When Jesus was passing through Jericho, “he looked up” and saw Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus had “climbed a sycamore tree to see Jesus.” Zacchaeus had to change his point of view in order to see Jesus, to encounter him. He could not do so from his original point of view, it rendered him short-sighted. His short-sighted point of view is physical but more so social. Zacchaeus is the chief tax collector for the conquering Roman Empire whom Jews view as swine, unclean occupiers. Zacchaeus manages Jericho’s commerce and customs revenue for the occupying capitalist military and against his own people. He apparently does not see the harm his collusion effects. Having now encountered Christ though, his point of view changes, expands, “Behold, half of my possessions, I shall give to the poor.” In response, Jesus exclaims, “Today healing has come.”
Changing or expanding our point of view can be difficult. We are generally conformed to the culture that surrounds us, to the values we believe support it, and to the daily actions and life choices that maintain it. Our point of view is set. In the U.S., we are probably like Zacchaeus, conforming to the conquering U.S. Empire. So too, we may not see the harm our collusion effects. The point of our view is to see harm in the tyrants ruling others but not in the ones ruling us, to see harm in other countries but not in our own empire. Thus, we rarely “look up” and change our point of view. We rarely look deep and encounter Christ. A Christ encounter includes welcoming strangers and being a welcomed stranger in another culture, experiencing its people, values, practices. More so, it is a life encounter that wretches us from the comfort of our old point of view. We are changed. Our point of view is changed, expanded. The point of our view now is to see Christ in others. We cannot un-see Christ in others. As we live by such encounters, we cannot be naïve about this empire and its collaborators asking us to do the reverse, incessantly so. Imperialists ask us to un-see Christ. They especially ask us this with those the empire keeps poor. The empire is currently attempting to keep even more people poor. Within a poverty producing system in which little is ‘given’ to the poor, including wages, the Trump Administration is in the process of changing the poverty index. The change intends to deprive even more people of helpful social programs such as food and health. We need to change our short-sighted point of view away from empire that produces and manages poverty. Zacchaeus’ commitment can be ours, “I shall give to the poor.” Giving to those who are poor, sharing who we are and what we have, can end the imperialist system. It shames us for giving to those who are poor as it shames those who are poor, because at the same time it is shameless about shoveling never ending piles of cash into the swine trough that is this empire’s military. Change will require encounters in a people’s movement, a people’s community. If we see ourselves only as good citizens of an Empire, how will we ever see ourselves as Christ? How will we ever see others as Christ? Once we do, everything changes.
“The trouble is that once you see it, you can’t unsee it. And once you’ve seen it, keeping quiet, saying nothing, becomes as political an act as speaking out. There’s no innocence. Either way, you’re accountable.” (Arundhati Roy)
Prayer: Spirit, I vow to see Christ in others.
Question: What is the point of my view?
November 03, 2019 Gospel Luke 19:1-10 Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time