True Greatness in God’s Eyes

HOMILY: Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time

Luke 19:1-10

30 October 2022

Fr. Ricky Cañet Montañez, AA

There is a matronly lady (She’s in her 80’s!) from the former parish I served who never leaves her house without a full face of make-up, baubles, frills, and glittery clothes even on ordinary days — to go to the grocery, pick up her prescription meds from the pharmacy (chemist), or drop by the parish office. She always looks like she is going to a party. You simply cannot miss her. The glint of the glitters or the flashy colours of her outfit will get you looking her direction. She simply enjoys the attention and is only happy to chit-chat with people who approach her. She absolutely hates the feeling of being ignored. Well, no one wants to be overlooked, (or under-looked), to be always passed by and worst of all, not to be ‘seen’ by others. We may not be as ostentatious as my friend, but we do care about receiving the attention and recognition from people who matter in our life. 

We have a good example of Zacchaeus in today’s Gospel. Zacchaeus is described as small in stature, and thus everyone must have always looked down on him.  All his life he always needed to look up to other people. People looked down on him to see him. In psychology, we are told that this is a cause for insecurity and sometimes it can motivate people to embark on things to boost their ego. In Zaccheus’ case, he held a job of importance that gave him power over the regular folk. And he lorded it over them. And they did not like him very much. In a way, it caused people to look down on him even more. Most likely, when he had his back turned they spoke of him as though he were dirt. They probably had awful secret code names and unkind nicknames for him.

When Zaccheus heard Jesus had come into their town, he felt compelled to see Him. He wanted to see Jesus. And perhaps look upon this man he had heard so much about. Because he was vertically challenged, he climbed a sycamore tree in order to have at least a glimpse of Jesus passing by. The ensuing encounter with Jesus was most unusual for Zacchaeus. For the first time someone looked up at him and for him — calling him by name — invited him down and really saw him beyond his small stature, his littleness, and his inferiority. Jesus saw Zacchaeus for who he truly is. While people only saw him as an extortionist being a tax collector (and mind you, he was not only one of the tax collectors, but the chief of tax collectors in Jericho and so probably more unjust than others), Jesus saw a person who had great potential to be a person pleasing to God. He saw a redeeming factor in this man. There was hope for him to be what God intended him to be.

But the call of Zacchaeus is not without cost. Conversion is always costly since it involves breaking away from our sinful and selfish attachments. He had to share his goods with the poor and make restitution to those whom he had defrauded. As the Book of Wisdom tells us: “But you spare all things, because they are yours, O Lord and lover of souls,… Therefore you rebuke offenders little by little, warn them and remind them of the sins they are committing, that they may abandon their wickedness and believe in you, O Lord!” (Wisdom 11:26 – 12:2) We can think of some famous celebrities as good examples. Many of them like to be photographed in fashionable and expensive clothing while hanging out in posh places. Few of them manage to shy away from the paparazzi to live quiet lives and they focus their energies on championing causes and supporting worthwhile endeavours such as bringing attention to the plight of the sick or those in need of justice. These individuals do not see themselves as extraordinary… They simply recognise that they are in a position of influence. And they use their status for the good of others. Such is their redeeming factor. 

All those who have had a deep encounter with Jesus find their lives radically transformed. A meal with Jesus must have been a dream come true for Zacchaeus — an honor, but also a humbling experience. It moved him to desire to be a true disciple of Jesus. He made the necessary sacrifices to change his way of life and be pleasing to God. We can say that this conversion made him TRULY GREAT (to be BIG) in God’s eyes! Let us pray with St. Paul that like Zacchaeus our God may make us worthy of His call! (2 Thessalonians 1:11)