Sunday, October 30, 2022
Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time
First Reading: WISDOM 11:22–12:2
Responsorial Psalm: PSALMS 145:1-2, 8-11, 13-14
Second Reading: 2 THESSALONIANS 1:11–2:2
Gospel: LUKE 19:1-10
The first reading today from the Book of Wisdom brings to the fore, God’s steadfast love towards all created things and sinners. God could not have created something which He would then not love, for it derives from Him and participates in His goodness even if it is only very little. God is all-powerful; nothing, no one can resist Him. His mercy does not stem from any weakness on His part rather it is the effect of His love. God’s all-embracing love reminds us that as His children whom He loves, we are to have the same attitude towards what He has created and especially towards one another.
We must appreciate God’s unlimited love for sinners. In His kindness, He calls out to those who have abandoned Him and those who are lost in sin, He waits and never loses His patience. Let us not spurn the hand of mercy that He holds out to us; let us not fail to see the great value of His love for us. When God punishes man as He sometimes does, it flows from His all-encompassing love and mercy. Recognizing our utter dependence on Him and responding to His love is the source of wisdom, freedom and joy.
In the Gospel, Jesus shows God’s love for sinners in a concrete way. Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector. Tax collectors are lumped together with the worst of sinners living in a permanent state of sin and so outside the purview of forgiveness and mercy. This tax collector is certainly keen to see Jesus, no doubt moved by grace and overcomes every obstacle to see Jesus. Jesus rewards his effort by staying as a guest in his house. The crowd begin to grumble against Jesus for showing love to a man they considered a sinner. Jesus makes no excuses; He insists that is exactly why He came; to seek out sinners. Jesus plays the good shepherd who calls his sheep by name; he sees Zacchaeus and calls him by his name. He is putting into practice the parable of the lost sheep which was already prophesied by the prophet, “I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the crippled, and I will strengthen the weak” (Ezekiel 34: 16).
What began as curiosity snowballed into a joyful homecoming. This encounter immediately began to bear fruit as any true encounter with Jesus will. And Jesus declared, “Today, salvation has come to this house because this man too is a descendant of Abraham.” Being a descendant of Abraham clarifies that Zacchaeus, though a sinner, remains a son of Abraham and therefore he is within the purview of the covenant and the scope of mercy and forgiveness.
A true encounter with Jesus is an experience that changes our life. Jesus is our salvation. Coming to the house of Zacchaeus, He said salvation has come to this house. Our salvation begins with a joyful response to the call of God who in His love and mercy continues to call out to us and patiently. He calls us to an encounter with one who reveals to us, the depth of the love and mercy of God. In him, we learn to see that no one is outside the purview of salvation or beyond redemption, we see ourselves as loved by God and called to love.
Happy Sunday
Fr. Chidi Onwuka m.ss.cc.