20 November, 2012
Tuesday of Week 33; St. Edmund
FIRST READING
Revelation 3:1-6, 14-22
I, John, heard the Lord saying to me: “To the angel of the Church in Sardis, write this:
“‘The one who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars says this: “I know your works, that you have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Be watchful and strengthen what is left, which is going to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. Remember then how you accepted and heard; keep it, and repent. If you are not watchful, I will come like a thief, and you will never know at what hour I will come upon you. However, you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments; they will walk with me dressed in white, because they are worthy.
“‘The victor will thus be dressed in white, and I will never erase his name from the book of life but will acknowledge his name in the presence of my Father and of his angels.
“‘Whoever has ears ought to hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”
“To the angel of the Church in Laodicea, write this:
“‘The Amen, the faithful and true witness, the source of God’s creation, says this: “I know your works; I know that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, ‘I am rich and affluent and have no need of anything,’ and yet do not realize that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I advise you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich, and white garments to put on so that your shameful nakedness may not be exposed, and buy ointment to smear on your eyes so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and chastise. Be earnest, therefore, and repent.
“‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, then I will enter his house and dine with him, and he with me. I will give the victor the right to sit with me on my throne, as I myself first won the victory and sit with my Father on his throne.
“‘Whoever has ears ought to hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”
RESPONSORIAL PSALM
Psalm 15:2-3a, 3bc-4ab, 5
R. (Rev. 3: 21) I will seat the victor beside me on my throne.
He who walks blamelessly and does justice; who thinks the truth in his heart and slanders not with his tongue.
R. I will seat the victor beside me on my throne.
Who harms not his fellow man, nor takes up a reproach against his neighbor; By whom the reprobate is despised, while he honors those who fear the LORD.
R. I will seat the victor beside me on my throne.
Who lends not his money at usury and accepts no bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be disturbed.
R. I will seat the victor beside me on my throne.
ALLELUIA
1 John 4:10b
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
God loved us, and sent his Son as expiation for our sins.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
GOSPEL
Luke 19:1-10
At that time Jesus came to Jericho and intended to pass through the town. Now a man there named Zacchaeus, who was a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man, was seeking to see who Jesus was; but he could not see him because of the crowd, for he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus, who was about to pass that way. When he reached the place, Jesus looked up and said, “Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house.” And he came down quickly and received him with joy. When they saw this, they began to grumble, saying, “He has gone to stay at the house of a sinner.” But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone I shall repay it four times over.” And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house because this man too is a descendant of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost.”
REFLECTIONS:
What would you do if Jesus knocked on your door and
said, "I must stay at your home today"? Would you be excited or embarrassed?
Jesus often "dropped-in" at unexpected times and he often visited the "uninvited"
the poor, the lame, and even public sinners like Zacchaeus, the tax collector!
Tax collectors were despised and treated as outcasts, no doubt because
they over-charged people and accumulated great wealth at the expense of
others. Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector and was much hated by all the
people. Why would Jesus single him out for the honor of staying at his
home? Zacchaeus needed God's merciful love and forgiveness. In his encounter
with Jesus he found more than he imagined possible. He shows the depth
of his repentance by deciding to give half of his goods to the poor and
to use the other half for making restitution for fraud. Zacchaeus' testimony
included more than words. His change of heart resulted in a change of life,
a change that the whole community could experience as genuine.
Saint Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD) urges us to climb the sycamore
tree like Zacchaeus that we might see Jesus and embrace his cross for our
lives:
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Zacchaeus climbed away from the crowd and saw Jesus without the crowd getting
in his way. The crowd laughs at the lowly, to people walking the way of
humility, who leave the wrongs they suffer in Gods hands and do not insist
on getting back at their enemies. The crowd laughs at the lowly and says,
You helpless, miserable clod, you cannot even stick up for yourself and
get back what is your own. The crowd gets in the way and prevents Jesus
from being seen. The crowd boasts and crows when it is able to get back
what it owns. It blocks the sight of the one who said as he hung on the
cross, Father, forgive them, because they do not know what they are doing. lang="en-us">
… He ignored the crowd that was getting in his way. He instead climbed
a sycamore tree, a tree of silly fruit. As the apostle says, We preach
Christ crucified, a stumbling block indeed to the Jews, [now notice the
sycamore] but folly to the Gentiles. lang="en-us">
Finally, the wise people of this world laugh at us about the cross of Christ
and say, What sort of minds do you people have, who worship a crucified
God? What sort of minds do we have? They are certainly not your kind of
mind. The wisdom of this world is folly with God. lang="en-us">
No, we do not have your kind of mind. You call our minds foolish. Say what
you like, but for our part, let us climb the sycamore tree and see Jesus.
The reason you cannot see Jesus is that you are ashamed to climb the sycamore
tree.
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Zacchaeus grasp the sycamore tree, and let the humble person climb the
cross. That is little enough, merely to climb it. We must not be ashamed
of the cross of Christ, but we must fix it on our foreheads, where the
seat of shame is. Above where all our blushes show is the place we must
firmly fix that for which we should never blush. As for you, I rather think
you make fun of the sycamore, and yet that is what has enabled me to see
Jesus. You make fun of the sycamore, because you are just a person, but
the foolishness of God is wiser than men. lang="en-us">Sermon
174.3.
The Lord Jesus is always ready to make his home with each one of
us. Do you make room for him in your heart and in every area of your life?
"Lord Jesus, come and stay with me. Fill my life with your peace, my
home with your presence, and my heart with your praise. Help me to show
kindness, mercy, and goodness to all, even to those who cause me ill-will
or harm."
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