Father Nolan's Homily - November 4, 2007:
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“Zacchaeus come down quickly for today I must stay at your house.” Luke 19:4
In the first reading from the Book of Wisdom, we are reminded that God cares and loves all of us. When we repent He forgives our sins. He accepts us as we are and loves us unconditionally. In the second reading from St. Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians we find Paul praying for the new converts to Christianity from Paganism. There was a rumor there that the Lord was soon to return. Paul tells them to do the work God had given them and in that way they would always be open and ready for the Lord. And in the gospel of today’s Mass from St. Luke we come across a character named Zacchaeus who was the chief tax collector for the Romans in Jericho and a very wealthy man. He was considered by his own people to be a traitor by cooperating with the Roman army of occupation and he was considered to be a sinner. He was despised by his own people. He is curiously and obviously flawed like all of us. But he is an example to us of what God’s grace can do. He gives ordinary people like you and me great hope. His is the story of a little, lonely, sinful man who has an encounter with Jesus while hiding in a tree. He was a small man – very short and so up a tree was the only place where he could get a glimpse of Jesus whom he greatly admired as a great prophet. The encounter with Jesus changed his life forever. He never would be the same again. What lessons does that story teach us? For one: if Zacchaeus could become a saint, anyone could. He was a tax collector and worse still the chief tax collector. As I said last Sunday, tax collectors were racketeers, local Jewish businessmen who purchased from the Romans their tax collection job and then collected the hated taxes for the hated Romans from their fellow countrymen lining their own pockets in the process. Tax collectors had to be greedy enough to sell their own soul for a shekel and be willing to turn against their own family and friends for profit. So they were wealthy and friendless. Tax collectors were so despised in Jesus’ time that “tax collectors” and “sinners” were synonymous. Yet, Jesus sought him out. When Jesus offered him a kind word of acceptance Zacchaeus fell from the tree with wide eyed amazement. Jesus said to him “Come down quickly for today I must stay at our house.” How long since anyone wanted to eat with Zacchaeus but Jesus did! The point is plain. Jesus has come to seek out and save that which is lost. He is the good shepherd seeking out the lost sheep. Before sinners seek God, He is seeking them. Every sinner has a past but every sinner has a future with God is the message. Each of us can be a saint. Zacchaeus gives all of us hope because he was so unworthy. Zacchaeus in that one encounter with Jesus became a new man. He gave away half of his wealth to the poor and paid back fourfold all he had cheated. Jesus accepts Zacchaeus. A week later Jesus accepted a thief dying beside Him on Calvary on the cross. The thief said “remember me Lord when you enter into your kingdom” and Jesus would say to him “This day you shall be with me in Paradise.” He welcomed every crook who would repent and accept Him as Lord. Jesus has come to seek out and save those who were lost – people like you and me.
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