“But Zacchaeus…said, “Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone I shall repay it four times over.” Luke 19:8
Sign on a church lawn: “If you’re headed in the wrong direction, God allows U-turns” The story of Zacchaeus in today’s gospel is a first century case in point. Michelle’s story is a twenty-first century one:
Michelle was terrified as she felt herself losing touch with the world around her. In a room full of friends, she felt lost, alone and helpless. During her sophomore year at East Rochester High School, Michelle continued to skip school and spend entire days using cocaine and marijuana with friends. “I thought everything around me was ending,” she said. “I was scared. I was terrified. I can’t explain it; it was the worst feeling in the world.”
The fifteen year-old had hit what drug addicts call “the bottom.” So, after nearly a year of denial and refusing help, Michelle resolved to change, resolved to give up her destructive lifestyle. She wanted desperately to get her old life back – a life free from drugs. With love and persistence from her parents and the guidelines set by the Monroe Country Juvenile Drug Treatment Court, Michelle was able to overcome her chemical dependency and start over. After more than a year of struggle and hard work, she successfully graduated from drug court in December 2002 and this year, at age 18, graduated from high school and started college in Connecticut.
Headed in the wrong direction in life, Michelle made a U-turn. She had a Zacchaeus experience. In today’s gospel from Luke as Jesus is passing through Jericho on his way to Jerusalem, he encounters a sinner named Zacchaeus, a wealthy Jew and chief tax collector – not a good combination in that place and time. Because taxes had to be paid to the Roman Empire by inhabitants of conquered nations, Roman officials would sell the right to collect taxes to the highest local bidder. Jews hated tax-collectors for two reasons; first as collaborators with their detested Roman oppressors and second as chiselers who cheated their own people by charging exorbitant rates, pocketing the difference.
That’s how Zacchaeus got rich. His wealth didn’t bring him happiness, however, for underlying the outward appearance of success was an interior emptiness. He had heard of Jesus, who traveled the countryside preaching about the transforming power of love; the rabbi who treated everyone with kindness and respect, even those like himself despised by the righteous. So when Zacchaeus heard Jesus was in town, he decided to have a look for himself. Because of his short stature, being not only ethically but vertically challenged as well, he had to run ahead of the crowd and climb a sycamore tree to get a glimpse of Jesus.
We all know the rest of the story. When Jesus reaches the spot where Zacchaeus is perched in the tree, he looks up and says: “Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house.” How shocked Zacchaeus must have been not only at the startling request, but that Jesus called him by name! Predictably the folks in the crowd were also shocked and, like the older brother in the parable of the Prodigal Son, began to grumble about Jesus hanging out with a sinner, having dinner with him no less.
What happens to Zacchaeus from his encounter with Jesus? A U-turn in his life. He changes direction, gives money to the poor, and pays back those he has exploited four times the amount he’s taken from them. How does Jesus respond? “Today salvation has come to this house... for the Son of Man has come to seek out and save what was lost.”
The story of Zacchaeus is one more example of God’s boundless love for us, a love which, like all aspects of God, is beyond human capacity to fully understand. Theologically speaking, the process of making a U-turn in life is termed “conversion” or “repentance” or “being born-again.” It involves acknowledging the emptiness of being out of loving relationship with God and neighbor, deciding to change, and then genuinely working to change. But God doesn’t force us. God’s there to encourage and help, but whether or not a Zacchaeus experience happens is completely within our free will. What a tremendous comfort to know that regardless of how badly we screw up in life, regardless of what others think of us, just like the Prodigal Son, we’re always welcome to return home.
Forgiveness isn’t conditioned on achievement or merit; it flows freely from sincere repentance and purposeful effort to change. The price for reconciliation with the Father was paid for by the death and resurrection of the Son. Forgiveness like grace is God’s gift to us; we, on the other hand, are free to refuse the gift. Changing direction in life is possible, but we have choose it.
Simply stated, ours is a God of second chances. And second chances are an underlying premise of Family Court in general and Juvenile Drug Treatment Court in particular. In my eighteen years on the bench, I’ve seen many examples of lost souls like Michelle who resolve to change self-destructive attitudes and behaviors, and then work hard to do just that. But they don’t succeed on their own. They succeed because of loving relationships with people who care about them and, of course, with the help of God.
The First Step of any 12 Step rehabilitation program is to acknowledge powerlessness to change without help from a higher power. In other words, like Michelle and Zacchaeus, you have realize God allows U-turns, and then let God guide you safely through it into the right direction.
Anthony J. Sciolino
31st Sunday in Ordinary Time
October 31, 2004. (CycleC)
Wisdom 11:22-12:2/153
Thessalonians 1:11-2:2
Luke 19:1-10.