Faith- Jesus-Repentance-Martyrdom

HOMILY WEEK 33 02 – Year I

“Carpe Diem.” Seizing the day, like Zacchaeus”

(2 Mac 6:18-31; Ps 3; Lk 19:1-10

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“Carpe Diem.” “Seize the day.”

This saying, made famous by the movie The Dead Poets’ Society, fits the readings today, inviting us to deeper faith, more genuine repentance, and boldly living out our faith regardless of the cost.

In the gospel, Zacchaeus is both a chief tax collector, and also very rich. That means he was in collusion with the Roman Imperial system and almost certainly became wealthy by skimming more than his share of profit off the top of the taxation system, thus gouging his fellow Jews.  As such, he was like so many of his ancestors before him, falling for the four false “goods” or “gods” of all societies since time began – money, fame, power and pleasure. Naturally, he would be hated by his fellow Jews, and considered a great public sinner, something he put up with out of his love for money.

However, Zacchaeus was somehow different, unique. Something was stirring within his heart – he was longing for more. Theologically, we speak of the three universal attributes of God: truth, goodness and beauty. Wherever these are found, God is somehow there. So, at the core of his being, Zacchaeus, perhaps without even being aware of it, was longing, yearning for that which would satisfy him in a way those false gods did not. He was longing for a deeper connection with truth, goodness and beauty.

Acting out of perhaps some curiosity, but also, I believe, out of what must have been a divinely inspired impulse and fledgling faith in Jesus as one who just might assuage that longing of his heart, he humbly and earnestly threw propriety and decorum aside, ran ahead (totally out of character) and even climbed one of the huge sycamore trees still dotting Jericho to this day, just to catch a glimpse of Jesus.

What happened next not only shocked him and the crowds, it also reveals how God’s immense love for God’s people is always ready to respond to the slightest inclination of faith and a turning towards God – Jesus takes the initiative, looks up, calls Zacchaeus by name, asks him to come down and invites himself to his house. Imagine the consternation and understandable irritation of the crowd – that Jesus would be “a guest of one who is a sinner.” That would be like a priest or bishop stopping to talk to a pimp or prostitute on a street corner, and inviting himself to his or her place for supper! But such is God’s extravagant love for us that God would do this.

Zacchaeus’ response was one of marvelous repentance in the full sense of “metanoia” – or changing one’s mind and whole way of acting and being. He has just met Jesus, who has invited himself into his life. He has just connected with the truth, goodness and beauty of God himself in the flesh, incarnated in Jesus. No wonder he could give away half of his possessions – what was money compared to the whole truth, goodness and beauty of God?

Not only that, he promised to make restitution for any of his dishonest dealings. Legally, he was required to give back what he might have acquired dishonestly, and add one fifth of that amount as punishment. So complete is his conversion, his repentance, his experience of the truth, goodness and beauty of God in Jesus he declares he will give back “four times as much!”

We can, we should, we must ask ourselves, in the light of this biblical incident, how strong is our faith in Jesus, how deep has been our repentance, how genuine is our ongoing conversion as disciples of Jesus? Is our experience of Jesus as the truth, goodness and beauty of God so profound and pervasive that we can let go of any over-attachment to those false gods or worldly goods of money, fame, power and pleasure?

In the word of Bishop Robert Barron, “today’s Gospel declares in the story of Zacchaeus how quickly God responds to any sign of faith. Zacchaeus’ climbing the sycamore tree shows he had more than a passing interest in seeing Jesus. He had a deep hunger of the spirit. His principal virtue was his willingness to go to great extremes. But this is what we do when we know that something of great moment is at stake. When our health is endangered, we move, we act; when our job is threatened, we go to almost any extreme to keep it.

“When Jesus spotted him he said, ‘Zacchaeus, hurry down. I mean to stay at your house today.’ God responds to us readily when we show the least interest in him. He doesn’t play hard to get; he is not coy with us. When we seek him, he responds, because loving us is his entire game.
Notice how Jesus tells Zacchaeus to hurry. Don’t wait, don’t hesitate. Seize the moment of conversion when it comes.”

We are given an example of that kind of radical faith from the Old Testament, in the person of Eleazar in the first reading from 2 Maccabees. A renowned, aged scribe, he was tempted by the king’s officials to pretend he was eating pork, to enter into a little bit of deceit, so as to save his life. True to his faith and his values, and realizing such an action would leave a negative legacy to the youth of his day, he stood his ground, refused to cheat, and went to his death with dignity and honor – a great example not just to the young, but to the “great body of the nation” and also to us, thousands of years later. Talk about seizing the moment!

The Eucharist makes present, through word and sacrament, the truth, goodness and beauty of God enfleshed in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. May our celebration strengthen our faith in Jesus as God’s love for us in the flesh, as he was for Zacchaeus, and empower us to “carpe diem” – to repent from the heart and boldly live out our faith as did Eleazar.