Homily
for the 31st Sunday in
Ordinary Time (Cycle C)
Based
on Lk 19:1-10 (Gospel),
Ws 11:22-12:2
(First Reading) and 2 Thes 1:11-2:2 (Second Reading)
From
the Series: “Reflections and Teachings of the Desert”
ZACCHEUS
“For the Son of
Man has come to seek out and to save what was lost” (Lk 19:10)
The Gospel reading for this 31st
Sunday in Ordinary Time is from Lk 19:1-10.
Verses 1 to
5 say: He entered Jericho and was going through the town, when a man whose name
was Zacchaeus made his appearance; he
was one of the senior tax collectors and a wealthy man. He was anxious to see
what kind of a man Jesus was; but he was
short and could not see him for the crowd; so he ran ahead and climbed a
sycamore tree to catch a glimpse of Jesus who was to pass that way. When Jesus
reached the spot, he looked up and spoke to him: “Zacchaeus, come down. Hurry,
because I must stay at your house
today.”
Parallel
text for verse 2 is Mt 5:46 that
say: For if you
love those who love you, what right have you to claim any credit? Even the tax
collectorq do as much, do they not? Footnote q says “They
were employed by the occupying power, and this earned them popular contempt cf
9:10.”
Verse 6 says: And he hurried down and welcomed him joyfully.
Parallel
text is Lk 1:14 that says: He will be
your joy and delight and many will rejoicei at his birth… Footnote i says “Joy
is the keynote of ch. 1-2; 1:28,46,58; 2:10. Cf 10:17,20f; 13:17; 15:7,32;
19:6,17; 24:41,5. Ac 2:46+.”
Verse 7 says:
They all complained when they saw what was happening. “He has gone
to stay at a sinner’s house” they said.
Parallel texts are:
1.
Lk 5:30 - The
Pharisees and their scribes complained to his disciples, saying, “Why do you
eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?
2.
Lk 12:33 - On almsgivingd Sell you
possessions and give alms. Get yourselves purses that do not wear out, treasure
that will not fail you, in heaven where no thief can reach it and no moth
destroy it. Footnote d says “That
riches are a danger and should be given away in alms is characteristic teaching
of Lk: cf. 3:11; 6:30; 7:5; 11:41; 12:33-34; 14:14; 16:9; 18:22; 19:8; Ac 9:36;
Ac 10:2,4,31.”
3.
Lk 15:2 - and
the Pharisees and scribes complained. “This man’ the said, ‘welcomes sinners
and eats with them.”
Verse 8 says: But Zacchaeus stood his ground and said to the Lord, “Look, sir, I am going to give half of my property to the poor, and if I have
cheated anybody I will pay him back four times the amount.”a
Footnote a says “Fourfold restitution was imposed by the Jewish law (Ex 21:37) for one
case only; Roman law demanded it of all convicted thieves. Zaccheus goes
further: he acknowledges the obligation in the case of any injustice he may
have been responsible for.”
Parallel texts are:
1.
Ex 21:37 - If
a man steals an ox or a sheep and then slaughters or sells it, he must five
oxen for the ox, four sheep for the sheep.
2.
2 S 12:6 - He
must make fourfold restitution for the lamb for doing such a thing and showing
no compassion.
Verses 9
and 10 say: And Jesus said to him,
“Today salvation has come to this house because this man too is a son of
Abraham; b For the Son of Man has come to seek out and to save what
was lost.” Footnote b says “Notwithstanding
his despised profession. No social rank excludes ‘salvation’, cf. 3:12-14. All
the Jewish privileges follow from ‘sonship of Abraham,’ cf. 3:8; Rm 4:11f; Ga
3:7f.”
Parallel texts are:
1.
Mt 21:31 - Which
of the two did the father’s will?” “The first” they said. Jesus said to them,
“I tell you solemnly, tax collectors and prostitutes are making their way into
the kingdom of God before you.
2.
Lk 15:6,9,24,32 - And then, when he got home, call together his friends and neighbors?
Rejoice with me,” he would say ‘I have found my sheep that was lost.’ (v. 6). And
then, when she had found it, call together her friends and neighbors? Rejoice
with me,” she would say ‘I have found the drachma I lost.’ (v. 9). because
this son of mine was dead, and has come back to life; he was lost and is
found.” And began to celebrate. (v. 24).
But it was only right we should celebrate and
rejoice, because your brother here was dead and has come to life; he was lost
and is found. (v. 32).
The First Reading is from Ws 11:22-12:2.
Verse 22
says: In your sight the whole world is like
a grain of dust that tips the scalesp, like a drop of morning dew falling
on the ground. Footnote p says “Or
‘that does not even tip the scales’.”
Parallel texts are:
1.
Is 40:15 - See,
the nations are like a drop on the pail’s rim. They count as a grain of dust:
see, the islands weigh no more than fine powder.
2.
Ho 6:4 - What am I to do with you, Ephraim? What am I
to do with you, Judahe This love of yours is like a morning cloud, like
the dew that quickly disappears.
Footnote e says “The original text may have read ‘Israel’ in
synonymous parallelism with ‘Ephraim’, cf. 5:3.”
3.
Ho 13:3 - Therefore,
they will be like morning mist, like the
dew that quickly disappears, like the chaff
whirledd from the threshing floor, like smoke escaping through the
window.
Verse 23
says: Yet you are merciful to allq,
because you can do all things and overlook men’s sins so that they can repent. Footnote q says “The
thought of vv. 23f is not new to Israel but it had never before been expressed
so powerfully, nor so serenely or so logically argued as in vv. 25-26.”
Parallel texts are:
1.
Jb 34:29
- ‘Yet he is unmoved, and nothing can
touch him.’ Bu nonetheless he does take pity on nations and men?
2.
Si 18:12 - He
sees and recognizes how wretched their end is, and so he makes his forgiveness
all the greater.
Footnote
Verse 24 says: Yes, you
love all that exists, you hold nothing of what you have made in abhorrence, for
had you hated anything, you would not have
formed it.
Parallel texts are:
1.
Ws 12:2, 10 - Little by little, therefore, you correct those who offend, you admonish
and remind them of how they have sinned, so that they may abstain from evil and
trust in you, Lord (v. 2). But by condemning them piece by piece, you gave them
chance to repent, although you knew very well they were inherently evil,
innately wicked… (v. 10).
2.
Rm 2:4 - Or
are you abusing his abundant goodness, patience, and toleration, not realizing
that this goodness of God is meant to lead you to repentance?
3.
Rm 3:25 - Who was appointed by God to sacrifice his
life so as to win reconciliation through faith.k Footnote k says “Lit.
‘whom God put forward as (or: destined to be) a propitiatory through faith by
his blood’. For the ’propitiatory’ or ‘throne of mercy’, cf. Ex. 25:17+; and
cf. Heb 9:5. On the day of Atonement, Lv 16:1+, this was sprinkled with blood,
Lv. 16:15. The blood of Christ has performed what the ancient ritual could only
symbolize: purification from sin. Cf. also the blood of the covenant, Ex.
24:8+, Mt. 26:28.”
Verse 25 says: And how could a thing remain, had you
not willed it; could a thing persist, how be conserved, if not called forth by
you?
Parallel texts are:
1.
Ws 1:13-14 - Death was not God’s doing, he
takes no pleasure in the extinction of the living. To be– for this he created
all;m The world’s created things have health in them, in them no
fatal poison can be found, and Hadesn holds no power on earth; Footnote m says “God,
‘He-who-is’; Ex 3:14+; caused all things to be”; and Footnote
n says “‘Hades’; the
Hebr. Sheol, Nb 16:33+, here represents not the dwelling place of the dead but
the power of personified Death, cf. Rv 6:8; 20:14.
2.
Ws 2:23-24 - Yet God did make man imperishable, he made him in the image of his own
nature;m It was the devil’s envy that brought death into the world,n
as those who are his partners will discover. Footnote m says “‘nature’;
var. ‘eternity’, ‘likeness’”; and Footnote
n says ‘devil’ in the
LXX renders the Hebr. Satan, cf. Jb 1:6+. Here, the author is interpreting Gn
3, cf. Rv 12:9; 20:2; Jn 8:44; 1 Jn 3:8. The death introduced by the devil is
spiritual, with physical death as its consequence, cf. 1:13+; Rm 5:12f.”
3.
Gn 1:31 - God
saw all he had made, and indeed it was very good. Evening came, and morning
came—the sixth day.
4.
Ps 145:9 - And
universally kind; Yahweh’s tenderness embraces all his creatures.
Verse 26 says: You spare all things because all things are
yours, Lord lover of lifer Footnote r says “Lit.
‘lover of the soul’.”
Parallel texts are:
1.
Ezk 18:23 - What! Am I likely to take pleasure in the death of a wicked man—it
is the Lord Yahweh who speaks - not prefer to see to see him renounce his
wickedness and live?
2.
Ezk 33:11
- Say to them, ‘As I live – it is the Lord Yahweh who speaks – I take pleasure,
not in the death of the wicked man, but
in the turning back of a wicked man who changes his ways to win life. Come
back, come back from your evil ways. Why are you so anxious to die, House of
Israel?’
Chapter 12,
verse1 says: You
whose imperishable spirit is in all.a Footnote a says “The breath of life infused into the
creatures by God, Gn 2:7+, not the spirit; the soul of the world in Stoic
philosophy. Vulg. translates inaccurately
‘How good and kind, Lord, is your spirit in all beings.’”
Parallel texts are:
1. Gn
2:7 - Yahweh fashioned man of dust from the soilc. Then he breathe into his nostrils a breath of
life, and thus man became a living being. Footnote c says “Man,
adam, is of the soil, adamah, cf. 3:19,23. This collective noun is to become,
4:25; 5:1,3, the proper name of the first human being, Adam.”
2.
Ws 11:23 - Yet you are merciful to allq,
because you can do all things and overlook men’s sins so that they can repent. Footnote
q says “The thought of vv. 23f is not new to Israel
but it had never before been expressed so powerfully, nor so serenely or so logically
argued as in vv. 25-26.”
3.
Ws 12:10 - But
by condemning them piece by piece, you gave them chance to repent, although you
knew very well they were inherently evil, innately wicked…
4.
Jb 34:29
- ‘Yet he is unmoved, and nothing can touch
him.’ Bu nonetheless he does take pity on nations and men?
Verse 2 says: Little by
little, therefore, you correct those who offend, you admonish and remind them
of how they have sinned, so that they may abstain from evil and trust in you,
Lord.
Parallel texts are:
1.
Am 4:6 - And that is why f I left
your teeth cleang in all your towns, left you without bread in all
your villages; and yet you never came back to me.— It is Yahweh who speaks. Footnote f says “The following passages, vv. 6-12, is a short poem with a refrain
indicating the lesson God wanted the people to learn from these events. As a
father punished his child, Dt 8:5+, so God wants to bring back his people to
himself (here the seven strokes of his rod are listed in crescendo; Am 4:6-11;
Lv 26:14-39; Dt 28:15-68); but all is in vain, Is 9:12; 42:25; Jr 2:30; 5:3; Ho
7:10; Zp 3:2,7; Hg 2:17, cf. Rv 9:20,21; 16:9,11; Ex 7-11. Israel is hardened
in sin and God is about to strike him down”; and Footnote g says “i.e.
‘by sending famine’”.
2.
Lk 15:7 - In the same way, I tell you, there
will be more rejoicing in heaven over one repentant sinner than over
ninety-nine virtuous men who have no need of repentance.
The Second Reading is from 2 Thes 1:11-2:2.
Verse 11
says: Knowing this, we pray continually that our God
will make you worthy of his call, and by his power fulfill all yourf
desires for good ness and complete all that you have been doing through faith…Footnote f says “Or
‘his’”.
Parallel text is Ph 2:13 that says: It is God, for his loving
purpose, who puts both the will and the action into you.
Verse 12 says: because in this way the name of our Lord Jesus will be glorified
in you and you in him by the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Parallel texts are:
1.
Is 66:5 - Listen
to the word of Yahweh, you who tremble at his word. Your brother say, who hate
you and who reject you because of my
name. Let Yahweh show his gloryd,
let us witness your joy; But they shall be put to shame. Footnote d says “‘show his glory’ following versions”.
2.
Is 24:15
- “Therefore, in the islands they
give gloryh to Yahweh! In the islands of the sea, to the name of Yahweh,
the God of Israel!” Footnote h says “text
corr.: ‘in the lights, give glory to’ Hebr.”
3.
Jh 17:10,24 - All I have is yours and all you
have is mine, and in them I am glorified (v. 10). Father, I want those you have
given me to be with me where I am so that they may always see the glory you
gave me because you loved me before the foundation of the world (v. 24).
Chapter 2,
verse 1 says: To turn now,
brothers, to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and how we shall all be
gathered round him,
Parallel texts are:
1. Mt
24:31 - And he will send his angels with aloud trumpetq to gather
his chosen from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.r Footnote q says “Add.
‘and a voice’; and Footnote r says “Lit.
‘from the four winds, from the ends of the heavens to their ends’, a composite
formula from Zc 2:10 and Dt 30:4, texts which treat of the reunion of scattered
Israel, cf. Ezk 37:9 and Ne 1:9. See also Is 27:13. Here therefore as in vv. 22
and 24, the ‘chosen’ are those Jews that Yahweh will rescue from the ruin of
their nation in order to admit them, along with the pagans, into his kingdom v.
30.”
2.
1 Co 15:23 - But all of them in their proper order: Christ as the first fruits and
then, after the coming of Christ, those who belong to him.
3.
1 Co 15:23 - We can tell you this, from the
Lord’s own teachingh, that any of us who are left alive, until the
Lord’s coming, will not have any advantage over those who have died (v. 15). At
the trumpet of Godi the voice of an archangel will call out the command
and the Lord himself will come down from heaven,j and those who have
died with Christ will be the first to rise (v. 16). And those of us who are still
k alive, will be taken up in the clouds with them to meet the Lord
in the air. So we shall stay be with the Lord forever (v. 17).l Footnote h says “No
precise reference in the written gospels can be given for this saying of Jesus,
but cf. Mt 24 with vv. 15-17. Perhaps Paul is relying here on the authority he
had been given the vision on the Damascus road, cf. Dn 7:1, 13, 16’; Footnote
i says “‘us’; Paul includes himself among those who will be present at the parousia;
more by aspiration, however, than by conviction, cf. 5:1+.”; Footnote j
says “the trumpet, voice and clouds were traditional signs that accompanied
manifestations of God, cf. Ex 13:32+; 19:16+ and they were adopted as
conventional elements of apocalyptic literature, cf. Mt 24:30f+; 2 Th 1:8+”;
Footnote k says “Om. ‘(we) who are still alive’’; Footnote
l says “Of all the details given here: that the dead will answer the summons by
returning to life that they and the living will be taken to meet the Lord, and
that they will accompany him to the judgment with which the eternal kingdom
begins, the essential one is the last: eternal life with Christ, cf. 5:10; 2 Th
2:1. That is to be the ‘salvation, the glory, the kingdom’ that Jesus shares
among his chosen followers.”
Verse 2 says: Please do not get excited too soon, or alarmed either by any
prediction, or rumor or any letter claiming to come from us, implying that the
day of the Lord has already arrived.
Parallel text is 2 Th
3:17 that says: From me, Paul, these
greeting is in my own handwriting, which
is the mark of genuiness every letter;
this is my own writing.
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