31st Ordinary Sunday – 03rd November 2019 — Gospel: Lk 19,1-10
Zacchaeus Exchanges Hospitality with Jesus
Zacchaeus suffers exclusion in the society on two grounds: as a short person and as a tax collector. He overcomes his physical problem by climbing the tree, something that a child or young person would do, but not any dignified person. But that extravagant gesture breaks through the barrier and gives him access to Jesus. The visitor’s emphasis on the word ‘must’ portrays the divine purpose that God visits the excluded in the place where they are. It also brings home the mission of Jesus and shapes its direction towards his salvation and of his extended household. In welcoming Jesus joyfully, Zacchaeus overcomes his social rejection as well. Jesus brings him in from the margins to the center. His double declaration to share his wealth to the poor and others, articulates about his controversial trade and the exploitation it involves. It also manifests that he has undergone an external conversion with an implicit intention to give up this profession. However what brings him change is his position with respect to the community. This episode offers the prefect paradigm of the hospitality of God. Zacchaeus, one of the marginalized despite his wealth, provides hospitality to Jesus and finds in return the hospitality of God. He not only gains dignity and decency in the society, but gains welcome into the community of salvation. This exchange of hospitality enlarges the sphere of God’s Kingdom that not only welcomes lost human beings but also offers new life. This salvation takes place here and now (Today) as Jesus seeks out, finds and incorporates within the community the excluded and the lost, like Zacchaeus, the rich tax collector.
