Homily of Thirty-First Sunday in
Ordinary Time Year C
Concerning each one of us, St.
Paul writes in Romans 7:19, “For I do not do the good I want to do, but the
evil I do not want to do -- this I keep on doing.” He also writes, “For all
have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). However, we are
not hopeless. In Psalm 130:3-4, the word of God assures us, “If you, Lord, keep
account of sins, Lord, who can stand? But with you is forgiveness and so you
are revered.” Indeed, with God is forgiveness; which is why the first reading
says, “But you have mercy on all… and you overlook people’s sins that they may
repent. … Therefore, you rebuke offenders little by little, warn them and
remind them of their sins they are committing, that they may abandon their
wickedness and believe in you, O Lord!” God speaks to us through Prophet
Ezekiel, “For I find no pleasure in the death of anyone who die…. Turn back and
live!” (Ezekiel 18:32). Instead of keeping account of repentant’s sins, Psalm
23:6 says that indeed, God’s goodness and mercy continue to pursue us all
the days of our life.
St. Paul in the second reading
cautions us to cast out all fears in our relationship with the Lord. He says,
“We ask you, brothers, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and
our assembling with him, not to be shaken out of your minds suddenly, or to be
alarmed …” Pope Francis says, “Mercy is the first attribute of God. God does
not want anyone lost. His mercy is infinitely greater than our sins.” The Pope,
also, says, “The name of God is mercy. There are no situations we cannot get
out of; we are not condemned to sink into quicksand.”
St. Paul states in Colossians
1:15 that Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God. Pope Francis
re-echoes this point in the Bull of Indiction of the Extraordinary Year of
Mercy, 2015, where he writes, “Jesus Christ is the face of the Father’s mercy….
Mercy has become living and visible in Jesus of Nazareth, reaching its
culmination in him.” We see Jesus as the face of God’s mercy in Zacchaeus in
today’s Gospel. Jesus showed mercy on him and forgave him his many sins.
Zacchaeus’ encounter with Jesus
is a fulfillment of words of the Scripture:
Matthew 18:3-4, “Amen, I say
to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the
kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in
the kingdom of heaven.” Zacchaeus, a chief tax collector and a wealthy man
became childlike, climbed a tree in order to see Jesus. Zacchaeus’
childlikeness earned him salvation.
Jeremiah 29:13-14, “When you look
for me, you will find me. Yes, when you seek me with all your heart, I will let
you find me … and I will change your lot…” Zacchaeus’ desire and effort to see
Jesus earned him salvation. He “was seeking to see who Jesus was; but he could
not see him because of the crowd, for he was short in stature. So he ran ahead
and climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus, who was about to pass that
way. When he reached the place, Jesus looked up and said to him, ‘Zacchaeus,
come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house.’ And he came down
quickly and received him with joy.” Zacchaeus’ experience must not be taken
literarily. “The crowd” and Zacchaeus’ “short in stature” represent Zacchaeus’
sins that prevented him from seeing Jesus. Zacchaeus running ahead represents
his running away from his past sinful life; and his climbing a sycamore tree
represents his climbing to repentance. By these, the words of Jeremiah came to
fulfillment; Jesus changed his lot.
We may have ‘crowd’ and ‘short
statures’ in form of our sins, weaknesses, relationships, worldly cares,
excuses, and so on that block us from a closer encounter with Jesus and from
salvation. Zacchaeus teaches us to ‘run’ and ‘climb.’
Zacchaeus, also, teaches us that
set-backs, failures, and all kinds of life trials must not discourage us. We
are not to give up or walk away when ‘short statures’ and ‘crowd’ stand in our
way. We are to ‘run’ and ‘climb.’
The crowd not only stood in the
way of Zacchaeus, they grumbled when they found out that they could not stop
Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus was not discouraged. He stood his ground. Therefore, like
Zacchaeus, we must not only ‘run’ and ‘climb,’ we must also ‘stand’ our ground.
When Zacchaeus encountered Jesus,
the face of God’s mercy, his lot changed and salvation came to his house. May
we have the same testimony as Zacchaeus, amen. “The name of God is mercy.
There are no situations we cannot get out of; we are not condemned to sink into
quicksand.” On our part, however, we must ‘run,’ ‘climb,’ and ‘stand.’
Fr. Martin Eke, MSP
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