Only love and the gift are a source of joy
XXXI Sunday, October 31 TIME TOWN
Year C
scrutinized by men, covered by God
on a white canvas our attention immediately notice the black dot or a spray of mud. In a strange automatism our eyes are immediately retrieved from the detail that spoils.
happens: failure, a weakness, a disability become ideas for nicknames, jokes and allusions, sometimes innocent, or sarcastic.
The human eye is cruel: it focuses mainly on the spots, the limitations on aspects deteriorate.
And so it is the eyes of God? If yes, are all in trouble because "the heavens are not pure in his sight, at least be an abominable and corrupt, the man who drinks iniquity like water" (from 15.15 to 16 Gb).
we have to fear the gaze of God?
God sees you! remember this call is often used by educators and catechists of the past as a deterrent to prevent wrongdoing.
That triangle with the center God's eye that peered instilled reverence and fear.
The thought that maybe we came close several times is that we would have done without this God's "policeman."
is correct - even if for good behavior - to present God as well?
Her gaze is that the investigator who seeks the reasons for the order or tender embrace of the Father, which includes, sorry, understands more and only what is beautiful and lovely in her children?
The answer to these questions we are concerned.
to internalize the message, repeat:
"When I was being made in the womb of my mother, I have covered your eyes, O Lord."
First Reading (Wis 11.22 to 12.2)
Lord, 22 world before you, like dust on the scales,
as a drop of morning dew falling on the ground.
23 You are merciful to all, because all you can,
not look at the sins of men,
in view of repentance.
24 Because you love all things that
and loathe nothing that you have made;
if I hated something, not you would not even created.
25 How could a thing remain, unless you want?
or be preserved if you had not called forth?
26 You spare all things,
they are yours, Lord, lover of life,
1 because your imperishable spirit is in all things.
12, 2 why you punish the guilty little at a time
warn them and remembering their own sins,
because, denying the evil, believe in you, Lord.
The morning prayer of every pious Israelite begins with the words: 'Remember Israel !...".
Israel is a nation that does not forget. Remember that his ancestors suffered in Egypt were beaten, humiliated, subjected to hard work, then the Lord has delivered them hitting their oppressors with harsh punishments.
This Article I think the fundamental Israel seems an invitation to loathe for all Egyptians.
Instead, both the Bible and in Jewish tradition, the Egyptians have never curse and cursed.
Not everyone has always shared these noble sentiments. Many have wondered why the Lord rather not have them destroyed. Why not hit them with even more severe wounds? Why such restraint against them?
reading relates the answer a pious Israelite, who lived in Alexandria a few years before Christ, gives to this question. To those who consider excessive justified the patience of the Lord he tries to understand the reasons for his behavior.
Remember, first, that he has a different perspective from our .
contemplating the starry sky and the stars of the firmament, the man remains amazed at the immensity of creation. But God sees "all the world like dust on the scales, like a drop of morning dew falling on the earth" (Wis 11.21 to 22).
He is patient because it is strong , because everything is big and can (v.23a).
The weak attack with violence because they fear their opponents. The strong man does not care, tolerate all, does not feel threatened.
God has a forgiving and merciful gaze because nothing scares him.
let men act freely, keeps calm, not afraid to make mistakes if he sees them because it is certain that the game does not escape the hand.
intolerance against those who commit sins, the aggression against those who think or behave differently, come from insecurity, fear, feeling that the forces of evil can become uncontrollable.
The second reason for the moderation of God against the Egyptians, he does not consider, not see the sins of men, in view of repentance (v.23b).
If it does not punish the sinner to destroy, but to recover, leading him to repentance.
He knows no revenge, retaliation, punishment, but only love and salvation.
not want the death of the sinner, but that he should turn from his misconduct and live (Ezekiel 18:23).
An anonymous prophet, who lived a hundred years ago, has announced an unprecedented event: the conversion of the Assyrians and Egyptians to form, together with Israel, one people. The Lord of hosts - he says - bless them thus: "Blessed be my people Egypt , Assyria my creation, and Israel my heritage" (Is 19:25).
The author of the book of Wisdom has assimilated this universalistic mindset that the Lord patiently tried to instill in his people Israel.
The third reason: The Lord looks love with all creation because everything that exists is his work.
He does not despise what he has done nothing. Do not hate anyone, he loves everyone: good and bad, because all are His creatures and all, the very fact of existence, they carry something good.
He is the Lord "lover of life" (vv.24-26). His eyes are never blinded by the desire for revenge, as often happens to those of man.
They told the rabbis that after crossing the Red Sea, The angels wanted to unite their voices to those of the Israelites who sang hymns as the Pharaoh and his army had been submerged. But the Lord intervened and said, "How can you sing while my children are dying? The waves are swallowing up my creatures and you want to sing a song? ".
The reading ends with the theological interpretation of punishment that God inflicted on the Egyptians: it is not punishment, but medicine (12:1-2). How do you do with medicine, took wounds in small doses. He did not want to destroy, but admonish the guilty, let them come to your senses, make them understand that they left the right path, encourage them to renounce their faith and lead them into wickedness.
Second Reading (2 Thess 1.11 to 2.2)
Brothers, 11 always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his call and to fulfill by his power every good resolve and work of your faith, because 12 be glorified the name of our Lord Jesus in you and you in him According to the grace of our God and Lord Jesus Christ.
2, 1 Now we beseech you, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together unto him, 2 care not to be so easily confused and upset, nor claims inspiration, nor words, nor by any letter as we passed, as that the day of the Lord is imminent.
Christians of Thessalonica are going through a rather difficult: in their community has been infiltrated by some as a visionary who proclaim the imminent end of the world.
to spread more easily by their insane ramblings, these preachers claim to report the thought of Paul and, as evidence shows that some swear they have received letters from him (2.2).
The Apostle urges Christians of Thessalonica to be careful, not to be influenced by these fanatics who, instead of proclaiming the Gospel, spread the "visions" and "personal inspirations."
difficult moments are the ideal environment in which they find the visionaries claim they preach their fantasies. These are people who want to escape the difficulties of life.
Paul prays to God that the Thessalonians will come to know where the truth lies and claims that the Lord be glorified, not by talk of deluded people, but by the testimony of love they give concrete evidence of the members of the community.
Gospel (Luke 19:1-10)
1 entered Jericho and was passing through city. 2 And here is a man named Zacchaeus, chief tax collector and rich, 3 trying to see who Jesus was, but he could not because of the crowd because he was small in stature. 4 So he ran ahead and see him, he climbed a sycamore, was to pass beyond. 5 When he came to the place, Jesus looked up and said, "Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house." 6 In hurried down and welcomed him joyfully. 7 Seeing this, they all murmured: "He went to stay at a sinner." 8 But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord: "Behold, Lord, I give half of my possessions to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, restore it fourfold. " 9 Jesus answered, "Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham 10 the Son of man is come to seek and to save what was lost."
At the time of Jesus, the common people took only one meal a day, the evening is understandable that the Israelites have imagined the kingdom of God as an eternal dinner where everyone would finally eaten their fill. The prophecy which they referred was uttered by Isaiah: "The Lord will prepare a feast of rich food, a banquet of fine wines, of rich food, fine wine" (Is 25.6).
Since then the Banquet of this world had a picture of the future world, gather around the same table with the just and sinners was considered a blasphemy against the holiness of God who wanted to separate. The exclusion would be bad for a peremptory call to conversion.
This belief was shared by everyone in Israel, which explains the surprise provoked by the behavior of Jesus
The song begins by presenting the Teacher who comes into Jericho, and through the city accompanied by the crowd and the disciples (v. 1).
the entrance of the city has just edited a blind beggar who begged him: "Lord, that I may receive my sight" (Lk 18:35-43). The combination of these two facts is not accidental. The healing of the blind and the "recovery" of Zacchaeus reflect and illuminate each other.
Both the blind man who wants to see Zacchaeus and Jesus performs a miracle for them, their tips was deemed irrecoverable.
In both stories speak to a crowd following the Master, but that does not understand it, criticize it, is opposed to his choices and his saving work.
Both stories eventually close recalling the devastating effects - new vision of the world and life - produced by the encounter with the light given by Jesus
In the passage today of those who try to see is a rich publican named Zacchaeus.
By a strange trick of fate that brings the name means pure , the right. The publicans are considered by all - and with reason - of thieves and not only a tax collector Zacchaeus, but it is a chief tax collector . Luca even invented a word to describe it better: he calls arcipubblicano - a term that does not exist in greek - how to say arciladro . Anything but pure!
addition to the name, the evangelist notes another detail: was too short. This is not a trivial physical information of Zacchaeus. It is the image of how he looks in the eyes of all : a meaningless scrawl, an annoying black dot in a society without blemish, one of the excluded from the banquet of the kingdom of God
Zacchaeus is well aware of his condition, but the exclusion from the assembly of the righteous shall not embittered him that much.
is convinced that being a united people who observe the law scrupulously, but who are hypocritical, opinionated, smug in their righteousness, it would benefit him greatly.
On the one hand wants to, yes, to distance themselves from the group of sinners from who knows he is cataloged correctly, but what would be the alternative? The accession to the sect of the Pharisees? Would not find the answer to his torments, to its concerns.
He had everything in life, yet is deeply dissatisfied.
He attended many banquets, but is still searching for food that satisfies. The need for evidence is so compelling, so irresistible that is willing to satisfy you jokes to challenge the fun of a crowd that did not in sympathy.
want to see Jesus because - he thinks - he is perhaps the only one able to understand his anguish and his inner drama and to view it climbs a sycamore tree (v .3).
the astonishing fact that he has climbed up a sycamore tree. Why not climbed on the roof of one of the many houses that overlook the main street? Maybe because no one has agreed to host it, not only he was not open any door, but he was not even allowed to step on the rungs of the ladder, outside, rises to the terrace.
Here Zacchaeus: the unclean, the sinner who all refuse.
desperate because Jesus has heard of him. He knows the harsh judgments that gives wealth, but also knows that it is "the friend publicans and sinners "(Lk 7:34). He was told that he "did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance" (Lk 5:32) and that is why he wants to know "who". Even Herod asked: "Who is he?" And wanted to see him (Lk 9:9), but with a completely different frame of mind: looking for him in a detached way, only to have a clarification about his identity. Zacchaeus but is ready to get involved, it aspires to a radical change of its existence.
In this frantic search for the crowd involved of those who accompanied Jesus . As was the case with the blind man of Jericho (Luke 18.39), instead of encouraging meetings with the teacher standing in the way, it becomes an impediment. He does not understand that they are just "small", and "impure," the outcast that Jesus is looking for.
The reason for this attitude is a visual defect .
In Zacchaeus even those who follow Jesus do not perceive that the publican, the sinner, the usurer, nothing else, they can not find in him any good and positive. Reject it, but not being able to physically eliminate, isolate him, despise him, not even ask him the word and this is their way to kill him. Their attitude is discriminatory as that of the Pharisees.
The sight of these people "pure" is so bad that sees evil everywhere, even where there is: in Jesus
criticize and condemn himself because - I think - going "to stay at a sinner," has become unclean (v. 7).
now observe are as clear and pure the eyes of Jesus.
When he arrives on site, he looks up and says, "Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house" (v.5). None of the crowd has given this name because Zacchaeus is "impure." Only Jesus called him: "Zacchaeus-pure." For him he is "pure", is also a son of Abraham! (V. 9).
From he sought to see Jesus, but now it is Jesus who, from the bottom , sees it first. In the face of Jesus to the sinner always look up , because his position is that of the servant who emptied himself "obedient unto death, even death on a cross" (Philippians 2:7-8). Even when left alone with the adulteress Jesus lifts his head to her (Jn 8:10), looks at it from below because those not poses ever judge, it changes, choose the last place, bows to a loved one to wash his feet.
A Jericho Jesus is in the midst of the "righteous" who follow him, who listen to his word, who applaud. Yet, instinctively, as soon as he sees a "small", immediately distracts the eye from the group of "faithful" and directs his attention to the sinner.
not concerned with "decency" or the "holy rules" issued by the religious leaders. He feels an uncontrollable need to be with the one who is isolated and despised. "I have to - say - stay at your house." I , it gives me an inner necessity: if I'm not with you tonight, I can not sleep.
What have they got those Zacchaeus looked down upon? None. With no appeal their sentences have not done anything but wicked.
The looks stern and fierce of the censors, Judges, prosecutors prevent only to meet the unique look that saves, the wheat of Christ!
The story ends with a dinner.
The forward stroke of Zacchaeus (v.4) and verbs of motion (to enter, cross, run, climb, descend fast) that characterize the first part of the story (vv.1-7) have as half sinner's house where Jesus is direct and "take home" (v. 7).
With his coming and the party begins the banquet the kingdom of God announced by Isaiah.
look who's in and who is outside , who celebrates and the sad.
Inside should be the "right", instead they are all out to complain, to fret with rage because they disagree with the type of invitation with which Jesus wanted it to be filled the room.
Inside there are "unclean" for which Jesus came. There is Zacchaeus, the chief of sinners, the One who was with the hope of salvation because they publish and rich (v.2). Jesus himself has just said that "It is easier for a camel through the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven" (Luke 18:25). Yet, what is impossible for men is now possible for the intervention of God (Lk 18,27).
Salvation did not happen automatically: it was tender, yes, for free, but Zacchaeus had welcome in his home. Only in this way has finally discovered the true joy that was desperately looking for.
At this point here is that love creates more love, Zacchaeus, free love, he realizes that there are other people who they need love. Please remember the poor. "Sir, - said to Jesus - I give half my possessions to the poor and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, restore it fourfold" (v. 8).
Unlike what he did with notable rich (Luke 18.18-23), Zacchaeus Jesus did not seek to "sell everything and distribute its goods to the poor." He did not put a number of reprimand did not put any conditions. He asked only to be welcomed.
Zacchaeus was not admitted to the banquet of the Kingdom because he was good, it has become good later, when he was involved in the party.
He converted when he discovered that God loved him even though he was impure, a poor, small, indeed, precisely because it was small.
The discovery of free love was the light that dispels the darkness that enveloped his life and that has made it clear that only love and the gift are a source of joy.
Text taken from the book
the biblical scholar
Fernando Armellini- Ed Messaggero, Padova, pp. 578-587
