Jesus wants to repose with us

Homily for the Thirty-First Sunday of Year C

by Fr. Tommy Lane

Poor Zacchaeus! Nobody liked him! His problem was his profession. (Luke 19:1-10) He collected taxes, or more accurately, he collected tolls on goods passing through Jericho on a major highway. There were two problems with this: those tolls did not remain in Palestine but went to support the Roman Empire which was occupying Palestine at that time, and secondly, everyone knew toll collectors took a huge cut on the tolls they collected. Once a year they sent in advance to the Roman Empire what they estimated they would collect in tolls during the year ahead, and then they could collect whatever they want and keep it. Luke says Zacchaeus was wealthy. Everyone knew where he got his wealth.

Word got around that Jesus was going to visit Jericho and the streets were lined with people who wanted to see him. Zacchaeus also wanted to see Jesus. It was not just now that Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus; Luke makes it clear in his Greek that for a long time Zacchaeus had been wanting to see Jesus (Luke 19:3). But Zacchaeus was short in stature and the crowds would not let Zacchaeus in front of them to see Jesus. They were bitter towards Zacchaeus because of his profession. He had no choice but to climb a tree to see Jesus.

His effort to see Jesus was met with an even greater response by Jesus: “Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your home.” (Luke 19:5) Zacchaeus’ heart was open to Jesus and Jesus responded. Jesus visited Zacchaeus. All we need for Jesus to visit us is an open heart; our heart must be open to Jesus. Zacchaeus in turn responded to Jesus with great generosity as he promised to give half his possessions to the poor and make restitution for anything he had extorted from anyone.

There is someone else in Luke’s Gospel who also wanted to see Jesus for a long time (Luke 9:9): Herod (Antipas) who had John the Baptist murdered, the son of Herod the Great. He had been wanting to see Jesus because he had heard many things about him and must have wondered about him when the wife of one of his stewards became a disciple of Jesus (Luke 8:3). But his longing to see Jesus was completely different to that of Zacchaeus. His heart was not open to Jesus and some Pharisees told Jesus that Herod wanted to kill him (Luke 13:31). Finally, Herod got his wish to see Jesus: Herod was in Jerusalem at the time of Jesus’ Passion, and Pilate sent Jesus to Herod to be judged also by Herod (Luke 23:6-16). Herod and his soldiers treated Jesus contemptuously although he did not find Jesus guilty of anything. By contrast, Zacchaeus had his heart open to Jesus and Jesus responded with even greater benevolence. On the other hand, Herod had his heart closed to Jesus and when he did eventually meet Jesus, he treated him with contempt.

We see the same thing happen also when Jesus was on the cross. The good thief/criminal, hanging on a cross beside Jesus, opened his heart to Jesus and said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” (Luke 23:42) Again Jesus responded with enormous generosity promising him he would be in Paradise that very day (Luke 23:43). But the other thief/criminal, crucified on the other side of Jesus, had his heart closed to Jesus and did not receive a similar beautiful promise.

We can see that one who has his/heart open to Jesus, like Zacchaeus and the good thief, receives even greater generosity from Jesus. Jesus doesn’t force his way into our lives. Herod (Antipas) met Jesus but with a closed heart, as did the wicked thief, and neither of them benefited from meeting Jesus. There was no receptivity to Jesus in their hearts. A number of times in the Gospels, Jesus urges us to open our hearts to him:

Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest (Matt 11:28)

To some people in John’s Gospel who were not accepting him, Jesus said,

you do not want to come to me to have life. (John 5:40)

During a Jewish feast when they used to pour water around the altar in the temple commemorating the miracle of water in the desert, Jesus said,

Let anyone who thirsts come to me and drink. (John 7:37)

In Revelation, the last book of the Bible, Jesus says,

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will enter his house and dine with him and he with me. (Rev 3:20; Photograph of a door in Passau between the cathedral and the river.)

Once when Jesus appeared to St. Faustina with the wounds from his Passion visible, Jesus said to her,

See what love of human souls has done to Me. My daughter, in your heart I find everything that so great a number of souls refuses Me. Your heart is My repose. I often wait with great graces until towards the end of prayer. (Diary of St. Faustina §268)

Jesus could repose in St. Faustina’s heart. He reposed also in Zacchaeus’ house. Jesus also wants to repose in our hearts and homes. Refusing Jesus repose in our hearts and homes does not bring a blessing; Herod’s territory was later removed from him, and he was banished to Gaul. On the other hand, Zacchaeus, traditions tell us, later became what we would now call a bishop, and the good thief entered Paradise the same day as Jesus. Jesus is knocking on our doors. When we open and give him repose, he will come in to dine with us.

© Fr. Tommy Lane 2022

This homily was delivered in a parish in Ireland.

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