We begin this week by looking into a deuterocanonical book, it is a book that doesn’t appear in the Hebrew Bible, The Wisdom of Solomon is part of the wisdom books in the Old Testament. In our reading we hear of the greatness of our Lord, before him the entire universe is like a grain of sand or a drop of morning dew. It goes on to talk about how everything that God made is something that God loves. It is only through his love that things exist and although we may stray at times we are always welcomed back (The Good Shepherd) we are continually reminded of the sins we commit and God hopes that we all can abandon these ways and believe in God.
As we turn to the Epistle from Paul to the Thessalonians we might notice that it is a strange reading it’s only four verses long. This being a letter from Paul the first chapter is typically an introduction usually concluding with a prayer, then in the second chapter he would get to the teaching. In our reading this week we get the concluding prayer and then only a bit of the teaching. To Thessalonica Paul reminds that they should not be jumping when anyone speaks of the return of Jesus, this was a common belief held by many at the time. Paul is telling them that it still will be some time no matter what letter or oral statements say.
In the Gospel of Luke we skip over a blind man story (Was he blind because of his parents?) and continue with the same theme from last week. Zacchaeus is the Bible’s second favorite tax collector and we hear about how he wanted to see who this Jesus was that because he was short he climbed up a tree in order to see Jesus pass by. Now as Jesus passed by the tree he calls up to Zacchaeus saying that he must spend the night at the house of Zacchaeus. Now the crowds didn’t like this and they grumbled about it. After dismounting the tree Zacchaeus says to Jesus that he will give half of his possessions to the poor and pay back all his extortions four times over. Zacchaeus literally is humbling himself before the Lord he comes down from the tree a changed man. This is implied in the first reading today. Many people are drawn toward Zacchaeus as they see themselves up in the tree and Christ is calling to them saying “I’m staying at your place“, I hope that we can have the courage of Zacchaeus to humble ourselves and let God/Jesus into our lives. Let us all reflect this week on God’s loving care for all things and how we can remind others that God loves all thing great and small no matter what they are.
Related articles
- Thirty First Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C (semperquaerens.org)
- This week’s gospel reflection: 31st Sunday of Ordinary Time (Luke 19:1-10) (buffetcatholic.wordpress.com)
- To Make a Long Story Short – A Homily for the 31st Sunday of the Year (adw.org)
Deep in the well 