message is so hard for us to absorb that for centuries we've thought we were to admire the taxman and despise the pharisee, until someone points out that this would be no different from the very thing that spoils the pharisee's approach - seeing oneself as better than another.
We are very prone to this, we Catholics of the 'only' true church. Even now in our preferential option for the poor our self-righteous superiority leads us to damn the rich en bloc. Jesus went looking for anyone he could save, rich and poor alike. Overall the gospels show a balanced campaign designed to reach everyone, whatever their social standing. Preferencing the poor is not a license to disdain the rich or make enemies of them, but a challenge to give more compassion and more real help to those who are victimised or used up by society - to counterbalance the cruel neglect or oppression they suffer under some wealthy ones and from the ruling class.
Jeshua was not really poor.
For starters, not only were Mary and Joseph well-connected - Mary's cousin was married to a high priest, but Joseph was by no means indigent. No more than tradies are today. Peter, Andrew, James and John were not itinerants down on the lakeside waiting in line to get some work when the boats came in. Those four owned their boats. They were businessmen in their own right, well established and well respected in the town. 'Salt of the earth', Jesus said they were, warning them not to lose their saltiness through some pious sense of privilege because he'd chosen them. He had deliberately picked men with ability, with the self-confidence that allowed them to freely make the choice of leaving it all to walk with him, but he expected them to not have tickets on themselves. They are to see themselves as servants simply doing what's expected of them.
Matthew was educated too and had a secure job. Judas had a flare for finance. Philip spoke Greek and that name may indicate it was his first language, with the local Aramaic as a 'second language'. Simon was a left-winger by conviction, a zealot, which provides the gospel writers occasion to remind us of Jesus' attitude to extremism. 'Cool it', he said on more than one occasion. Our current wave of street protesters might well take heed of this, instead of causing deep and nasty division by fighting the police.
Jeshua told stories about businessmen, landlords, farmers hiring workers, vineyard owners, a father with two sons and a heritage to share between them... On this occasion Luke says he was just passing through Jericho, no doubt looking forward to spending a night or two with Martha and Mary in Bethany. We don't know much about that family but one thing is clear, they had style and they had the money to back it up. Having a jar of precious ointment available does not speak of poverty.
We don't know who provided the room for their final meal together, but he was not poor. Two disciples were sent into the city to find his servant carrying a water jug through the street, and he was to take this message to his master: 'The prophet would like to have the room free for tonight.' Then there was Nicodemus, influential enough to approach Pilate, wealthy enough to have his own pre-paid tomb all ready, that he could put the body of Jeshua in.
So, with Zacchaeus, Luke is reminding us to keep our balance. The preferential option for the poor must not be made to mean that anyone is damned for being rich. They have a harder road, Jeshua said, or at least a more dangerous one - something most people find out for themselves the moment they have a business to run or a windfall that makes them wealthy comes their way. Even owning the family home or having a steady job means you've got choices to make and responsibilities to answer for that bring temptations to dishonest ways or means. Many migrants coming from a country with a culture of open hospitality find it doesn't work so well in this setting of comfortable security.
Luke has trimmed his report so severely that it is more like a cartoon sketch than an account of what happened that day in Jericho. It leaves us scope to fill in details and the missing hours. Zacchaeus, as the story has it, 'stood there' and said his piece. But such an experience of metanoia must take time if it is real. And how do you 'stand there' in the street when everyone is standing around? But if we take the point that Jeshua got himself invited to stay in this rich man's home, then there would have been hours of quiet conversation before an evening meal, more than likely with some leading citizens of the town invited. It's in this setting that Zacchaeus stands up and with courage and humility makes public his decision to change his ways. Imagine the surprise around the table; poor old Zach has gone soft in the head; he's been caught in the net of this prophet fellow. And the jokes around town later.
But Zacchaeus had no intention of becoming poor. With time enough to do his sums he would have seen that if he gave half to the poor he could still keep his fine house, and not too much would change. He can even manage fourfold restitution to anyone who comes with a valid claim . Notice the conditional 'if I've defrauded anyone'. All this is far from the whole-hearted ideal Jeshua presented to the rich young man: 'If you want to go the whole way, sell everything and come along with me.' Perhaps Jeshua learnt from that experience, or perhaps it was just courtesy not to point out the limits Zacchaeus was setting to his metanoia. More likely he knew as always that it was not his mission to judge and condemn, but simply to seek out and save people who had lost their way. So he declares that this is enough: salvation has come to this house because this rich taxman is heir to the promises made to Abraham as much as anyone else. Today we see Abraham as father not of a privileged few, a ''chosen people', but of everyone who wants to be saved and believes in the promise shining through Life itself.
But what is it, 'to be saved'? It's become almost fashionable to say, 'I was born saved.' I think we are born with undeveloped potential, but we experience a long and tricky journey through development towards maturity. We can't really say we're safe until we reach the end. Safe? Yes, safe from making some disastrous mistake, safe from hurting a friend or neighbour - or life partner. Safe from losing our way if something big happens like having someone close to us murdered or ourselves becoming very rich. Such things do happen and they can turn your head. More insidious are the temptations to make ourselves rich by any means, by dishonest means, or to get power over others by ruthless betrayal and deceit. Even just in learning more we might become so self-opiniated that we concoct all manner of falsehoods and spread them abroad. Even dedicated scientists have been known to fudge the results of their tests and inflict untold harm on people. We all need to be saved, and Jeshua is always on the lookout for anyone ready to take that step of metanoia. Only these days we are his ambassadors.
We could close our reflection with looking at the first reading. Perhaps it needs to be read through a few times for the underlying theme to surface. It's the picture of a god who cannot throw out anything. Whatever is damaged is to be repaired; people who go off on the wrong track are brought back into line little by little. We're reminded of Matthew's quote from Isaiah's description of how the one who was to come would go about his mission: "He will not quarrel or cry out; no one will hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he has brought justice through to victory." (Mt 12:19-20). In this Jeshua is the faithful ambassador of the Lord who loves the living.
The whole world before you is like a speck that tips the scales,
and like a drop of morning dew that falls on the ground.
But you are merciful to all for you can do all things,
and you overlook people’s sins so that they may repent.
For you love all things that exist
and detest none of the things that you have made,
for you would not have made anything if you had hated it.
How would anything have endured if you had not willed it?
Or how would anything not called forth by you have been preserved?
You spare all things, for they are yours, O Lord, you who love the living.
For your immortal spirit is in all things.
Therefore you correct little by little those who trespass
and you remind and warn them of the things through which they sin,
so that they may be freed from wickedness and put their trust in you, O Lord.