33rd Week in Ord. Time, Tuesday – 17th November 2020 — Gospel: Lk 19,1-10
Salvific Encounter
The account of Jesus’ encounter with Zacchaeus relates not only Zacchaeus’ desire to see Jesus, but Jesus’ desire to bring salus (salvation, wholeness) to Zacchaeus. Their encounter highlights God’s intention to seek and save the lost. Jesus’ self-invitation to eat with a tax collector has caused stir among the crowds. But this is his first step to achieve his mission of individual salvation in a house. At the dinner, Zacchaeus shows the proper attitude to wealth, unlike the rich man of 18,18-23 who clung to it. On the one hand, Zacchaeus announces that he is going to give half of his wealth to the poor and then repay fourfold anyone whom he has cheated. Thus, he is willing to live out his new found relationship with Jesus by doing the right thing. He is a tax collector who leaves everything and willingly follows Jesus. On the other hand, Jesus also makes an announcement that salvation has come upon Zacchaeus and his family because he is being faithful to his ancestry religious practices and establishes a relationship with God through Abraham. Indeed, salvation is in the very person of Jesus. Jesus’ self-invitation proclaims that his mission is to seek out those who have gone astray and to invite them back into a rightful relationship with God, like the shepherd, the woman with her broom and the welcoming father of Chapter 15.
