Wisdom 11:22-12:2

The book of Wisdom was written by a teacher who lived in Alexandria, Egypt, a center for Greek philosophy in the ancient world. It was written about 50 years before Christ, making it the last book of the Old Testament to be written. After the first verse of today’s passage, the author speaks directly to God and does so in poetic fashion.

2 Thes 1:11-2:2

In his first letter to the Thessalonians, Paul had told them always to be prepared for the Lord’s coming in glory. Some of them became preoccupied with the date when the Lord would come. The second letter to this community addresses that situation

Luke 19:1-10

Bishop Untener's Homily

To help bring out the meaning of this Gospel passage about Jesus and Zaccheus, let's engage in a bit of fantasy. The setting is late that same evening after Jesus had gone to dinner at the house of Zaccheus. Jesus' public relations director is waiting for him, and he says something like this:

Now Jesus, I've had it up to here. We've got a mess out there, and I don't know if I can make lemonade out of this one. There are lots of folks out there who are angry. The rich people are mad, the poor people are mad, the middle-class people are mad.”

“I've told you a hundred times how to work the crowd when you come to a town. You kiss the babies. You shake hands and smile at the politicians. You smile at the religious leaders. You cure a couple of sick people. You go to some poor person's home and try to get your picture taken there.”

“I laid all this out for you before you got here to Jericho. I even had a list of names for you. I get all these people to turn out and what do you do? You pick out that little shyster up a tree! Of all the doggone people to single out...”

“Everybody's ticked off. It's going to take some doing to get you out of this one. We're still not out of that ruckus you caused when you went to the fancy banquet and let that floozy dry your feet with her hair. You got a lot of points for that one... a lot of points!”

“And while I'm at it, it's getting harder and harder to maintain your image because of that group of losers you've got for disciples. They're boors. They're always squabbling among themselves, and they don't make you look like the smartest person on earth.”

“I don't know what to do. I don't understand. For the life of me, I don't understand.”

Do you know what Jesus would say? He'd say, "I liked Zaccheus."

He would. That's what he'd say. He'd say the same about the sinful woman at the banquet. He'd say the same about the Syro-Phoenician woman - the pagan, whose daughter he healed.

It wasn't as though Jesus would be apologetic and say something like, "Well, we have to try to be kind to everyone." No. He liked Zaccheus. He loved him. He truly loves each of us. Loves us.

Imagine if Jesus were to come to town and visit one home... and it was yours. Like the presidential helicopter landing on your lawn. Jesus wouldn't do that for show, or to demonstrate virtue. He'd do it because he loves you.

And if anyone complained about his choice, he'd defend you. He'd say, "This is my brother. My sister. I love them."

The love of Jesus for us is not a generic love. It's personal, individual. We've got to learn to accept that kind of love from him, believe in that kind of love from him.

In a few minutes we'll hear again the words Jesus said at the Last Supper: "This is my body, which will be given up for you... This is the cup of my blood... It will be shed for you." Then he said, "for you and for all so that sins may be forgiven."

We're the ones he came for. Each of us. All of us. And when we catch that, really catch it, then everything is different. We feel different about Jesus. We feel different about ourselves. We even feel different about one another.

Originally given on November 4, 2001