Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time
Put your hands up if at one time or another you have been head over heels in love. I am not asking you if it all worked out or if you are still with the person you got crazy about; I am not even asking if the other person felt the same for you. Perhaps, you only secretly adored this person and never made your love known. I am merely asking you if your heart has ever skipped a beat? I am asking if you lost your appetite or started putting make-up because love stirred your heart like never before? I am asking you, if you have been crazy in love?
I want to begin today’s reflection with the reading from the book of wisdom. In these few verses the pronoun ‘you’ is used fourteen times in addressing God. ‘You’ in this passage is an endearing term. It is very evident that the author composed his words with a deep awareness of God and a very intimate knowledge of God. The passage suggests to me that the author is enamored by God; that the author is deeply and crazy in love with God. This passage almost seems to be a love-poem in which a lover admires the qualities of the partner. The gospel reading is not every different. It is very difficult to inject some romance into the story of a man short of stature who also happened to be an exploiting tax-collector. But Zacchaeus desire to get a glimpse of Jesus, the effort he made to position himself in a way that Jesus would notice him, his hospitality and finally his total transformation are all intensely powerful gestures. It reminds me of the bride in the Song of Solomon who goes out in frantic search of her lover; and when she finds him sh-e commits herself to him in loving and intimate surrender.
Yes, I want to talk today about religion, faith and prayer in the language of love. After all, that is the one thing that we have in common between us – the capacity to love and be loved; the capacity make commitments and be committed to; the capacity to enter into deep and all consuming intimacy; the capacity to touch the core of another person’s life and be touched by another in our deepest core. Love is a good thing, a powerful thing, a holy thing. Love is everything.
Let me offer three practical implications for today’s readings:
1. I have many conversations with people about God. Most of these people have some image or understanding of God. People understand obligations, rituals, commandments, judgment, punishment, heaven and hell and often fashion their relationship with God around these concepts. This might surprise you, but the most neglected of the image of God is that of God as LOVE. This does not mean that people think that God is not loving; it means that they fashion their relationship with God primarily around obligations, commandments, and judgment more than around GOD AS LOVE. Today’s readings offer a corrective to this. I want to read the Zacchaeus as a love story that captures the entire story of the incarnation. Just as Zacchaeus waited for Jesus, the world was waiting for Jesus. Just as Jesus came to Zacchaeus, Jesus came to the world. Just as Jesus went into Zacchaeus’ house, Jesus enters human existence. Just as Jesus loved Zacchaeus, Jesus loves every human person, friend or foe. Just as Jesus transformed Zacchaeus’ very purpose of life, Jesus transforms human destiny. If Jesus could love Zacchaeus, Jesus loves every human person. In love - pure, divine, holy and sacred love – Jesus invites every human person into an eternal bond of love. As today’s gospel reading concludes, “The Son of man came to seeks and save what was lost.” He did that on the cross. Only God in Jesus could transform the cross, the greatest symbol of shame, into the most powerful symbol of love. Today, let us try to wrap our minds around God’s limitless capacity to love beyond measure.
2. Love is transforming. I am totally intrigued by the transformation in Zacchaeus. This was no small transformation. He decided to give away half of his belonging to the poor, repay those had cheated four times over and allow God’s transforming love to save him. What explanation can we give for Zacchaeus’ transformation? My answer to the question simple: true love is transforming. I know a guy whose was addicted to strip clubs. He never wanted to or expected to fall in love. But he did. And that did it. Today, he is a wonderful husband and father of two kids. I know a lady filled with the fear of rejection, abuse, and broken self-image from her first marriage. And then she fell in love. Today, she is a different woman – a wonderful wife and a great mother to her two step children. She has sold her house, moved in with the family and said good-bye to her horrid past. Love is transformative. If human love can be so transforming, can you imagine what God’s love can do? Do you think we now have an explanation for Zacchaeus’ transformation? My dear friends, many of us struggle in our relationship with God, or just muddle meaninglessly through life because either we have never allowed ourselves to be gripped by God’s love or never related to GOD AS LOVE. Has God’s love brought you to tears yet? Have you ever choked because your love for God could not find adequate expression?
3. This year, our parish is commemorating the year of Faithful discipleship. At the retreat that I conducted to begin this year, I spoke much about the two primary qualities of God: Hesed and Emet or Steadfast love and Fidelity. In other words, our God is a God who, no matter what, does not ever stop loving. Scripture tells us about the consistent, ever-faithful, relentless, lavish, extravagant, unrestrained, and the furious love of God. Our God also always remains faithful, honest and true. A disciple is one who, first and foremost recognizes God as a God of steadfast love and fidelity. A disciple is one who falls head over heels in love with Jesus the God of fidelity and love. A disciple is always in love – with God and with humanity. A disciple is willing to pay the price for thinking, talking and acting like Jesus. A disciple embraces the cross because it is the greatest symbol of love. You and I are called to be that disciple.
Let me conclude this homily by bringing us to the altar. One of my RCIA candidates said in reference to another sacrament – this it was the closest we get to God on earth. I want to apply this to the Eucharist. This table, the body and blood of Jesus on this altar is the closest we will get to GOD’S LOVE on earth. This altar is an altar love. If you believe in LOVE, come today as a disciple and receive God who is love. Amen.
Fr. Satish Joseph