31st Sunday of the Year—Cycle C—2016

FIRST READING            Wisdom 11:22-12:2

Before the LORD the whole universe is as a grain from a balance or a drop of morning dew come down upon the earth.  But you have mercy on all, because you can do all things; and you overlook people’s sins that they may repent.  For you love all things that are and loathe nothing that you have made; for what you hated, you would not have fashioned.  And how could a thing remain, unless you willed it; or be preserved, had it not been called forth by you?  But you spare all things, because they are yours, O LORD and lover of souls, for your imperishable spirit is in all things!  Therefore you rebuke offenders little by little, warn them and remind them of the sins they are committing, that they may abandon their wickedness and believe in you, O LORD!

SECOND READING                  2 Thessalonians 1:11-2:2

Brothers and sisters:  We always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and powerfully bring to fulfillment every good purpose and every effort of faith, that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, in accord with the grace of our God and Lord Jesus Christ.  We ask you, brothers and sisters, 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 either by a “spirit, ” or by an oral statement, or by a letter allegedly from us to the effect that the day of the Lord is at hand.

GOSPEL                Luke 19:1-10

At that time, Jesus came to Jericho and intended to pass through the town.  Now a man there named Zacchaeus, who was a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man, 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, “Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house.”  And he came down quickly and received him with joy.  When they all saw this, they began to grumble, saying, “He has gone to stay at the house of a sinner.”  But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone I shall repay it four times over.”  And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house because this man too is a descendant of Abraham.  For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost.”

My sisters and brothers in the Lord,

The Book of Wisdom, from which comes our first reading today, tells us “you overlook people’s sins that they may repent.”  We hear this statement more frequently during the time of Lent, but it is important that we recognize its truth always.  This first reading points us clearly to the Gospel from Saint Luke today, where we meet the tax collector, Zacchaeus.  Jesus asks this tax collector to come and eat at his house, and Zacchaeus promises that he will repay anything that he has taken unjustly and also give half of his belongings to the poor.  That is real repentance!

The Book of Wisdom gives us the insight and understanding from an earlier period of Jewish history.  All of us must seek to live wisely in our lives, because wisdom is the ability to discern and judge which aspects of knowledge are true, right, lasting, and applicable to our lives.  Wisdom is a way to understand what really will give us the best life—particularly with relationship to God.  Not all of us live wisely, but if we seek to follow Jesus Christ and set out on His path, then in time, we learn wisdom because Jesus shows us the way.

The second reading today is from the Second Letter to the Thessalonians.  The passage given us today is a piece of wisdom, telling us to be very cautious when speaking about the end of time.  This piece of advice needs to be repeated in every age because there are always people telling us that the end is coming.  This is always true, for sure, but we need not be alarmed about it.  What we need is daily conversion of our own lives.  If we are living in Jesus Christ, then it matters not when the end comes.

We return to the Gospel from Luke today and meet Zacchaeus, a short man who is the chief tax collector and a wealthy man.  We can note immediately that Zacchaeus is not a proud man.  Think of this short man running ahead of Jesus and climbing a tree to see him.  How undignified and comic!  We can hope that we might have this enthusiasm to know the Lord, to see Jesus.  Jesus never turns people away.  There are times when Jesus tests those who come to see him, such as the foreign woman in the Gospel of Matthew to whom he replies that he cannot give to the dogs food for those at table.  But Jesus knows the people and knows how far He can test them.

We need to  have this enthusiasm of Zacchaeus and the strength of character of the foreign woman when we come seeking Jesus.  Zacchaeus is ready to give a lot (we can note that he does not offer to give up everything!) in order to follow Jesus.  How much are we willing to give to the Lord?  Are we willing to make fools of ourselves so that we can see Jesus?  Are we willing to seek wisdom?

Let us give whatever we can give at this moment, even if it is not yet all!  Let us walk with the Lord and ask Him to help us.

Your brother in the Lord,

Abbot Philip