31st Sunday in Ordinary Time : Do I long to see God in my Life

THIRTY FIRST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Wisdom 11: 22-12:2|Thessalonians 1: 11-2: 2|Luke 19:1-10

“And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not, on account of the crowd, because he was small of stature” (19:3)

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Jesus Christ,

Once upon a time, there existed a few bugs at the bottom of a pond and they used to crawl around the pond. They wonder what happens to their members who climb up the stem of the lily; they never come back. “They wondered what it’s like up there.” Once, they agree among themselves that the next one who is called to the surface will come back. The next little larva that finds itself drawn to the surface by nature, crawls up the stem and out on the surface on the lily leaf. It was really bright up there. It had been so dark and muddy down below. They won’t believe this. Suddenly something begins to happen. The larva begins to open out. The grub spreads out two huge beautiful colored wings and becomes a beautiful dragonfly. It never imagines that this could have happened. It thought it would remain a grub forever.

It seems to me that the story of Zacchaeus almost like the story of the bugs. He was a publican, the chief of the tax collector, a man entirely abandoned to greed, whose only goal was the increase of his gain.[1]    But he longed to see Jesus, a mere curiosity like ours to see a Hollywood star. But   that eagerness to see Jesus changed his life totally.  

The Story of Zacchaeus, what does it teach us?

First of all, the life Zacchaeus teaches that whoever longs, genuinely, to see God or God’s interventions in their life, God also take that longings so seriously. And God takes initiatives to visit him/her and receives him/her as His own.

Secondly, whoever takes God seriously, has to face the obstacles in their life to attain their goal. In the Gospel, we hear   Zacchaeus desired to see Jesus but the crowd prevented him to see Jesus. In the Gospel tradition, the crowd is always a hindrance to people who want to come to Jesus.[2] We have number of examples in the Gospels: the blind man in the Gospel of Luke chapter 18; the Paralytic in the Gospel of Mark chapter 2; the deaf and dump in the same Gospel chapter 7. The Crowd which is inclined to evil, repels people from Jesus rather than leading them to Him.[3] So, getting away from the crowd is so important in our spiritual progress.

Do I have the desire to see Jesus or His interventions in my life? If so, what kind of crowd that preventing me to see Him?  These are the questions that Gospel raises to us today. Each one of us may have different crowd that hinder us to see God. For some of us may be some addictions, for some others may be the social Medias; may be our wrong relationships. Each one of us has to identify from one’s life- what kind of crowd that block one’s vision to see God.

What Good news that we can take into our heart today?

I think this is the Good news that we can take to our heart. We can see God like Zacchaeus in the Gospel. In order to see Him, we must model Zacchaeus spiritually. Instead of giving the power to the crowd to control our life, we must control our crowd in which we have the possibility to go beyond the crowd like Zacchaeus did. St. Augustine, while commenting this passage make an observation. He says, “The reason you cannot see Jesus is that you are ashamed to climb the sycamore tree”.[4] Climbing a sycamore tree for Zacchaeus was really foolishness. Because if he cared people over Jesus, then he would never attempt to climb up the sycamore because people would mock at him. But he cared Jesus over the people and ignored what his fellow citizens would say. I think it is clearer if we put it in the words of St. Bonaventure: “Zacchaeus realized that the foolishness of faith leads to the height of wisdom of Christ.”[5]

Dear Brothers and Sisters, I understand the peer pressures and mocking comments from your friends when you take religion/ faith seriously. I also understand that practicing faith in our society is a real challenge. But I recommend you to reflect this question tonight: When you stand at the cross road of faith to make a decision to step, would you listen to your crowd or would you go beyond the crowd like Zacchaeus?

May our Merciful Lord bless you
Friar Tony vattaparambil Ofmconv

  

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[1] Alexandria, C. o. (2003). Commentary on Luke . In A. A. Jr., Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture: New Testament III Luke (pp. 289-292). Downers Grove, IL: Inter Varsity Press.

[2]Bonaventure. (2004). Commentary on the Gospel of Luke. In r. J. Karris, Works of St. Bonavneture (pp. 1789-1807). St. Bonaventure, NY: Franciscan Institute Publication.

[3] Bonaventure. (2004). Commentary on the Gospel of Luke. In r. J. Karris, Works of St. Bonavneture (pp. 1789-1807). St. Bonaventure, NY: Franciscan Institute Publication.

[4] Augustine (2003). Commentary on Luke . In A. A. Jr., Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture: New Testament III Luke (pp. 289-292). Downers Grove, IL: Inter Varsity Press.

[5] Bonaventure. (2004). Commentary on the Gospel of Luke. In r. J. Karris, Works of St. Bonavneture (pp. 1789-1807). St. Bonaventure, NY: Franciscan Institute Publication.