October 31—31st Sunday in Ordinary Time

Wis 11:22-12:2 2 Thes 1:11-2:2 Lk 19:1-10

Happy Halloween to all my readers! This Sunday we hear a gospel story so familiar to us that we automatically know a number of lessons that we might draw from Zacchaeus’ and Jesus’ encounter. We might consider how Zacchaeus’ conversion led to justice for the poor or we might ask ourselves how far out on a limb we are willing to go in order to follow Jesus. Even with these more obvious considerations, I want to consider something quite different that this story embodies.

The story of Zacchaeus tells us that he is a rich man. It is important to remember what that meant in Hebrew society. To be rich meant being someone who does not have to work for a living. A rich person is so well off that he can hire others to do his work for him. As the senior tax collector, Zacchaeus probably had an entire staff of tax collectors working for him. He would stay at home running his business; he would not personally collect taxes somewhere. At the same time, he would be mindful of the cultural expectations of his day regarding riches, namely, that anyone who has more than enough to live on is obliged to give to the poor his excess. Yet, when we hear the story of Zacchaeus, we might imagine that he must be some spectacular kind of sinner in order to have “all who saw” him grumble because he is a known sinner.

Another hidden jewel in the story is that the name Zacchaeus in Hebrew means “clean” or “innocent” or “pure.” Since the Bible only uses the name twice, it cannot be an accident that this senior tax collector is called Zacchaeus. The other place in the bible where we find the name is in the second book of Maccabees and Zacchaeus is a general who leads thousands of men in battle. He is completely capable of overpowering the enemy; he cannot be overcome. It is to Zacchaeus that Judah left his precious sons before Judah went to war, knowing that the his boys would be safe with Zacchaeus. In this case, Zacchaeus is trustworthy and a person who provides safe shelter. So, Luke’s story of Jesus and Zacchaeus may be telling us that this Zacchaeus is like the Old Testament Zacchaeus, someone who is trustworthy and safe.

Another aspect of the story that we need to know is that when we read the story in Luke’s original Greek, it reads, “Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, ‘Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.’” If we take this present tense used by Zacchaeus, he is not promising to give away half of his belongings. No, he is telling Jesus that he already gives half of his possessions to the poor. In fact, according to the Greek text, when Zacchaeus says, “If” I have cheated someone, the Greek does not imply that he has cheated anyone. Instead, it simply says that if Zacchaeus discovers that any of his tax collectors has cheated someone, then he, Zacchaeus, will remit four fold the amount the tax payer has been cheated. So, the text is saying something closer to, “If I have cheated anyone, (not that I am aware of it) then I will repay four-fold.”

What we see before us is the story of a truly righteous man who lives his religious life sincerely, yet because of his profession, people regard him as a sinner. How easy it is to misjudge people! From mere externals we believe that we know the core of a person. This is true for us today as much as it was for the people who misjudged Zacchaeus. We need to be aware that like Halloween children who go around in costumes begging for candy, people’s external life can act just like a mask, hiding the true treasure inside.

It is worthwhile to consider people in our own lives, people we see in the forefront of the green movement. Not everyone has a “respectable” image. Sometimes, actions of Green Peace members have been pronounced “illegal” and disrespectful of the “rights” of others, for example, when they block trawlers from catching shark or whales. But when we listen to the whole story of fishers who would torture sharks by removing their fins and tossing them into the sea to drown or killing protected species of whales, we find that Green Peace actions have pointed out the immoral and illegal activities of others by their protests. I wonder how many of us would be willing to risk our reputations to save others from such activities.

Zacchaeus was aware of his bad reputation and provided evidence that he was not the sinner people believed him to be. When Jesus heard it, he proclaimed that salvation had come to Zacchaeus’ house. Perhaps, one lesson this story teaches us is that Jesus defines our reality, not the gossips and pundits. We should stand ready to explain our environmental activities to those who believe that green protestors deprive them of their rights to over-consume nature’s bounty or destroy the quality of land while farming. Like Zacchaeus, we can know that many protestors are innocent of wrong doing and join in activities that preserve the integrity of our planet even in new or unorthodox ways. If you’d like to know more about ways to be involved in environmental activities, consult Green Peace and other environmental organizations on the Internet or the ones listed below.