31st Sunday in ordinary time, Year C. Today’s readings: Wisdom 11:22-12:2; 2 Thessalonians 1:11-2:2; Luke 19:1-10
As an old Maltese adage goes, min jitwieled tond ma jmutx kwadru (who is born round does not die square). Yet somewhere in our collective psyche is the hope for transformation, a change in ourselves and in others, indeed in the whole of society.
Hope is key. For some reason, stories of conversion spark our imagination. They make us believe that an alternative narrative is really possible after all.
Picture this: a hardened mafioso of short stature clings to a tree to catch a glimpse of Jesus passing through town. One can hardly imagine anything more ironic and humorous than such a scene that looks like a cross between a Danny DeVito and a Joe Pesci film.
Keep in mind that tax collectors were despised – and rightly so – because they collected taxes from the Jews for their Roman oppressors. Moreover, since they were not paid for their job, they extorted Jews and often defrauded them shamelessly, easily turning them into the most hated category of people in Jewish society.
As onlookers, we might cringe at seeing Jesus speaking to Zacchaeus, this “chief tax collector”, or to keep the metaphor, the boss mafioso, even more so when we see him inviting himself to the latter’s house for dinner.
Profiting himself from a moment of grace, Zacchaeus dares make himself vulnerable to Christ’s calling. Curiosity for the person of Jesus got out the best of him, leading him to shed his pride, and to come down from the tree and see himself as Jesus sees him.
Zacchaeus is one of the few characters Jesus addresses by name. This signifies Jesus’s deep affection towards Zacchaeus, despite his sinfulness. When we are called by name we are reminded who we really are and who we are meant to become.
Zacchaeus’s conversion story, therefore, also uncovers something even more fundamental, that is, about our perception of sin. Sin is often conceived of in a very childish way, considering it simply as a discrete action that we must try to avoid. If we do not manage to avoid sin, at least we must make up for it. Such a moral life is severely impoverished.
A more mature and nuanced understanding of sin would make us face not just our sin, but our sinful way of life. It would make us aware not only when we offend God, but also when we keep him out of our life. It would make us come to terms with the fact that to steer away from sin is not merely to refrain from doing a particular action or another, but rather to change the systems that facilitate our sinful attitudes. This is what Zacchaeus did when he shared a meal with Jesus and promised to refund money to those he had swindled.
To steer away from sin is not merely to refrain from doing a particular action or another, but rather to change the systems that facilitate our sinful attitudes
A powerful story similar to Zacchaeus’s is that of John Newton, who famously wrote the popular hymn Amazing Grace. Newton spent his youth as a rebellious, reckless youngster. As he grew older he became involved in seafaring and in the lucrative slave trade, shipping slaves from Africa to North America.
Finally, in a moment of conversion, he allowed the truth of the bible to germinate in his heart. Having realised the unspeakable harm he had caused by participating in slave trade, he eventually dedicated his life to not only trying to reverse the evil done but also to campaigning ardently against the slave trade. He also wrote a powerful essay published as a pamphlet titled Thoughts upon the African Slave Trade, which was instrumental in abolishing this abominable crime.
Real conversion must start right here and now in us. More than a question of simply avoiding sin, it is a question of naming our sinful attitudes, honestly welcoming Christ in our life and making amends to those we have hurt.
Conversion is, of course, a project always under construction.