Meditations On The Gospel Of Luke For The FamilySample

"MEDITATION 15: Two Rich Men at the Table: a Tax Collector and a Banqueter"

As on some other occasions, we now consider two contrasting men. One is real and has a name; the other is just a character in a parable. Were it not for this fact, we could think that we are comparing two “parallel lives.” Both are a symbol of one of the preferred subjects in Luke’s Gospel: riches and our relationship to and use of our possessions. The contrasts and coincidences are remarkable. Let us go, step by step. As a chief tax collector, Zacchaeus belonged to one of the most contemptible social groups in Israel. They were considered collaborators with the Romans, easily bribed, prone to extortion and overtaxing the people. Their money was stained with guilt and legal impurity. As for the rich man, the parable does not give him a name, nor do we have any detail about the origin of his wealth. We may assume his fortune was legitimately inherited or acquired. The only thing we know for sure is that he lived sumptuously and ignored the existence of poor Lazarus. In his case, but for his name, we only know that Lazarus suffered extreme poverty and some sort of skin disease. He does not even have one line to speak in the whole story.
At a given moment, everything changes for the three characters. In the parable, death is the turning point. Lazarus, carried by angels to the bosom of Abraham, cannot do anything but observe the fate of the rich man, whose punishment has no explanation other than his having ignored Lazarus’ suffering. Riches, in the end, cannot buy a ticket to enter the bosom of Abraham.
For Zacchaeus, the only character living in the real world, there is also a turning point, in which everything changes for the better. As usual, Jesus’ presence and action break all the barriers the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law are so fond of building. Even tax collectors, the sinners par excellence, can be transformed by Jesus who came to call sinners to repentance and “to seek and to save what was lost” (19:10). Although some may grumble at this unusual sign of mercy, Jesus makes clear that no one is excluded from the kingdom of God unless God’s designs are blatantly opposed or ignored. In contrast with the rich man of the parable, who cannot understand his situation and begs for just a drop of water, Zacchaeus is able to change his life, share with the poor what he has, repair his wrongdoings… and be the host to Jesus. The lost sheep invites the Good Shepherd to his house.
Rev. Fr. Mariano Perrón, Roman Catholic priest, Archdiocese of Madrid, Spain