Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: This week, rather than the commemoration of all the faithful departed, we will stay with Disciple C gospel for the 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time.
Please enjoy the Gospel and homily based on Luke, chapter 19, verses 1 through 10.
[00:00:22] Speaker B: This is Sundays with Bishop Ken.
Thanks for sharing some quiet time with the Lord today. We welcome guest reader Deacon Eric Bissette.
Deacon Eric is a beloved spiritual leader in his home parishes of the Diocese of Rochester, New York.
Little Book's listeners will recognize Deacon Eric as a regular narrator for our daily reflections.
And now, here is today's gospel and homily.
[00:01:03] Speaker A: A reading from the Holy Gospel According to Luke he came to Jericho and intended to pass through the town.
Now a man there named Zacchaeus, who was a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man, was seeking to see who Jesus was.
But he could not see him because of the crowd, for he was short in stature.
So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus, who was about to pass that way.
When he reached the place, Jesus looked up and said to him, zacchaeus, come down quickly for today I must stay at your house.
And he came down quickly and received him with joy.
When they all saw this, they began to grumble, saying, he has gone to stay at the house of a sinner.
But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, behold, half my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone, I shall repay it four times over.
And Jesus said to him, today salvation has come to this house because this man too is a descendant of Abraham.
For the Son of man has come to seek and to save what was lost.
The Gospel of the Lord to help bring out the meaning of this gospel passage about Jesus and Zacchaeus, let's engage in a bit of fantasy.
The setting is late that same evening after Jesus had gone to dinner at the house of Zacchaeus.
Jesus public relations director is waiting for him and he says something like, now, Jesus, I've had it up to here.
We've got a mess out there and I don't know if I can make lemonade out of this one.
There are a lot of folks out there who are angry.
The rich people are mad, the poor people are mad, the middle class people are mad.
I've told you a hundred times how to work the crowd. When you go to a town, you kiss a few babies, you shake a few hands, and you smile at a few politicians.
I laid all of this out for you before you got here to Jericho.
I even Had a list of names for you.
I get all these people to turn out and what do you do?
You pick out that little shyster up in a tree of all the dog gone people to single out.
Everybody's ticked off.
It's going to take some doing to get you out of this one.
We're still not out of that ruckus you caused when you went to the fancy banquet and let that floozy dry your feet with her hair.
You lost a lot of points for that one. A lot of points.
And while I'm at it, it's getting harder and harder to maintain your image because of that group of losers you've got for disciples.
They're bores.
They're always squabbling among themselves and they don't make you look like the smartest person on earth.
I don't know what to do. I don't understand.
For the life of me, I don't understand.
Do you know what Jesus would say? He'd say, I like Zacchaeus.
He would.
He'd say the same about the sinful woman at the banquet.
He'd say the same about the pagan woman whose daughter he healed.
It wasn't as though Jesus would be apologetic and say something like, well, we have to try and be kind to everyone.
No, he liked Zacchaeus.
He loved him.
He truly loves each of us, loves us.
Imagine if Jesus were to come to town and visit one home and it was yours.
Jesus wouldn't do that for show or to demonstrate virtue.
He'd do it because he loves you.
And if anyone complained about his choice, he'd defend you.
He'd say, this is my brother, my sister.
I love them.
The love of Jesus for us is not a generic love.
It's personal, individual.
We've got to learn to accept that kind of love from him, to believe in that kind of love from him.
In a few minutes, we'll hear again the words Jesus said at the Last Supper.
This is my body, which will be given up for you.
This is the cup of my blood.
It will be shed for you.
Then he said, for you and for the many, so that sins may be forgiven.
We're the ones he came for, all of us.
And when we catch that, really catch it, then everything is different.
We feel different about Jesus.
We feel different about ourselves.
We even feel different about one another.
[00:06:28] Speaker B: Thanks for joining us today.
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