While Jesus was trying to bring people to conversion, freedom and closer to God, a group of people grumbled and complained because of Jesus’ intentions and actions. The parables of the lost sheep and of the lost coin are images of God searching for those who have lost their way, who distanced from the community and from God. Yet, God longs and desires the presence of those who lost their way and wants to bring them back to his presence. Thus, these two parables tell us how dear each of us in the heart of God. God does not rest and does not surrender until God wins us back and finds us again.
However, such image and nature of God, was received with hatred and hostility by those who wanted “to control God.” The Pharisees and scribes complained and grumbled because Jesus was eating with sinners and being friendly with them. For them, Jesus was not following the law that they revered so much. They did not want a God who forgives and redeems sinners and the lost. They wanted a God who condemns as what their law prescribed.
This was the reason of their grumbling because they wanted a condemning God. Having this kind of God, then, they can easily incite fear among the people and control people according to their agenda and selfish intentions.
That is why, Jesus’ presence was indeed a threat against these people, because Jesus was turning the table against them. Jesus revealed the true face of God, a loving and forgiving God.
Hence, while Jesus tells us of God’s embrace and God’s longing for us, we too are reminded of our tendency to reject God. The Pharisees and the scribes represented that tendency in us to reject whatever is God’s. However, just as the shepherd never stopped until he found the lost sheep and just as the woman searched carefully until she found the lost coin, God also continues to call and invite us, to search and to find us until we allow God to embrace us.
This is what Paul also realized. His letter to the Philippians revealed his past where he thought that he was already in the right path. Yet, Paul was a lost soul believing that righteousness based on the law was enough. However, when Jesus found him, Paul also found himself and gained everything in Christ.
And so, like the tax collectors and sinners, may we have the courage to draw near to Jesus and listen to him and be changed by him. May these parables always remind us of this God who longs and desires for our presence, for our conversion and for our freedom. Moreover, may it move us too to be more embracing, accepting and welcoming of our brothers and sisters who need a lot of understanding and love because of unfortunate circumstances in their life. Kabay pa.
Not all generous people are truly grateful. Yet, grateful people are always generous. What does it mean? One’s generosity can be colored by our selfish intentions or motivated by our self-interest. Like for example, we can be generous to people in our workplace especially to the higher ups because we want them to like us, a way, of perhaps, securing a good position or promotion. Politicians can be publicly generous of their resources, time and presence particularly when election is coming up, well, because that is self-promotion. We can pamper a person we like so much, giving gifts and treats because we want the person to like us in return.
These forms of generosity or kindness are acts of selfishness that only seek to advance self-interest. In fact, Paul in his letter to the Philippians, exhorts the community and warns them of this tendency. He said, “Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory… regard others as more important than yourselves, each looking out not for his own interest.”
This kind of spirit is very essential in a Christian community that exists in a worldly and self-centered society. Paul also realized that selfishness is not the way of Christians because this tendency leads to corruption of life and of faith. It is only by being a person for others, being a community for others that believers of Christ will truly grow in the faith and in their relationship with one another.
Moreover, Jesus in today’s Gospel taught a leading Pharisee on how he should express his kindness and generosity. This Pharisee must be influential and rich in that community and Jesus saw how the guests were filled with the same influential and wealthy people. Thus, Jesus challenged him to express his kindness and generosity to people who need most. This was Jesus’ call to the Pharisee to move out of selfishness and to be truly generous and not for the sake of advancing self-interest.
Hence, the Lord also invites us today to grow in our gratitude to God and to others. Only in this attitude of the heart that we shall also be able to go beyond from the tendency to look only for ourselves and own benefit. Gratitude in our heart will make us kind and generous to people who around us who need most our help and presence. This is our true expression of faith. Kabay pa.
What do I seek in life? Love and acceptance? Understanding and friendship? Comfort and contentment? Health and wealth? In seeking what matters most in our life, we could experience discouragement, rejection, failure, pain or even shame. We know that not everything we can have in life. We also know that life can be sometimes too tough and overwhelming. There are those who may just enjoy life because of the privileges they have. There are also those who at the moment of their birth, pain and struggles seemed to be never ending.
So, in seeking what really matters in our life, which may not necessarily be always material, others may resort to unhealthy and destructive ways especially when they too are not guided. Some may also be led and helped by others to come into right decisions and good discernment in life until they also discover God’s invitations for them and live a happy and holy life.
On this 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time, this is something I want to share with you through an interesting biblical person, Zacchaeus, a Chief Tax Collector, hated and despised by many Jews of his time. He is quite interesting because his very life characterizes each person’s desire to seek what matters most in our life. So, allow me to journey with you today and let us discover together how God calls us.
Zacchaeus, as described by Luke, was short in stature and a wealthy tax collector. His fellows Jews hated him for being a tax collector and someone who was affiliated with the Romans. Remember, at that time, Israel was under the a foreign invader, the Roman Empire who imposed tax on them.
However, we could also ask, how Zacchaeus, a Jew, ended to the side of the Romans, working for them as a tax collector. We could actually imagine the life of Zacchaeus. Thus, being short in height, Zacchaeus as a young boy must have been a subject of bullying. Even until now, among our friends we actually make fun of people who are short or those people who do not belong to the standard of the majority like those who are too tall or too dark, etc.
Because of the physical limitation of Zacchaeus, people looked down on him. It must have been so terrible for Zacchaeus to be bullied publicly and to be hurt emotionally. Zacchaeus must have felt the pain of rejection and disrespect towards him as a person. However, he was helpless against those playmates and other people who had bullied him.
That emotional pain in him must have created a deep emptiness also within him. Thus, being bullied and rejected, Zacchaeus was in search of respect, of acceptance and of affirmation. But then, he could not gain those by just being who he was because people disrespected him for being who he was. Zacchaeus needed a way of getting his revenge. He won’t be able to get what he wanted if he would remain helpless and meek. He needed power and wealth to make those people who have bullied and rejected him to bow down to him.
Zacchaeus grabbed the opportunity the Roman Empire could offer him. The Romans were feared, though hated by the Jews, but were forced to show their respect. People had to bow down to the powerful Romans. Thus, Zacchaeus made himself available in the service of the Romans. This was how Zacchaeus got his revenge against his fellow Jews. He became the chief tax collector and becoming one also meant becoming powerful and wealthy.
Now, Zacchaeus was above those who have bullied him. Zacchaeus could now play the bully himself. As a chief tax collector, he could get his revenge by raising the tax against those people whom he also despised. Because of this, people would now please him, affirm him, and show their respect to him because he had power over them.
Perhaps, Zacchaeus would love to see the faces of those who have abused him emotionally to beg for mercy. He could now demand what he needed and force the people to accept him and pay respect to him.
However, Zacchaeus was never peaceful. He was always restless. At the beginning, this was not what he wanted but because of those pain of rejection and emotional wound, he turned out to be corrupt and a monster in the eyes of the people.
Indeed, like Zacchaeus, to be bullied or to be rejected could create a deep emotional wound in us as well. Because of being helpless, we could not protect ourselves from people who hurt us emotionally such as bullying and rejection at school, in our neighborhood or even at home. As a result, we do not only begin to hate those people who were bullying and rejecting us, but we also hate ourselves for being who we are. We hate ourselves because of the imperfection that people find in us.
Thus, we also begin to think that if only we are not like this, then, people might accept us and love us. This consciousness begins to develop in us until we become a person whom we are not, just for the reason of being accepted, recognized, respected and loved by people around us. This is how we could be seeking what matters most in our life – that is, of being loved, being accepted, being welcomed for who we are.
Now, back to Zacchaeus, in the very depth of his heart, Zacchaeus was seeking to be accepted by the community, which he never experienced. However, he heard about this man, named Jesus. Jesus was a miracle worker, a famous preacher who healed the sick, raised the dead and forgave sinners. St. Luke described to us how Zacchaeus became curious about Jesus. This curiosity actually showed the desire of a human heart to see and encounter God. Yet, we are also confronted by the fact that it is the Lord first who tenderly seeks for us.
This is what the Book of Wisdom tells us. It says, “for you (Lord) love all things that you have made… you spare all things because they are yours, O Lord and Lover of souls… for your imperishable spirit is in all things.” Further, the author of the book tells us how the Lord will confront us of our sins and calls us back to his presence because God seeks for us and desires that we may have the fullness of life. indeed, God desires our salvation, our happiness and complete joy because God sees Himself in us, for we breathe God’s breath.
This explains to us that, indeed, the longing in our heart for God and God’s longing for us is mutual. This is what we also find in Zacchaeus, the bullied who turned to be the bully.
And Luke, described to us the limitations Zacchaeus had, not just his physical limitation of being a short man but also because of his hardened heart, his emotional wounds, his corrupt practices as a tax collector and insecurities. These prevented him to see clearly Jesus, when the Lord was about to pass by. But, these limitations of Zacchaeus did not discourage him to seek further the Lord. There was certainly, a deep longing in his heart. So, Zacchaeus ran ahead and climbed the sycamore tree that he may see Jesus clearly. And truly, Zacchaeus saw the Lord. And Jesus saw him and called him.
For the very first time in the life of Zacchaeus, he felt accepted and welcomed the way he was, thus, he felt being loved. Jesus addressed him with respect and with dignity without conditions and without pretensions. This encounter with Jesus, changed Zacchaeus completely because at last he was loved.
This attitude reminds us of every human heart’s desire to encounter the Lord. We are made for God. God is imprinted in our hearts as we are created in God’s image and likeness. This is what the Book of Wisdom remind us. And so, let us be conscious on that. Let us be aware that we desire and seek God.
Yet, in our desire for God, there will be things that will prevent us to see and encounter God. This is what we find in the story of Zacchaeus. Perhaps, our fear and shame of admitting that we have sinned prevent us in truly meeting the Lord. Fear causes us low self-esteem and to hide because we are afraid of being judged by others, and by the people around us. Shame also prevents us to hold God’s love in our hearts and his forgiveness because we feel that we are not worthy. Our emotional hurts from the past could also hold us back especially when they hardened our hearts to be welcoming of others like that of Zacchaeus.
Our arrogance can also prevent us in meeting the Lord. Our indifference stops us from true conversion. Let us ask then, ourselves, what are those things, addictions, or attitudes that may hinder us from truly seeking God?
Paul in his second letter to the Thessalonians, hoped, “that the name of the Lord Jesus may be glorified in us.” This means that through our very person, our thoughts, actions and works, the presence of our Lord may be revealed.
This is what Zacchaeus challenges us also. Like him, each of us has actually the capacity to overcome anything that holds us back to see God clearly. We are called to run ahead and overcome those attitudes that prevent us from seeing clearly Jesus. Let us look for a sycamore tree where we can climb over our sins and fear. Look for a friend whom you can share you own problems and struggles. Seek the guidance and direction from people who can truly help you. Come to the sacraments with a heart that truly longs for the Lord, because only then, that we are able to overcome those that prevent us from being near the Lord.
We too are reminded in the story that though our heart desires for God, but God desires more to see us, to be with us. Thus, the Lord is constantly looking and searching for us. Jesus was in fact searching for Zacchaeus, searching for a sinner, indeed, we are all the Zacchaeus in the Gospel that Jesus has been searching for. Jesus desires to be with us and that we will be reconciled to him and will be healed from our past hurts and pains. Let us allow then the Lord to search us, to find us and to heal us.
Hopefully, our encounter with Jesus will bring us also into that joy of forgiveness and assurance of love from God that we are forgiven, accepted and respected. This may hopefully lead us too to repair the damage that we have caused to others and to make amendments for our sins like Zacchaeus who promised Jesus to give to the poor half of his possessions and repay four times over those he extorted. A sign of true repentance and conversion and of a heart that has found what really matters most. Kabay pa.
A man once approached an elderly priest and asked, “Father, how come it seems that God does not speak to His people anymore? He used to speak so beautifully with such power and clarity to our prophets and apostles. But why is it that God seems no longer talk to us His people? Nagtatampo ba siya sa atin? Is he isolating Himself from us?”
For a minute the priest was just in silence, shaking his head as though he was in pain. He replied in time, “My son, it is not that God no longer speaks to us His people. Hindi sya nagtatampo sa atin. He is not isolating Himself from us. It is just that… no one these days can stoop down low enough to listen to Him. No one… can stoop down…low enough… to listen to Him these days.
At times, we also find ourselves like that man sharing the same question: “Why and how come God no longer speaks to us His people?” As we go through our lives doing our daily affairs, we do feel and experience at times the silence and absence of God. Nagtutulog ba ang Dios? Is God asleep? Nagtatampo ba ang Dios? Is God sulky? Is He isolating or distancing Himself from us?
Zaccheus in our gospel today must have felt and experienced the same silence and absence of God in his life. While doing his usual work of collecting and counting money in the treasury, Zaccheus must have asked the same question about God no longer speaking to His people. He must have also wondered about the silence and absence of God in our lives.
To the extent, that when he heard that Jesus is passing by, he decided to close his office, climbed up a tree, hoping to have a glimpse of Jesus, whom he must have heard of as godly person. Actually, he doesn’t want to be involved. He only wanted to “observe” Jesus and the crowd. So, while waiting for Jesus on the tree, perhaps he must be back then thinking about his favorite topic: his work, his money collections, his usual affairs & concerns.
As he passed by the tree, Jesus saw Zaccheus and asked him to “come down and hurry for I must stay in your house today”. Somehow Zaccheus got more than what he bargained for. All he wanted was just a glimpse to observe Jesus. Now, he got an audience and a home visit from Jesus. And, what is required of him is just to come down from the tree, invite Jesus in to his house, and take part in the life and mission of Jesus.
So how come and why God is no longer speaking to us His people? Why do we at times felt and experience the absence and silence of God?
Perhaps because, like Zaccheus, we become so concerned and comfortable about our day-to-day worldly affairs of being and striving to be always at the top of things and people. Like Zaccheus, perhaps we also don’t want to get involve and participate. We rather observe than serve the Lord and others. And like Zaccheus, we rather remain “at the top of all things” in our comfort zones, being labelled and stereotyped by others, – instead of being recognized as not only as Abraham’s descendant but more so as God’s children. So, why God no longer speaking? Perhaps it is because we are no longer stooping or kneeling down low enough to listen to Him.
The invitation of Jesus to Zaccheus: “To come down and hurry for I must stay in your house today” is a wake-up call also for us today: “to stoop down low enough to listen to Him”. For us then to experience the presence, voice, and lambing of God, instead of his absence, silence and tampo, we must learn to humbly listen to Him through His son Jesus Christ & be involve in His affairs.
This is a reminder that in life at times, we become too-far, too-high, too-much, too-numb, too-away, too-distant from God that we cannot anymore see, hear, feel, and experience Him. It is like our phones might be fully-charged but we have weak signal and out of coverage.
However, rest assured, like Jesus, God is always reaching-out to us, wanting to be in contact with us whatever happens, “for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost”. All we have to do & required of us is to come down from our pedestals & comfort zones, invite Jesus into our lives and eventually participate in His ever-present life & mission in our lives. In other words, Stoop Down… Low Enough… to Listen to Him.
Perhaps we may ask ourselves: “when was the last time I stoop or knelling down low enough to listen to Him?”
We learn last Sunday the most simple and very effective prayer of the tax collector: “O God, be merciful to me, a sinner” or simply the Jesus prayer: “Lord, have mercy”. May we also learn today from the prayer of prophet Samuel: “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening”.
Before Our Father, may we find ourselves listening in humility & poverty, so that God can contact-trace & reach-out to us for the better of us always.
A coffee product advertisement asks, “Para kanino ka bumabangon?” For whom do we wake up? Perhaps we could find ourselves waking up early in the morning to prepare for our work. Parents would make sure to wake up early to prepare breakfast for their growing children. Students would wake up to prepare for school. A young person would wake up continue reaching out and realizing his/her dream in life. But deeper than this, we would find ourselves waking up and embracing what life could offer us because of our loved ones, of people who are dear to us.
Pope Francis has a deeper invitation and challenge in his Apostolic Exhortation, Christus Vivit (286), he asked us, “For whom am I living?” Pope Francis leads us to recognize what is really important in life and what matters most in our life. This is an invitation that would hopefully lead us to God’s embrace, in God’s presence and to live in God through our human relationships and with the whole creation.
Paul in his letter to the Philippians, has realized something deeper in himself. He said, “For to me life is Christ, and death is gain.” Paul was persecuted for preaching Christ and living for Christ. He was subjected to physical suffering and humiliation yet, all these trials did not discourage and dampen his spirit to live and to continue living. Paul lived for Christ. He would wake up for Christ and to preach Christ in whatever situations and circumstances. Paul found his greatest contentment and joy in life, and that is living in Christ.
He may have expressed his concern and confusion whether to continue living or embrace his eminent death by martyrdom but to be with Christ. However, whether he will continue living or departing from this life, Paul saw all these as opportunities to live for Christ. This was evident at how Paul continued to make a difference in the life of the early Christians. Even at prison, Paul remained to be an inspiration for the Christian communities. His example of living for Christ showed that joy and contentment in life cannot be limited by trials or persecution. Paul arrived at the level of complete confidence and trust in the presence and love of God who abides in him even in the midst of pain and horrifying tragedies in his life.
The Gospel of Luke further invites us to be more aware of our tendency to live away and not for Christ, and to live away from others but only for ourselves. This is what Jesus taught us today through a parable. The Lord confronted the people of their desire to seek places of honor and who demand respect from others. Such tendency of the heart neither lives for others nor lives for God. This heart only worships the self and seeks what is only beneficial for the self. This is a person whose world only revolves around himself/herself believing that everything and everyone should bow to him/her. However, this makes the heart of the person indifferent and disconnected from the lives of others and from God.
And so, the Lord calls us today and asks us, “For whom am I living?” Like Paul, may we come to that level of complete confidence and trust in the faithfulness and love of God and make our relationships, our work, studies and dreams in life be all founded in that confidence and trust in God. Kabay pa.
A DOSE OF GOD TODAY 