Oct 28, 2013
Wisdom 11:22-12
1 Psalm 145:1-2, 8-11,
13-14
2 Thessalonians
1:11-2:2
Luke
19:1-10
Our Lord is a lover of souls, the Liturgy shows us today. As we
sing in today's Psalm, He is slow to anger and compassionate
towards all that He has made.
In His mercy, our First Reading tells us, He overlooks our sins and
ignorance, giving us space that we might repent and not perish in
our sinfulness (see
Wisdom 12:10;
2 Peter 3:9).
In Jesus, He has become the Savior of His children, coming himself
to save the lost (see
Isaiah 63:8-9;
Ezekiel 34:16).
In the figure of Zacchaeus in today's Gospel, we have a portrait of
a lost soul. He is a tax collector, by profession a "sinner"
excluded from Israel's religious life. Not only that, he is a
"chief tax collector." Worse still, he is a rich man who has
apparently gained his living by fraud.
But Zacchaeus' faith brings salvation to his house. He expresses
his faith in his fervent desire to "see" Jesus, even humbling
himself to climb a tree just to watch Him pass by. While those of
loftier religious stature react to Jesus with grumbling, Zacchaeus
receives Him with joy.
Zacchaeus is not like the other rich men Jesus meets or tells
stories about (see
Luke 12:16-21;
16:19-31;
18:18-25). He repents, vowing to pay restitution to
those he has cheated and to give half of his money to the poor.
By his humility he is exalted, made worthy to welcome the Lord into
his house. By his faith, he is justified, made a descendant of
Abraham (see
Romans 4:16-17).
As He did last week, Jesus is again using a tax collector to show
us the faith and humility we need to obtain salvation.
We are also called to seek Jesus daily with repentant hearts. And
we should make our own Paul's prayer in today's Epistle: that God
might make us worthy of His calling, that by our lives we might
give glory to the name of Jesus.