Sunday, November 03, 2019
31st Sunday in Ordinary Time
1st Reading: Wis 11:22—12:2
2nd Reading: 2 Thes 1:11—2:2
Gospel: Lk 19:1-10
When Jesus entered Jericho and was go ing through the city, a man named Zaccheus was there. He was a tax collector and a wealthy man. He wanted to see what Jesus was like, but he was a short man and could not see because of the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed up a sycamore tree. From there he would be able to see Jesus who had to pass that way. When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zaccheus, come down quickly for I must stay at your house today.” So Zaccheus hurried down and received him joyfully.
All the people who saw it began to grumble and said, “He has gone to the house of a sinner as a guest.” But Zaccheus spoke to Jesus, “The half of my goods, Lord, I give to the poor, and if I have cheated anyone, I will pay him back four times as much.” Looking at him Jesus said, “Salvation has come to this house today, for he is also a true son of Abraham. The Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
In Bohol, small billboards bearing bible verses are attached to the rear of tricycles plying different routes within the city. Rarely does one find anything similar in Cebu. That’s why when I saw one I stopped and took time to read. Here’s what I read: “God knows “HUDAS” not pay”. It did not take me much time to recognize that the textual original is “God knows who does not pay.” The play of words is well crafted. It brought together in one phrase God who requires honesty and Judas who lent his name to all traitors of various generations.
I was on the alert for anything about Zaccheus. If they made fun of Judas, would they spare Zaccheus who also stole from peoples’ hard-earned money? One day I read something like it, not from a tricycle but from a Cebuano tabloid. The news used the term “sakiyo” for the act of stealing. “Usa ka wa mailhing tawo ang mi-sakiyo sa cellphone sa biktima”, the news read. “Sakiyo” is obviously derived from the name of Zaccheus, the dishonest tax collector who is the subject of today’s Gospel reading.
Both Judas and Zaccheus may have become objects of fun, but their lives have lots of serious lessons to offer. The names of both were tarnished. But while the image of Judas has been frozen and packaged as a villain, Zaccheus was able to redeem his name through genuine conversion. He promised to Jesus in public to pay back four times those he had defrauded.
Both climbed a tree. But while Judas did it to commit suicide in hopelessness, Zaccheus did so in the hope of seeing the Lord. Hope spells the difference between Judas and Zaccheus. Later Jesus climbed a tree too in order to confirm everything that people hope for. Let us keep hope alive in our hearts. God knows “HUDAS” not hope. –(Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., J.D., D.M.