Gospel Commentary Oct. 30, Lk 19:1-10
Across from Leonardo Da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa,” in the most famous gallery of Paris’ Louvre Museum, another, much larger painting teaches a spiritual lesson deeply consonant with this weekend’s Gospel. Veronese’s “Wedding at Cana” presents a riot of people, movement and color, depicting the first of Jesus’ miracles on a canvas 20 feet high and 30 feet across. With more than 100 individuals depicted, each in the middle of some action or another, the painting can overwhelm, and it is not immediately clear what is happening, what story is being told. Only once the eye finds the figure of Jesus, seated calmly in the center of all the chaos and tumult, does everything come together, and the working of God’s grab in the scene come to light. Until that point, the painting remains lovely chaos — but after it, it’s an image of the Lord calling through the noise.
The Gospel today presents us with the figure of Zacchaeus, who also has to overcome an otherwise overwhelming situation in order to meet Christ. The text tells us that Zacchaeus, the unjust tax collector, was of short stature and could not see past the great crowd surrounding Jesus. Of course, ancient commenters tell us that more than the physical crowd stands in his way; the great crowd of all his sins obscure his sight. So then, everything hinges on whether or not Zacchaeus can find a way past the crowd. He makes that all-important decision, climbs the sycamore tree, and immediately, Christ calls and forgives him, drawing out of the tax collector’s heart both repentance and reparation for all his sins. Tradition confirms that it is that choice to climb and see Jesus at whatever cost, rather than the acts of reparation, that represents the true conversion of Zacchaeus. His desire to give everything he has, half in donation and half in reparation, simply manifests what already took place in the moment he sought the Lord. Everything is decided the second he chooses to find a way past the crowd, wishing to look at Jesus face to face.
Our lives can often mirror both the great painting and the Gospel story. We find ourselves frequently surrounded by a great crowd of things that can overwhelm us and obscure our view of Christ. That crowd might come in the form of worries, tasks to accomplish, news stories, demands of work, demands of home life, personal crises, goals and plans, social obligations, daydreams, insecurities, and a thousand other things. We might even have to face the crowd of our own sins, either present or long past. It can seem almost impossible to meet Jesus when crowds such as these press upon us, and we may grow discouraged. In order to find freedom and peace, we too must find a way to see through or over the crowd. We must breathe deep and look to the center of the painting or climb the sycamore tree to meet the eyes of God.
Practically speaking, we overcome our own crowds whenever we take time for prayer and reflection. We might spend 20 or 30 minutes speaking with Christ in our hearts, considering the Scriptures, or reading a sound spiritual book, but one way or another we must provide ourselves that time which pierces through the swarm of worldly concerns. We have to let our troubles and demands fade into the background for a while so that we can meet God’s eyes. When that happens, our souls, like that of Zacchaeus, awaken, change, grow in faith, hope, and love, and begin to taste the joy of God’s eternal gaze in heaven itself.
Fr. Rampino is parochial vicar of St. Ambrose Church in Annandale.
Overcoming the crowd
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Gospel Commentary Oct. 30, Lk 19:1-10
Across from Leonardo Da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa,” in the most famous gallery of Paris’ Louvre Museum, another, much larger painting teaches a spiritual lesson deeply consonant with this weekend’s Gospel. Veronese’s “Wedding at Cana” presents a riot of people, movement and color, depicting the first of Jesus’ miracles on a canvas 20 feet high and 30 feet across. With more than 100 individuals depicted, each in the middle of some action or another, the painting can overwhelm, and it is not immediately clear what is happening, what story is being told. Only once the eye finds the figure of Jesus, seated calmly in the center of all the chaos and tumult, does everything come together, and the working of God’s grab in the scene come to light. Until that point, the painting remains lovely chaos — but after it, it’s an image of the Lord calling through the noise.
The Gospel today presents us with the figure of Zacchaeus, who also has to overcome an otherwise overwhelming situation in order to meet Christ. The text tells us that Zacchaeus, the unjust tax collector, was of short stature and could not see past the great crowd surrounding Jesus. Of course, ancient commenters tell us that more than the physical crowd stands in his way; the great crowd of all his sins obscure his sight. So then, everything hinges on whether or not Zacchaeus can find a way past the crowd. He makes that all-important decision, climbs the sycamore tree, and immediately, Christ calls and forgives him, drawing out of the tax collector’s heart both repentance and reparation for all his sins. Tradition confirms that it is that choice to climb and see Jesus at whatever cost, rather than the acts of reparation, that represents the true conversion of Zacchaeus. His desire to give everything he has, half in donation and half in reparation, simply manifests what already took place in the moment he sought the Lord. Everything is decided the second he chooses to find a way past the crowd, wishing to look at Jesus face to face.
Our lives can often mirror both the great painting and the Gospel story. We find ourselves frequently surrounded by a great crowd of things that can overwhelm us and obscure our view of Christ. That crowd might come in the form of worries, tasks to accomplish, news stories, demands of work, demands of home life, personal crises, goals and plans, social obligations, daydreams, insecurities, and a thousand other things. We might even have to face the crowd of our own sins, either present or long past. It can seem almost impossible to meet Jesus when crowds such as these press upon us, and we may grow discouraged. In order to find freedom and peace, we too must find a way to see through or over the crowd. We must breathe deep and look to the center of the painting or climb the sycamore tree to meet the eyes of God.
Practically speaking, we overcome our own crowds whenever we take time for prayer and reflection. We might spend 20 or 30 minutes speaking with Christ in our hearts, considering the Scriptures, or reading a sound spiritual book, but one way or another we must provide ourselves that time which pierces through the swarm of worldly concerns. We have to let our troubles and demands fade into the background for a while so that we can meet God’s eyes. When that happens, our souls, like that of Zacchaeus, awaken, change, grow in faith, hope, and love, and begin to taste the joy of God’s eternal gaze in heaven itself.
Fr. Rampino is parochial vicar of St. Ambrose Church in Annandale.
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