We make mistakes until we see our errors.

Homily for 31st Sunday of Ordinary Time

30th October 2022.

We are told there are two certainties in life. Death and taxes. A bit of a cliché really, but an interesting one because today’s Gospel is really about both. Why you may ask? Well, Our Lord does not judge sinners the way most of us do. He shows compassion for the sinner because to him it is the sin that needs to be put to death, not the sinner. Jesus wants to save the sinner so that he or she can have a new life. However, we must not be coerced one way or the other but allowed to choose willingly to go, in either direction. And God will allow us to make mistakes until we can see the error of our ways.

In the story of the rich man who followed the Law to the letter, his downfall was that when Jesus asked him to give up everything he owned to follow him, he was too reluctant to give away his worldly possessions. He was too comfortable with what he had and walked away from Jesus.

Zacchaeus chose differently. He was a chief tax collector, over other tax collectors. And the people judged him as a sinner and were hostile against him. From their perspective, he was in the pocket of the Romans, hired to collect taxes for them, but in doing so was able to turn this opportunity to his advantage by charging extra to make a profit.

Like many of us, Zacchaeus was probably concerned about his mortality. He was small, probably getting old, well let’s say mature, but with the sentiment of the crowd being hostile there may have been a threat to his life. The average age of people living in Greek and Roman times is said to be between 30 – 35. Yet, St. Augustus lived until he was 75 and to be eligible to become consul you had to be over 43. So it was possible to live longer, but a lot was going against most people. It was a hostile world. You could be wrongly accused by jealous people and crucified if there were enough witnesses against you. So, Zacchaeus knew life could be short, even though he could make a decent living, from his perspective.

When Jesus arrived in Jericho, Zacchaeus had a change of heart, and his curiosity was pricked. Enough to want to see who Jesus was. Being small the only way he could achieve this was to get up high above the crowds. He found a suitable tree to climb. Then, to everyone’s surprise, including himself, Jesus announced he was going to stay at Zacchaeus’s house. The sinner is the one who robs everyone of their money to make a profit. Can you believe it?

Zacchaeus objected to what the crowd were saying. He could be different. His mind was changed. Any wrongdoing on his part he would pay back four times and give half his property to the poor. He wanted to follow Jesus.

Zacchaeus, in Jesus’s eyes, had proved himself worthy of being saved. Jesus came to seek and save those who were lost.

St. Paul tells the Thessalonians to continuously pray to God in the hope that we shall be found worthy through our faith so that through our desires to be good and our actions of faith we will be glorified through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. St. Paul living after the death, Resurrection and Ascension encourages us all to turn to Jesus who will come again, but tells us not to be impatient or over-excited because the Day of the Lord is still some way off.

We live in a world that almost daily, keeps throwing alarmist ideas at us, with war, turbulence, global catastrophise and political unrest. We live in a time when most are anxious or depressed, uncertain of how to move forward. In such uncertain times, we can be paralysed with fear.

The Book of Wisdom reminds us that God sees this planet, Earth, as a grain of dust. We might think from what we can see through the James Webber telescope that we are insignificant. Yet, through God’s mercy, our sins can be overlooked the same as Jesus did with Zacchaeus if we repent and change our ways. Our small grain of a world can tip the scales away from evil and back to good. All that is asked of us is that we trust in the Lord.

Perhaps, we need a little bit of imagination to believe that our world can be changed for the better. Where everyone is given the respect they deserve, no matter who they are, where they come from, or what they have, rich or poor. Remember, we can’t take it with us. It all remains here. Gold, money, and dust. It is not needed. What is needed is that would put our faith in Jesus, and that slowly we can be corrected for our offences, see what harm they do to others and turn away from evil, by putting our faith and trust in God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Zacchaeus did.