November 2, 2019

31st Sunday - C (November 3, 2019)


A Guest

Jesus tells Zaccheaus, “I must stay at your house.”
By using “must,” Jesus expresses a sense of obligation [1] , or rather, the reason of his coming among us – “to seek and to save what was lost.”  It is the obligation of the Father’s plan and of Jesus’ love for sinners.

Some people find it hard to accept God’s plan of salvation.  They “grumble” that Jesus makes himself a guest at the house of a sinner.

So great is Jesus’ love for us sinners that he makes it his obligation to be our guest.

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[1] “In Luke, the verb dei (“must”) is used to convey divine necessity – that is, what Jesus must do in fulfillment of God’s plan” (Pablo Gadenz, The Gospel of Luke, Grand Rapids, MI, Baker Academic, p. 75).

Image source:  Zacchaeus by Niels Larsen Stevns, en.wikipedia.org

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