The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today urge us to contemplate the need to move away from the popular opinion to live according to the will of God.
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| Consider the popular opinion |
The reading from the Second Book of Maccabees describes the martyrdom of the elder, Eleazar.
* [6:18–7:42] The stories of Eleazar and of the mother and her seven sons, among the earliest models of “martyrology,” were understandably popular. Written to encourage God’s people in times of persecution, they add gruesome details to the record of tortures, and place long speeches in the mouths of the martyrs.1
A superscription, added later, relates Psalm 3 to an incident in the life of King David.
* [Psalm 3] An individual lament complaining of enemies who deny that God will come to the rescue (Ps 3:2–3). Despite such taunts the psalmist hopes for God’s protection even in sleep (Ps 3:4–7). The Psalm prays for an end to the enemies’ power to speak maliciously (Ps 3:8) and closes peacefully with an expression of trust (Ps 3:9).2
In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus calls Zacchaeus.
* [19:1–10] The story of the tax collector Zacchaeus is unique to this gospel. While a rich man (Lk 19:2), Zacchaeus provides a contrast to the rich man of Lk 18:18–23 who cannot detach himself from his material possessions to become a follower of Jesus. Zacchaeus, according to Luke, exemplifies the proper attitude toward wealth: he promises to give half of his possessions to the poor (Lk 19:8) and consequently is the recipient of salvation (Lk 19:9–10).3
Tom Shanahan, S.J. comments that as Jesus passes underneath the sycamore, he completely changes the story line. He looks up at Zacchaeus in his perch and takes the initiative, "Hurry up and come down. I must stay at your house today." So, Zacchaeus comes down and "welcomes Jesus with joy." When he comes down from his perch in the tree, the mood and direction of the story changes significantly. The people who are viewing these events, raise their tried and true objection: "He doesn't know what he's doing. That man is a public sinner who gets rich on the backs of us poor folks! That old sinner is not worthy of anyone's concern".
Now it's Zaccaeus' turn: he talks to Jesus and says that he gives back half of his properties and restores to those he's defrauded by returning it "four times over." Do I think that he has already done that in the past? No, not a bit. There's still much more for Zacchaeus to contend with. Conversion takes time. But, because of his encounter with Jesus, we can trust that Z will accomplish what he desires, because Jesus is on his side.
His statement is a stance for the future. Zacchaeus' life has changed in this brief but beautifully significant event on the street in Jericho. The man has changed! He's converted! From now on he will refuse to defraud ordinary citizens. Clearly an incredible experience of encountering Jesus who announces, "today salvation has come to this house." This tree-dweller has finally SEEN Jesus and his life altered unconditionally.
Will it take more time and more commitment? For sure. But now the tax collector has the clear backing of Jesus; and that makes the whole difference.4
Don Schwager quotes Saint Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD) who urges us to climb the sycamore tree like Zacchaeus that we might see Jesus and embrace his cross for our lives.
Zacchaeus climbed away from the crowd and saw Jesus without the crowd getting in his way. The crowd laughs at the lowly, to people walking the way of humility, who leave the wrongs they suffer in God’s hands and do not insist on getting back at their enemies. The crowd laughs at the lowly and says, 'You helpless, miserable clod, you cannot even stick up for yourself and get back what is your own.' The crowd gets in the way and prevents Jesus from being seen. The crowd boasts and crows when it is able to get back what it owns. It blocks the sight of the one who said as he hung on the cross, 'Father, forgive them, because they do not know what they are doing... He ignored the crowd that was getting in his way. He instead climbed a sycamore tree, a tree of 'silly fruit.' As the apostle says, 'We preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block indeed to the Jews, [now notice the sycamore] but folly to the Gentiles.' Finally, the wise people of this world laugh at us about the cross of Christ and say, '“What sort of minds do you people have, who worship a crucified God?' What sort of minds do we have? They are certainly not your kind of mind. 'The wisdom of this world is folly with God.' No, we do not have your kind of mind. You call our minds foolish. Say what you like, but for our part, let us climb the sycamore tree and see Jesus. The reason you cannot see Jesus is that you are ashamed to climb the sycamore tree.
Let Zacchaeus grasp the sycamore tree, and let the humble person climb the cross. That is little enough, merely to climb it. We must not be ashamed of the cross of Christ, but we must fix it on our foreheads, where the seat of shame is. Above where all our blushes show is the place we must firmly fix that for which we should never blush. As for you, I rather think you make fun of the sycamore, and yet that is what has enabled me to see Jesus. You make fun of the sycamore, because you are just a person, but 'the foolishness of God is wiser than men.'[Sermon 174.3.]5
The Word Among Us Meditation on Luke 19:1-10 asks us to imagine that Jesus says: “That’s all right. You didn’t have to go so far as to scramble up that tree. And you certainly don’t have to give away so much money. Just give back what you owe, and make sure you come to the synagogue every Sabbath. I don’t want you to overdo it.”
Jesus would never react that way. It’s not that he demanded extravagant restitution as punishment for Zacchaeus’ acts of dishonesty. And it’s not that he needed Zacchaeus to balance the scales in an extreme way. No, he saw how Zacchaeus was making a sincere, voluntary gesture. Zacchaeus was acting freely, responding to the love that Jesus had for him (Luke 19:9). His restitution was an act of gratitude, not obligation.
That’s the way the mercy of God works. It is so extravagant and generous that it changes us. It convinces us to love and to give just as freely as Jesus has given to us. As St. Paul said, it “impels us” in a way that everyday logic can never do (2 Corinthians 5:14).6
Friar Jude Winkler connects the story of Eleazar to the persecution of the Jews around 175 BCE. The crowd in the Gospel focus on the possibility of contagion of sin from Zacchaeus. Friar Jude reminds us of the realized eschatology in the Gospel of Luke.
Michael Poffenberger, Executive Director, Center for Action & Contemplation quotes Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, who recently summed up the current Christian situation.
Christianity is a lifestyle—a way of being in the world that is simple, non-violent, shared, and loving. However, we made it into an established “religion” (and all that goes with that) and avoided actually changing lives. One could be warlike, greedy, racist, selfish, and vain in most of Christian history and still believe that Jesus is “personal Lord and Savior.” The world has no time for such silliness anymore. The suffering on Earth is too great.7
Our call to live as Jesus disciples requires that we consider that the popular way may not be the Way that the Spirit nudges us to follow.
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