Today Salvation Has Come!

(Homily 31^st Sunday in Ordinary Time, Yr. C)

     While meditating on the readings of this Sunday, what readily came to my mind was the famous dictum of the Swiss theologian, Von Balthasar, that “Only love is credible”. And it is indeed true God’s love towards all and especially towards mankind is credible. In the density and credibility of this love, we come to discover that no one is beyond redemption, for His love is without frontiers. Mercy and Love are always conjugated together in God, for his is a merciful love. Indeed, the whole bible is inundated by the theme and manifestation of God’s love. And in the readings of this Sunday God’s love is made manifest in a special way. The love of God is towards all his creatures, because all have in the love of God, their raison d’etre, as exemplified in the first reading. In the Gospel passage the love of God is for all men and women without distinction, because all are His children. Then, in the second reading, we see God’s love towards Christians, for this, the word of God says “so that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you and you in him, by the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ”.

         In the first reading (Wis. 11:22-12:2) we see the pre-Christian exposition of the universality of the divine mercy, it manifested the two categories of God’s actions: in creation and preservation and in the forgiveness of sins. The book of Wisdom presents God in his infinite greatness and power as Creator and Sustainer of all the earth: “The whole world, for you, can no more than tip a balance, like a drop of morning dew falling on the ground” (v.22). And again the sacred author reaffirms: “And how could a thing subsist, had you not willed it? Or how be preserved, if not called forth by you?” (v.25). He further described God as a lover of life (v.24) and a merciful Father (v.23). At the basis of this passage is the idea that man and the world are God’s creation. In verse two of the twelfth chapter the author sublimely speaks of God thus: “And thus, gradually, you correct those who offend; you admonish and remind them of how they have sinned, so that they may abstain from evil and trust in you, Lord”. These wonderful words of the sacred author fill the heart with emotion. The Psalmist captured it vividly well: “The Lord is good to all and his compassion is over all that he has made” (Ps.145:9).

     Indeed, particularly interesting is the annotation of the author in Wisdom 12:1: “For your imperishable spirit is in everything”, here the author could be referring to the Hebraic or Greek connotation when he affirms that God’s immortal spirit is in all things. Therefore, the spirit here could be like in Greek terms, Sophia, that is the agent of the divine immanence or even scripturally it could be Ruah, that is the creative power of God.  However, in New Testament terms the conception of the Spirit is not predominantly universal and immanent, but eschatological. The Spirit therein does not just dwell in all things and all men by creation, but it is a gift to believers in Christ Jesus.

     Indeed, the presentation of God in the first reading finds its concrete expression in the passage of the Gospel. Jesus is the revelation of the true face of God, in the episode of Zacchaeus he manifests the divine omnipotence expressed in mercy and pardon, in God’s will to save “what was lost”. In Jesus we discover in a transparent way, the characteristic traits of God’s face, as delineated in the book of Wisdom in the first reading: “You are merciful to all, because you are almighty, you overlook people’s sins, so that they can repent” (v.23) and again “Yes you love everything that exists, and nothing that you have made disgusts you, since, if you had hated something, you would not have made it” (v.24). He is indeed, a God that ‘can do all’, even changing and transforming the heart of man. It is indeed his desire for man to repent and live, “As I live declares the Lord Yahweh I do not take pleasure in the death of the wicked but in the conversion of the wicked who changes his ways and saves his life. Repent, turn back from your evil ways” (Ez. 33:11).

     The episode that St. Luke narrated in the passage of today’s Gospel (Lk.19:1-10) is one of the most interesting and fascinating episodes in the New Testament, or even in the whole Bible. The story revolves around the man, whose name is equally given in the passage: Zacchaeus. The name “Zacchaeus” in Hebrew means “the Pure One”, therefore before encountering Jesus, he was the Pure One only by name but not in deed. But after encountering Jesus he became the Pure One both by name and in deed. That encounter no doubt was a real independence for Zacchaeus. By profession Zacchaeus was a publican, worst still he is the head of publicans. They are considered as sinners for they increase the normal tax stipulated by the authorities. As such, he was rich and he enjoyed egoistically his money and this above all, attracted for him the antipathy of the people. Zacchaeus was small in stature to the extent that he was not able to see Jesus, when Jesus was passing the city of Jericho, because of the crowds. But deep in his heart, he desired to see Jesus. In other words, to see Jesus he had to run ahead to climb a sycamore tree, with the hope that Jesus will pass through that direction. And fortunately for him Jesus followed that direction, and when Jesus reached there, he looked up and saw Zacchaeus on the sycamore tree, and he called him by name: “Zacchaeus, come down. Hurry, because I am to stay at your house today” (v.5). And immediately, “he hurried down and welcomed him joyfully” (v.6). No doubt, because of the type of person that Zacchaeus was, the people were astonished that Jesus went to his house, “He has gone to stay at a sinner’s house” (v.7), they said.

     Be that as it may, during this encounter with Jesus a miracle occurred, that is, the complete turn around and change in the life of Zacchaeus, and deep from his heart he told Jesus: “Look, sir, I am going to give half my property to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody I will pay him back four times the amount” (v.8). And on hearing this Jesus proclaimed redemption not only for Zacchaeus but for his household: “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man too is a son of Abraham” (v.9), he added: “for the Son of man has come to seek out and save what was lost” (v.10). Truly, no one is beyond redemption; this idea is very prominent in the gospel of Luke. The proximity and encounter with Jesus transformed his heart and mind. Zacchaeus is the most classical example of one sought for by Jesus, called and saved by Him. He was lost for the sake of money and illegal gains.

     In the episode of Zacchaeus, the converted sinner, we see God’s love for all his creatures in action as refrained by the passage from the book of Wisdom. The Pharisees certainly looked down upon Zacchaeus and disregarded him, because he as a tax collector has compromised with money and power, as such, he was reprimanded as a sinner. But the Son of God (Jesus) instead went to see him in his house, he left the crowd of admirers who welcomed him in Jericho and went only to Zacchaeus; like the Good Shepherd who leaves the ninety-nine and goes in search of one sheep. This gesture can only be explained by the great tenderness of God. This parable can be further interpreted in parallel with the episode of the Pharisee and the tax collector. God justified the repented tax collector in the temple and left the Pharisee to go back with his burden of sins. Similarly, Jesus brings salvation to the house of Zacchaeus and left outside those proud self-righteous men of Jericho.

     Be that as it may, the episode of Zacchaeus is to be read and reflected against the backdrop of the two preceding passages in the Gospel of Luke: the parable of the rich fool and that of the rich young man. The difference between Zacchaeus and the rich fool is that the later denied the poor even the crumbs of food that fell from his table; but Zacchaeus gave half of all his possessions. One uses his riches for himself and his rich friends alone, while the other uses his riches also for others. And against the backdrop of the rich young man, in the course of his discussion with Jesus, Jesus asked him to sell all he has and gave the money to poor, before he could follow him (cf. Lk. 18:18-27). The difference between him and Zacchaeus is that one was asked to give all to the poor, while Zacchaeus was saved and welcomed by Jesus, even given only half of his possessions to the poor. He was given the privilege of retaining half of his riches, therefore of still remaining rich. What could be the reason for this? This is to rectify a false impression that could emanate from other passages in the Gospel on riches. Jesus does not condemn riches, but condemns unfair and iniquitous use of riches. Indeed, there is salvation also for the rich. Little wonder, in the episode of the rich young man that refused to follow Jesus, because he was very rich, Jesus commented with some dints of disappointment thus: “Yes, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eyes of a needle than for someone rich to enter the kingdom of God” (Lk.18:25), and the disciples were troubled and they asked “In that case, who then can be saved?” (Lk. 18:26).  And Jesus replied them “Things that are impossible by human resources, are possible for God” (Lk.18:27). Zacchaeus is the proof of this, that God can accomplish the miracle of the conversion and salvation of the rich, without necessarily reducing him to the state of poverty. However, Zacchaeus was prevenient in his actions, because he did not wait to hear “Today salvation has come to this house”, before he declared to give half of his possession to the poor. His courageous decision preceded the salvific declaration of Jesus. Indeed, in Zacchaeus we see an authentic evangelical conversion, for he was converted both to God and to the brothers.

     As such, the episode of Zacchaeus clearly demonstrates that: ●what is impossible to man (in this case, detachment from riches) is possible with the grace of God. ●riches in themselves are not evil, but the way they are used or the manner they are acquired could be evil. ●whoever encounters Christ and welcomes Him truly has to restitute the ill-gotten gains; he has to learn how to share his riches with those who do not have. ●there is possibility of salvation also for the rich, but on the condition that he does not become a slave to his riches and that he uses them to help the poor, then they will not be obstacles for entrance into the kingdom of God.

     Drawing the issue further, when we look at ourselves on the mirror of God’s word and weigh ourselves on God’s spiritual scale we may discover that we are like Zacchaeus or that we often behave like him. Yet in our nothingness Jesus comes to save us. He calls us by name as he did to Zacchaeus. Jesus went to the house of Zacchaeus and proclaimed salvation, but Jesus comes to dwell in our heart in order to effect a profound transformation, so that we can pass from a life of sin to a life of grace. May his redeeming words resound and continue to re-echo in our hearts: “Today salvation has come to you”. Zacchaeus teaches us the necessary spiritual itinerary that each one of us has to accomplish in order to encounter Christ and remain one with Him: ●Zacchaeus “kept trying to see Jesus” (v.3), he desired profoundly to encounter Jesus, for this he ran ahead, climbed a tree and waited for him. ●And when Jesus called him, he hurriedly came down from the tree and “welcomed him joyfully” (v.6). ●But the most important thing is that he opened his heart and allowed himself to be inundated by grace and thus he repented! Therefore, we have to look for Jesus, desire to encounter him and grab every occasion and opportunity to encounter him. We need to be ever ready and disposed to answer him with joy when he calls us by name. And finally, we have to be ready to change our life upon encountering him and enter into his project of salvation.

     As such, being conscious of the demands of our Christian calling, we cannot but pray continually as St. Paul suggested in the second reading (2Ts. 1:11-2:2), “In view of this we also pray continually that our God will make you worthy of his call, and by his power fulfill all your desires for goodness, and complete all that you have been doing through faith; so that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you and you in him” (vv.11-12).

     Behold, the readings of this Sunday serve as a reminder to us of the great tenderness of God towards all his creatures and the reality of the human fragility that is conquerable by divine grace. Of a truth, we all are like spiritual dwarfs. Our vision is confined to eyelevel. Like Zacchaeus, we cannot see over the heads of the crowd. We see the world around us and our own reflections like in shop windows. We must figuratively climb a tree to see Jesus. We must make a special effort. Unless we see Jesus we cannot discover God. God in his mercy and love is unpredictable, he works in different ways.  And this episode serves as a source of hope for the rich in our society, that they too can be saved. It is not said that the only way to be saved is to “sell all you have and give to the poor” like in the time of the apostles (cf. Acts 4:34), but today Jesus gives a new indication, that is: divide and share!

(Fr. Vitus M.C. Unegbu, SC)