{"id":4633,"date":"2013-11-09T11:34:16","date_gmt":"2013-11-09T11:34:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/?p=4633"},"modified":"2013-11-09T11:34:16","modified_gmt":"2013-11-09T11:34:16","slug":"chance-encounter-31st-sunday-of-ordinary-time-03-11-13","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/?p=4633","title":{"rendered":"CHANCE ENCOUNTER? – 31st Sunday of Ordinary Time (03.11.13)"},"content":{"rendered":"

31st Sunday of Ordinary Time (03.11.13)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

CHANCE ENCOUNTER?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The clues tell a story. They indicate that Jesus\u2019 encounter with Zacchaeus was probably accidental. Luke\u2019s Gospel (19:1-10) relates that Jesus\u2019 intention was to \u201cpass through Jericho\u201d without stopping. In walled towns, such as Jericho, land was too precious for gardens or trees. According to Luke, Zacchaeus was small in stature, which explains his need for height in order to see what sort of person Jesus was. The Jews of Jericho treated Zacchaeus, who collected taxes for the Romans, as a \u2018fifth columnist\u2019.<\/p>\n

The name Zacchaeus, meaning \u2018the pure and righteous one\u2019, didn\u2019t exactly suit his occupation. Jericho was famous for balsam, a resinous gum from local trees used in the production of botanical medicines. The town\u2019s lucrative export meant that Zacchaeus had the opportunity for real wealth. In telling us that Zacchaeus climbed into a tree, Luke sites the encounter outside the walls which makes it all the more likely to have been been unintended.<\/p>\n

How did Jesus come to notice Zacchaeus? Did locals enjoy embarrassing this despised puppet of the occupying army, pointing him out as Jesus walked along the pathway? Whatever the cause, Jesus met Zacchaeus\u2019 gaze. What did Jesus see in the man\u2019s eyes that prompted him to say: \u201cZacchaeus, come down!\u201d?<\/p>\n

Chance encounters happen. Momentary encounters can be life-changing, for better or worse. St. Paul\u2019s encounter with Jesus on the Damascus Road marked Paul\u2019s transformation from persecutor of Christians to apostle of Jesus. Today, our prisons hold many who encountered the wrong influence at the wrong time. Lincon, a retired, long-serving prison warder whose deep faith always defined his treatment of inmates irrespective of their crimes, died recently. At his \u00a0funeral it was recalled that a \u2018lifer\u2019, noted for his aggression, had once told Lincon, \u201cif my dad had spoken to and treated me the way you do, I wouldn\u2019t have ended up in here\u201d.<\/p>\n

We may view the daily living-out of our Baptismal promises and commitment to Christ as unspectacular. Nevertheless, we may have been, unknowingly, a \u2018Godsend\u2019 bringing a Divine invitation, a \u2018come down\u2019 moment, to a blighted life.\u00a0 Our continuing, daily effort to being faithful to Christ\u2019s call leaves open the possibility of \u2018our being in the right place at the right time\u2019, unknowingly.<\/p>\n

Jesus\u2019 invitation: \u201cZacchaeus, come down!\u201d provided a life-changing opportunity for a Jew whose wealth was no cure for his agony of soul. Zacchaeus\u2019 subsequent actions revealed both the depth of his distress and his desire to make amends. It brings to mind Jesus\u2019 words: (Matthew 7:16-17)\u00a0“You will know them\u00a0<\/em>(people)\u00a0by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? “So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit.\u2026<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

The timing was everything. Zacchaeus had made the first move. Whatever motivated him, he wanted to see this Jesus of Nazareth and in so doing, had opened his heart. Though not intending to stop in Jericho, Jesus saw something in Zacchaeus\u2019 eyes that caused him to change his plans and make possible a tax collector\u2019s change of life.<\/p>\n

We may choose not to let work colleagues, neighbours or friends know of our Catholic Baptism. If we live our faith openly then, in time, others will come to realise who we are. This is important, for if we want them to know us as we seek to know them, then their knowledge of our relationship with Jesus of Nazareth through the Catholic Church is fundermental!<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no sign on my gatepost that indicates I\u2019m a retired priest. This fact just announces itself in the course of daily life and communication. A little distance away lives a man who tells me that I officiated at his marriage over forty years ago. To be truthful, I cannot recall either him or his wife, faces blur along with the memory as the years mount up! Little by little the neighbourhood came to know \u2018of the priest in number 4\u2019. Information about Catholicism is sometimes asked for and opinion sought; gripes are unearthed and good times recalled. Each Baptised person\u2019s vocation, their \u2018calling\u2019, is to be a living, identifiable \u2018Gospel\u2019 wherever they are in their personal relationship with Jesus or the Church. What Zacchaeus discovered about himself the day Jesus of Nazareth invited him to \u2018come down\u2019, would have been his \u2018identification\u2019 thereafter. We\u2019re still talking about it almost two milennia later!<\/p>\n

All of us \u2018lose our way\u2019, drift \u2018off course\u2019 or are tempted to stray, especially when our \u2018moorings\u2019 to Jesus are not maintained. Even then, we have only to whisper his name in the depths of our heart and Jesus, through one of the innumerable members of his Body on Earth, the Church, will happen by. We may need to \u2018climb a tree\u2019 or two but it won\u2019t be beyond us. All that is needed is an open heart.<\/p>\n

Then, like Zacchaeus, we too will hear the personal invitation, \u201c —-,\u00a0come down<\/em>\u00a0quickly!<\/em>\u00a0For today I must stay at your house.”<\/em>\u00a0And, like Zacchaeus, we will receive Jesus with demonstrable joy.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a footnote from St. Peter\u2019s second letter (3:8): \u201cBut do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

31st Sunday of Ordinary Time (03.11.13) CHANCE ENCOUNTER? The clues tell a story. They indicate that Jesus\u2019 encounter with Zacchaeus was probably accidental. Luke\u2019s Gospel (19:1-10) relates that Jesus\u2019 intention was to \u201cpass through Jericho\u201d without stopping. In walled towns, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archdiocese-of-liverpool"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4633"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4633\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4634,"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4633\/revisions\/4634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stbedesclaytongreen.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}