Thirty-first Sunday C in ordinary time, Luke 19,1-10

 Introduction.

In the gospel, we heard Jesus say to the tollbooth Zacchaeus, “Today I must stay in your house” (Lk 19:5).
Zacchaeus probably never suspected and did not count on having such a rare visit to his home. He had no time to even prepare for it. But when he heard that Jesus would come to him, he rejoiced greatly, for he was anxious to see him. Interestingly, Jesus chose him. He decided to be the chief toll collector. The tollbooth in those days was considered a sinner whom the Jews had hatred for and did not even want to meet him. He was marginalized as a collaborator of the Romans, who also ruled over Jericho then.

Sermon.

Many expected that Jesus would not even notice this man, whom everyone considered a traitor. However, Jesus reacts in a completely different way than they expected. He sees this very traitor Zacchaeus and says, “Come down quickly, today I must stay in your house!” (Lk 19:5). Jesus thus becomes a suspect in the eyes of the Jews and Pharisees. However, it is in Zacchaeus that he sees a person who needs to be helped and brought forgiveness, love, and peace. Jesus shows His true mission here. He wants to transform a person and give him hope, for He came to seek and save what was lost, as we heard at the end of today’s gospel. Jesus remained faithful to his mission until death. Those who have already been written off by many. He saves them and makes them feel what true love and forgiveness are.

Even today, Jesus is looking for such people. It is those who are unknown to us and despised by others. Those who may never have felt what love is. And Jesus also wants to change our mindset. He wants us to take note of all our neighbors, not just those who are sympathetic to us. Jesus teaches us to love people as they are. It teaches us to look for at least a little good in every person. We meet a lot of different people every day. Whether it’s neighbors, a smiling child coming home from school, or an older walking out of the store, perhaps this is a young person looking for the meaning of his life and has not yet found it, which is why he drugs and drinks. Maybe he is an unruly “teenager,” but he experiences hell in the family when his father returns home drunk every day. At first glance, it is easy to condemn a person when we do not see inside him. Zacchaeus was also criticized because they could not see inside him. But Jesus saw and therefore did not condemn him. First of all, we need to notice better the people we meet daily, and only then can we say something about them. First, you need to show them, m love, you need to build a relationship with them. We can therefore take a twofold stance. Either we condemn these people and thus adopt the attitude of the Pharisees, or we adopt the attitude of Jesus Christ. And it is unambiguous—forgiveness, love, understanding, and respect. Let us think about how many times, perhaps with an ill-considered word, remark, or gesture, we have condemned a neighbor instead of helping him. What if it was through us that God wanted to touch, intercede with, or change his life?… What if that person was looking for God in our lives?…

A young girl, a student, immigrated to one housing estate in the city. When she first entered her apartment, they were carrying a coffin with a dead person down the stairs. She asked passing neighbors who had died. To her great surprise, no one even knew the man’s name. She later discovered that her neighbors hardly knew each other at all, sometimes not even greeting each other. Each lived only for himself, and no one knew anything about the other. However, this student decided that these people would not be indifferent to her. When she met someone, she greeted everyone and spoke to them. She often met an older man in the elevator who never greeted her. However, she always talked to him. It was a neighbor who lived under her. Once, when she was powdering a tablecloth on the balcony, she forgot a small napkin, and it fell out while powdering straight down to the balcony patio where the said, old older man. A moment later, she rang the bell at these neighbors. An older woman opened it for her, and when she said what she needed, without hesitation, she let her go further into the living room, where there was an exit to the balcony. She was the wife of an old neighbor, sitting in the living room watching TV. The girl immediately greeted him and spoke to him again. When she took her napkin from the balcony and walked back, the older man talked to her for the first time and asked her why she always greeted and spoke to him so nicely. She replied that it was faith in Jesus Christ, who could tell talky people and had understanding and compassion for everyone. The older man thought, wondered, and they said goodbye. Sometime later, the doorbell rang in the apartment of a young student. When she came to open it, her neighbor was in the doorway from below, begging her to come to them quickly. She thought something terrible had happened, so she went away immediately with her neighbor. To her great surprise, she saw a young priest sitting in the room next to a neighbor. He welcomed her and began to thank her. At first, she did not understand why, but later she understood. He told her that when he became a priest, his father said that he no longer wanted to see him, so he would not show up at home. At that time, his father did not want to hear about Jesus. However, years later, when he met this girl, he realized that faith in Jesus gave life a true meaning and decided to reconcile with his son.

The girl looked around, trying to notice just such people as Jesus was noting. And it was through her that God helped and performed a minor miracle. Years later, the father received his son as a priest at home and reconciled with him. It was amazing.

Let’s try to look at the people we meet through the eyes of Jesus. Let us not condemn them. Let us try to see Him in them and, instead of condemnation, help them and show their love. After all, we received love for free from God, so we should also give it away. And especially to those who are despised and recognized. After all, this is the true love that Jesus Himself teaches us in today’s gospel. May the coming days be more joyful precisely because, during them, we will try to convey Christ ourselves to those around us, primarily through our attitude toward them.