Gospel: Here is something that may upend how you see today's Gospel, the story of Zacchaeus (Lk 19). Basically, the translations that most Bibles use are inaccurate, as Joseph Fitzmyer, SJ, points out in The Anchor Bible Series; as does Luke Timothy Johnson in Sacra Pagina... 
The usual translation is that upon being welcomed by Jesus, Zacchaeus undergoes a conversion experience, and promises to give half of his money to the poor and repay anyone he has defrauded four times over--in the future. Here is the NAB, which we read at Mass today:
"Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much."
But that's not accurate. As Johnson writes, "In both sentences Zacchaeus uses the present tense..."
But that's not accurate. As Johnson writes, "In both sentences Zacchaeus uses the present tense..."
I.e., what Jesus is revealing is that this person on the margins, this hated tax collector, is *already* doing something generous.
A more accurate translation is "I *am giving* half of my possessions to the poor and if I have cheated someone I *make* fourfold restitution..."
A more accurate translation is "I *am giving* half of my possessions to the poor and if I have cheated someone I *make* fourfold restitution..."
The translation is from Johnson. The Greek is δίδωμι (didomi) and ἀποδίδωμι (apodidomi): "I give" and "I restore." Not "I will give" or "I will restore."
Zacchaeus is not promising something in the future, he is saying he does it already...
Zacchaeus is not promising something in the future, he is saying he does it already...
I've often used this Gospel story to illustrate Jesus's reaching out to those on the margins and in the past I've said that when welcomed, the person undergoes a kind of conversion. Often I relate it to the welcome the church is called to give to LGBTQ people....
But the story is much more wonderful than that. What Jesus has revealed to the crowd is that this person is already generous.
When we think of this in terms of marginalized people in our church, like LGBT people, it is a reminder that despite their "image" they are...
When we think of this in terms of marginalized people in our church, like LGBT people, it is a reminder that despite their "image" they are...
...often more loving, more generous and more compassionate than anyone in the "crowd" suspects.
And so it is not so much Zacchaeus who is called to conversion. It is the crowd.
And so it is not so much Zacchaeus who is called to conversion. It is the crowd.
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