Luke 19:1–10 ESV – Bible Gateway

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John Bergsma gives us the context to this Gospel story, which is another one unique to Luke:

This week we come to the end of the “travel narrative” (Luke 9–19), as Jesus is now in Jericho and next week will be in Jerusalem itself. It has been a long journey, but we have learned much by following the rabbi from Nazareth.[1]

In verse 3, a lot is going on here. We have already seen the odium in how the Israelites saw Tax Collectors, and for the most part, this view was rightly considered. Still, even our biases that are grounded in the reality of experience must be reexamined when we move the general to the person. It must have been astonishing for all those following Jesus how often Tax Collectors and Samaritans were brought up and how their actions were shown in a positive light. Here we find that Zacchaeus was a Tax Collector and a “Chief” one. There is also another interesting aspect that Brant Pitre draws out.

Now Zacchaeus is a Greek name, Zakchaios. It’s from the Hebrew Zakkai, which ironically, Zakkai in Hebrew means clean or innocent.[2]

And also that:

Number one: notice where this encounter takes place. It takes place near the city of Jericho, which was a border town in Judea, and being on the border, was probably also a toll center. In other words, it would have been a place where taxes would be collected on people coming into the country or bringing in goods and products from other lands.[2]

We find that Zacchaeus is seeking Jesus and is willing to go to some lengths to satisfy what must have been more than just curiosity. He is short in stature and climbs a small tree, the Sycamore.

(St. Augustine) 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. Let 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 forehead, 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.”[3]

There seems to be some aspect of him humbling himself by doing this. However, in this moment of time, Zacchaeus’ motives were likely mixed, as Peter Kreeft points out:

Why did he want to see Jesus? Probably, he had mixed motives. One was just curiosity, and perhaps also the thought that he could somehow profit from this prophet. But another motive was moving him to repent, to give up his life of crime, to become this man’s disciple, to turn back to the way of righteousness that was the essence of the Jewish tradition, beginning with Abraham, centering on the Law given to Moses, carried along by many divinely sent and inspired prophets.[4]

I also like what Kreeft and other commenters have pointed out about this meeting:

The meeting between Jesus and Zacchaeus was not by chance. It was planned—on both sides.[4]

Jesus does an astounding thing here. He not only calls Zacchaeus by name but invites himself to stay at his house. I do have to wonder what is going through the tax collector’s mind at this point. Jesus not only knows who he is but is willing to enter into a relationship with him. He is moved to accept this invitation, and he does so joyfully. Brant Pitre amplifies what this means: “… eating with someone in antiquity (as today) was a sign of communion. Not in the sense of Eucharistic communion, but in the sense of a relationship.” [2]

“He chooses a chief tax collector: who can despair when such a man obtains grace?” (St Ambrose, Expositio Evangelii sec. Lucam, in loc.).

There seems to be such a drastic change in Zacchaeus as he openly repents his past actions and wants to make restitution for them. These moments of conversion are not just a change of feeling in the circumstances. They build up over time. It is often the case that we do not even know ourselves and what is happening inside us. That grace is already strengthening us and pulling us to this moment in time and after that.

Jesus not only sees him as who he is but who he can be through grace. This act of human kindness broke through to him, especially considering how fellow Israelites would have treated him. We find out also that Zacchaeus, in his act of restitution, knew the scriptures well:

“If a man steals an ox or a sheep, and kills it or sells it, he shall pay five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep. He shall make restitution…” (Exodus 22:1–2)

There is more than just restitution going on here.

… in Jewish tradition, almsgiving is actually known as tzedakah—righteousness. Fascinating. So to give to the poor was so quintessentially considered a righteous act, that the very act of almsgiving itself is called tzedakah, righteousness. So what is Zacchaeus doing? He is opening his hand to the poor. He’s going to give half of his goods to the poor, and thereby he’s engaging in an act of tzedakah, righteousness.[2]

Jesus’ response to both Zacchaeus and those who disapproved of Jesus’ action was to say: “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham.”

Brant Pitre dives into another level of Jesus’ words:

I think it’s almost a kind of double entendre, a kind of play on words—multiple meanings. Because when Jesus says “salvation has come to this house today,” it’s interesting that He says that in the context of He, Himself coming to Zacchaeus’ house. “Zacchaeus”—what does he say earlier? “I must stay at your house today.” So does Luke mean that salvation has come to Zacchaeus’ house because Zacchaeus has repented or because Jesus has come to his house? And the answer is both. The reason he has repented is precisely because Jesus has come into his home and obviously into his heart as well.[2]

I also wonder what the Roman authorities must have thought about their tax collectors leaving their job, and that one of them even became an Apostle of Jesus. How much was this a disruption for them, or were they quickly able to replace them with those willing to take their place because they saw this as an opportunity toward riches?

Bishop Barron provides a good summary of this Gospel text:

Notice in the story of Zacchaeus how quickly God responds to any sign of faith. Zacchaeus’ climbing the sycamore tree shows he had more than a passing interest in seeing Jesus. He had a deep hunger of the spirit. His principal virtue was his willingness to go to great extremes.

This is what we do when we know that something of tremendous moment is at stake. When our health is endangered, we move, we act; when our job is threatened, we go to almost any extreme to keep it.

When Jesus spotted him he said, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.” God responds to us readily when we show the least interest in him. He doesn’t play hard to get; he is not coy with us. When we seek him, he responds, because loving us is his entire game.

Finally, notice how Jesus tells Zacchaeus to hurry. It’s a good spiritual principle: don’t wait, don’t hesitate. Seize the moment of conversion when it comes.[5]

Sources

• The Word of the Lord: Reflections on the Sunday Mass Readings for Year C – John Bergsma
• Catholic Productions, Commentaries by Brant Pitre
• Peter Kreeft, Food for the Soul: Reflections on the Mass Readings Year C
• The Word on Fire Bible (Volume 1)꞉ The Gospels
• Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

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1. The Word of the Lord: Reflections on the Sunday Mass Readings for Year C, John Bergsma, 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time  ↩
2. Catholic Productions, Brant Pitre, The Thirty-first Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year C  ↩
3. Augustine, Sermon 174.3; trans. in A. Just, Jr., Luke, 290  ↩
4. Peter Kreeft, Food for the Soul: Reflections on the Mass Readings Year C, Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time  ↩
5. The Word on Fire Bible (Volume 1)꞉ The Gospels  ↩

Luke 14:25–33 ESV – Bible Gateway

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John Bergsma gives us the context for this passage:

We are nearing the end of Luke’s “travel narrative,” and in two weeks, Jesus will be in Jericho, the eastern gateway to Judea, just a day’s walk from Jerusalem. As he nears the end of the journey, he teaches on prayer. Prayer will be so important in the dramatic events about to transpire in Passion Week: Jesus will pray all night in Gethsemane and urge his Apostles to do the same.[1]

I find it fascinating that often the parables Jesus tells are in response to a question he is asked, but in this case, he is preparing them to pray continuously and not to lose heart, “not to give up in the midst of evil.”[2]

CCC §2098: The acts of faith, hope, and charity enjoined by the first commandment are accomplished in prayer. Lifting up the mind toward God is an expression of our adoration of God: prayer of praise and thanksgiving, intercession and petition. Prayer is an indispensable condition for being able to obey God’s commandments. “[We] ought always to pray and not lose heart.”[3]

In this parable, Jesus sets up the characters of the unrighteous judge. A man whose priority is only himself as he neither respects God nor man. In contrast, we have the widow who is begging for justice against an adversary, somebody who is either persecuting her or withholding something she is owed.

One common thread and a component of social justice, as expounded by the Old Testament, is that the widow and others who are vulnerable are to be protected and cared for.

²² You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child. ²³ If you do mistreat them, and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry, ²⁴ and my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless. (Ex 22:22–24, ESV-CE).

The unrighteous judge finally relents due only to her strong persistence.

Brant Pitre teases out an interesting element in the underlying language used:

Now the RSV says “wear me out”, but the Greek actually says, “lest she come” and the word here is hypopiazō, and the New American Bible gets this right. The New American Bible says “lest she come and strike me.” But the literal Greek actually “lest she come and give me a black eye.” That’s what hypopiazō means. It’s a boxing term. So Paul actually uses this elsewhere when he talks about boxing the air or shadowboxing, this imagery of punching. So she’s not the persistent widow, she’s the violent widow, and perhaps you’ve known some old ladies like this, who you don’t…you don’t want to mess with them. That’s the kind of woman that’s being described here. Basically, this judge is afraid that if he doesn’t give this woman a verdict, she’s going to come and do physical violence against him. She’s going to give him a black eye. [2]

This parable is also another example of a rhetorical technique Jesus uses here and in other places:

Jewish literature, and in later Rabbinic literature, was something called the qal-va-homer. It’s a Hebrew expression; it means “from the lesser to the greater.” In Latin, we talk about the a fortiori argument. In other words, it’s saying, if this is true for this lesser thing, then how much more true is it for the greater? [2]

We saw the usage of this in Luke 11, comparing how a father knows how to give good gifts to his son. “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

Jesus is telling us to be persistent in prayer and to trust and wait for how he will answer those prayers.

I like how Peter Kreeft looks at why we need to pray.

This reason—the reason why God does not give us the things we pray for until we pray for them—is the same reason why he does not give us the good things we work for until we work for them. Work and prayer both work by the same principle. God instituted both prayer and work for the same reason. God sees that we need not only the things we work for, like food and shelter and clothing and security, but also that we need work, meaningful work. God instituted prayer for the same reason he instituted work: to give us the dignity of being real causes, active coworkers and cooperators with him. We become strong, wise, patient, and persistent only by work. And the worker is more important than the work. What we ourselves become by working is more important than the work we do because we have intrinsic value and our work, however important, is only a means to a further end. “You can’t take it with you when you die” is true of all our work, but it’s not true of ourselves. We take ourselves with us everywhere, even to heaven.[4]

Bishop Baron in his commentary on this passage, writes:

One reason that we don’t receive what we want through prayer is that we give up too easily. What could be behind this rule of prayer? Augustine said that God sometimes delays in giving us what we want because he wants our hearts to expand. The more ardently we desire something, the more ready we are when it comes, the more we treasure it. The very act of asking persistently is accomplishing something spiritually important. So when the Lord seems slow to answer your prayer, never give up.

There is also a strong correlation between the First Reading of Exodus 17:8–13.

Pope Benedict XVI points out that Moses, with both arms lifted up in prayer, strikes a pose on the mountaintop much like Christ on the Cross. So we can see Moses here as a type of Christ, prefiguring the great prayer to the Father that was the Passion and Crucifixion, the great prayer which definitively defeated the enemy of God’s people. We participate in that great Prayer of Christ on the Cross at every Mass.[1]

If we start to become weary in prayer, we must never forget that we are always in community. That we need others to lift our arms up in prayer when we start to falter. We can never do this on our own. It is God who is giving us the grace to pray in the first place. There are several examples in the Old Testament where prophets start to despair and become fatigued, and God revitalizes them. He will do the same for us, and we can never be constant in prayer with this.

The last line of this Gospel passage is rather striking “Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” This is in contrast to the prevalent myth of progress, where everything is going to improve more and more over time. Jesus warns in several places of a mass apostasy that is to come before the end of the world and his second coming.

CCC §675: Before Christ’s second coming the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers. The persecution that accompanies her pilgrimage on earth will unveil the “mystery of iniquity” in the form of a religious deception offering men an apparent solution to their problems at the price of apostasy from the truth. The supreme religious deception is that of the Antichrist, a pseudo-messianism by which man glorifies himself in place of God and of his Messiah come in the flesh.[3]

Our constancy in prayer is not dependent on the times we live in. We are always called to adore and praise God, give thanksgiving and make intercessions for ourselves and others. There is no time so dark that this is not true, and no time seemingly bright in contrast that this is not true.

One last note, this from St. Augustine:

The widow may be said to resemble the Church, which appears desolate until the Lord shall come, who now secretly watches over her. But in the following words, And she came unto him, saying, Avenge me. we are told the reason why the elect of God pray that they may be avenged; which we find also said of the martyrs in the Revelations of St. John, (Rev. 6:10.) though at the same time we are very plainly reminded to pray for our enemies and persecutors. This avenging of the righteous then we must understand to be, that the wicked may perish. And they perish in two ways, either by conversion to righteousness, or by punishment having lost the opportunity of conversion. Although, if all men were converted to God, there would still remain the devil to be condemned at the end of the world. And since the righteous are longing for this end to come, they are not unreasonably said to desire vengeance.[5]

Sources

• The Word of the Lord: Reflections on the Sunday Mass Readings for Year C – John Bergsma
• Catholic Productions, Commentaries by Brant Pitre
• Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd Edition
• Peter Kreeft, Food for the Soul: Reflections on the Mass Readings Year C
• The Word on Fire Bible (Volume 1)꞉ The Gospels
• Catena Aurea: Commentary on the Four Gospels, Collected out of the Works of the Fathers, Volume 4: St. John – Verbum
• Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

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1. The Word of the Lord: Reflections on the Sunday Mass Readings for Year C, John Bergsma  ↩
2. Catholic Productions, Brant Pitre, “The Twenty-ninth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Year C)”  ↩
3. Catholic Church. (2000). Catechism of the Catholic Church (2nd Ed). United States Catholic Conference.  ↩
4. Peter Kreeft, Food for the Soul: Reflections on the Mass Readings Year C  ↩
5. St. Agustine, Catena Aurea: Commentary on the Four Gospels, Collected out of the Works of the Fathers: St. Luke  ↩