31st Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

Published: October 30, 2016

Bishop Anthony B. Taylor preached the following homily at the Cathedral of St. Andrew in Little Rock and during the confirmation Mass at St. Luke Church in Warren on Sunday, Oct. 30, 2016.

Bishop Taylor

You and I know the names of those who are important to us, whether we know them personally or not. We know the names of our pope and the major candidates for president because our Catholic faith and the future of our country matter to us.

We don't know the names of the king of Norway or the bishop of Oslo because we don't live in Scandinavia and so what they do doesn't impact us nearly as much. We know cousins, co-workers and neighbors who matter to us and don't know those who don't.

In our Gospel there is a detail you may not have noticed: Jesus knew Zacchaeus' name. Zacchaeus was not the kind of person you'd expect a holy man to know. He was a chief tax collector for — an agent of — the hated Romans. He was a collaborator who got rich exploiting his own people, a greedy traitor.

But for some reason he mattered to Jesus and as bad as he was, Zacchaeus had already heard about Jesus' acceptance of sinners and felt drawn to him. Indeed his spirit was so empty that he did an incredibly undignified thing: He climbed a tree, something a boy might do but certainly not the chief local internal revenue agent for the most powerful empire in the world.

But Zacchaeus was well beyond caring what other people thought; they didn't like him anyway. All that mattered to him was seeing Jesus, who could give him forgiveness, a fresh start, a way out of the mess he had made of his life.

And when Zacchaeus heard Jesus actually call him, specifically him, by his own name, he learned not only that he mattered to Jesus, but also that Jesus wanted to come to his house and be part of his life — all he had to do was say yes.

But Zacchaeus didn't stop there. Jesus loved and accepted him unconditionally, but Zacchaeus knew that to reciprocate this love, he'd have to make some changes, which I'll bet he'd wanted to do for a long time but just hadn't or felt like he couldn't.

He'd have to find honest employment that would undoubtedly pay less and new friends who would support him in living a virtuous life, and he may have feared that if he made these changes, he'd end up poor and lonely.

But deep down he knew that spiritually speaking he was already poor and lonely, so Jesus' offer to enter his life was exactly the excuse he needed to seek forgiveness, make amends and start heading the right direction. He made amends for his greed by giving half his belongings to the poor and repaying fourfold those from whom he had extorted money. Zacchaeus welcomed Jesus not only into his house but also into his heart.

And the same can be true for you. Including any of us who go to Mass merely out of a sense of obligation, but don't really have a living, life-changing relationship with Jesus that truly gives meaning and purpose to our lives.

Do you realize how much you matter to him? Jesus knows your name and wants to share your life too. He loves and accepts you just as you are, unconditionally. All you have to do is say yes — if you have not done so already — and he'll come to your house and stay with you too. But the only way you can reciprocate his love is by welcoming him into your heart like Zacchaeus did, which may require you to make some changes too.

And the first steps today are the same as they were 2,000 years ago: seek forgiveness from Jesus, make amends and start heading in the right direction. Jesus calls you by name because you matter to him. Your response shows whether he matters to you.