Zacchaeus and the People: Beyond Society’s Confines
I grew up in an environment that exposed me to seeing only my kinsmen: people of my
ethnic affiliation and kin. This exposure helped me to appreciate people whom I met on a daily
basis. Quite surprisingly, that appreciation was to characterize people into categories of “my
brothers” and “the others”. I often asked myself during my prayers if Jesus was my brother or
just the other. I grew up with this ethnic perception that my brothers are people of my kindred:
people I characterize as sharing my ethnic values; and people who don’t fall into this category of
my brothers are “the others”: people who do not share my ethnic values and do not understand
me.
So it was not surprising to find on any form that I was to sign my tribe or ethnic affiliation
because this was the environment that I grew into. The problem that I have discovered with this
perception is that of ethnic baggage and it is the first unconscious thing that happens to me
when I see people; that is, I do not see human beings in the sense of people created and loved
by God; people of one race and ancestor, but ethnic beings in the sense of societal ideological
stratification: I see them as brothers of shared values. Today, I invite us to be aware of
society’s confines which prevent us from seeing and understanding every person as a
human being: people created and loved by God and people of one race and ancestor. My dear
brothers and sisters, please reflect with me on Zacchaeus and the People and how Jesus
teaches us to see beyond society’s confines culturally imposed on us. For, through this
conscious awareness can we embody a boundless gospel that we have been called to live.
The people other than Jesus and Zacchaeus in the gospel of today from Luke 19:1-10
refused to see Zacchaeus as a human being who desires a relationship with Jesus or as nicely
captured in the first reading, as [someone] who has opened the door [to his heart], [and Jesus]
has come in to him to eat with him” (Revelation 3:20). They saw him rather within the confines of
labels, which obviously underscores society’s ideology of the unclean one since we
unconsciously label people based upon set benchmarks of society. So, Zacchaeus is not seen
in the light of a human being but as a person who is a sinner that Jesus should not have seen
beyond that confinement. The text says: “And when they [people] saw [that Jesus has gone to
stay at the house of Zacchaeus] they all murmured, ‘He has gone in to be the guest of a man
who is a sinner’” (Luke 19:7). Why did the people murmur about Jesus’ decision to stay at the
house of Zacchaeus? Clearly, the clean should have nothing to do with the unclean, so the
people saw Zacchaeus within the confines of society’s ideological stratification: that Zacchaeus
is a sinner – an unclean person, and thus Jesus should not have stayed at his house. The
problem with this is that the People never saw Zacchaeus as a human being who could possibly
yearn for a relationship with Jesus, or simply a person who could change. I suppose when we
have no conscious awareness of society’s confines, we see and end up imposing an
understanding like the people in the gospel of today.
As I reflect on the People in the gospel of today, I could find them significantly about me.
I find them in my country where evidence of society’s confines glaringly abounds. Firstly,
national elections like the presidential elections triumphed based on ethnic confines and
interests. This is because citizens are cajoled into believing that a particular candidate from a
certain tribe or ethnicity is a ‘son, and recently daughter, of the soil’ and he/she serves the
interest of the tribe/ethnicity or knows about the plight of the tribe/ethnicity more than the other
candidates. Secondly, one common experience is people asking you which tribe/ethnicity you
are from since you are Nigerian. Lastly, some Nigerians abroad suffer the confines of a wicked
image of Nigeria, which of course is very much evident in the separation during airport checks. I
suppose that these confines in Nigerian society are not far-fetched from the experience of
Zacchaeus and the people in the gospel of today, where societal ideological labels have been
culturally imposed.
As Jesuits in formation, we can fall into the temptation of the People in the gospel of
today because we come from different societies that have considerably imposed on us confines,
which of course could make us identify with other Jesuits of the same cultural society.
Personally, I have found the practice against regionalism and provincialism remarkably
important in creating a conscious awareness of the universality of our vocation: that we are first
and foremost human beings and members of the Society of Jesus, not members of a particular
region or province. Having this understanding as Jesuits will help us see everyone as human
beings that we have been invited to love and serve.
I would like to propose five steps on how we could learn to see beyond society’s
confines. 1. Let us acknowledge God’s presence in the many societies which He has blessed us
with; they are gifts rather than curses to our existence. 2. Let us give thanks to God for the
many gifts which these unique societies have bestowed upon us. 3. Let us review our societies,
dwelling more on the confines that it leaves on us and how God is calling us to see beyond our
ethnic/society’s confines. 4. Let us ask for sorrow for our lack of awareness of society’s
confines. 5. Let us look ahead and ask for the grace of awareness of our society’s confines.
My dear brothers and sisters, Jesus invites us to awake, awake from the slumber of
society’s confines, the slumber of a confined gospel circus. Jesus invites us to be like Him in the
gospel of today, to see people as human beings, created and loved by God, to seek the lost,
and to preach a boundless gospel. May the Lord bless His words in our hearts both now and
forevermore.
By Ikpodon Michael SJ