+ Last Sunday we have Jesus telling the story of: the Pharisee and a tax collector. It was the tax-collector who went home justified
because of his sincere, humble God-centered prayer asking for mercy and
forgiveness; rather than the Pharisee whose prayer was actually not a prayer at
all, but rather a rambling verbal pat of himself on his back for all the
precise religious observances that he so faithfully kept!
Today, to emphasize the point,
St. Luke adds a second gospel passage to back up the first: this time dealing
with the chief tax-collector:
Zacchaeus, the short little man who climbed up a tree to get a better view of
Jesus, and to have a fitting podium from which to invite Jesus to his house for
dinner. Jesus accepted the invitation! “Come down from that tree, Zacchaeus –
let’s go eat!”
Of course, the Pharisees and
the crowd gathered around the tree were mumbling: “He even goes and eats with
sinners!” But Zacchaeus to qualify his invitation, to show his good will and to
counteract the Pharisees said: Lord, now
that I am right here in your presence, and see my own lowliness, I will give
half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone
– which tax collectors were notorious for doing – I shall repay in four times over. Jesus smiled at Zacchaeus and to
the crowds and said: Today salvation has
come to this house…for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was
lost.”
My brothers and sisters: we must not ever count ourselves out
from among the convocation of sinners on this earth; for if we do we are at the
same time counting ourselves out of
redemption, salvation and eternal life with God. There is not one among all
the peoples on earth who is not a sinner – more or less – no one. There are
some who are quite less, but there
are also some who are quite more! Maybe you know a few of each! Either way – it is because of our sinfulness that the
Blood of Christ’s reconciliation applies to us, forgives us our sins and makes
us eligible for eternal life.
Do not get me wrong: I am not encouraging anyone to sin in
order to “stay qualified” for the “big prize” at the end of life. NO! But I am saying that we all find ourselves sinning on occasion
and we must at that point seek the mercy and forgiveness of God: primarily in
the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession).
Sadly, this is the most unused
“golden treasure” of the sacramental system. In the first reading today from
the Book of Wisdom we see everything put in perspective: before the Lord the whole universe is as a grain from a balancing
scale, or a drop of morning dew come down upon the earth, but this same Lord
has mercy on all, because he can do it, and he does it, he overlooks people’s
sins that they may repent. For you love all things that are, and spare all
things, because they are yours. Therefore, rebuke offenders little by little,
warn them and remind them of the sins they are committing that they may abandon
their evil deeds and believe in you, O Lord, and find eternal life!
With a God who loves us so
very much and who shows us the most power of his being (not in creating vast
universes) but rather in his bestowal of mercy – it would behoove us to beat our breast like the tax collector
last week and say: “O Lord, be merciful to me a sinner!” He will be merciful
and then he will say “now let’s go to your house and have dinner,” like he said
to Zacchaeus today!
God so
loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him
might have eternal life.