Because this man too is a descendant of Abraham

Wis 11,22-12,2; Ps 144; 2 Ts 1,11- 2,2; Lk 19,1-10
3 NOVEMBER

When God gives his Word and a man believes in it, observing every condition required, then one has the right to receive all the goods promised by the Word. If salvation is given by faith in Christ, creed in Christ, I let myself be baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, I become the son of God in Christ Jesus, by right, that is by justice, by God’s obligation to keep his Word, I must enjoy eternal life. Faith is credited to me as a right, justice. God obliged himself.

I mean that as long as the heir is not of age, he is no different from a slave, although he is the owner of everything, but he is under the supervision of guardians and administrators until the date set by his father. In the same way we also, when we were not of age, were enslaved to the elemental powers of the world. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to ransom those under the law, so that we might receive adoption. As proof that you are children, God sent the spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God (Gal 4,1-7).

The Lord promised the children of Abraham the forgiveness in repentance and in the conversion of all their sins. In repentance and conversion one has the right to forgiveness. I did what the Lord asked of me. I obeyed his word. This truth is admirably treated by St. Paul in a special way in the Letter to the Romans.

It was not through the law that the promise was made to Abraham and his descendants that he would inherit the world, but through the righteousness that comes from faith. For if those who adhere to the law are the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law produces wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there violation. For this reason, it depends on faith, so that it may be a gift, and the promise may be guaranteed to all his descendants, not to those who only adhere to the law but to those who follow the faith of Abraham, who is the father of all of us, as it is written, “I have made you father of many nations.” He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into being what does not exist. He believed, hoping against hope, that he would become “the father of many nations,” according to what was said, “Thus shall your descendants be.” He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body as (already) dead (for he was almost a hundred years old) and the dead womb of Sarah. He did not doubt God’s promise in unbelief; rather, he was empowered by faith and gave glory to God and was fully convinced that what he had promised he was also able to do. That is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.” But it was not for him alone that it was written that “it was credited to him”; it was also for us, to whom it will be credited, who believe in the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was handed over for our transgressions and was raised for our justification (Rm 4,13-25).

Zacchaeus is said by Jesus son of Abraham. Whether the Pharisees want or not, he has the right to be forgiven. He saw Jesus. He heard his voice. He believed. He repented. He promised to return to the perfect justice even with the return, in case he stole something from someone, and by justice he must be accepted in the blessing.

He came to Jericho and intended to pass through the town. Now a man there named Zacchaeus, who was a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man, was seeking to see who Jesus was; but he could not see him because of the crowd, for he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus, who was about to pass that way. When he reached the place, Jesus looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house.” And he came down quickly and received him with joy. When they all saw this, they began to grumble, saying, “He has gone to stay at the house of a sinner.” But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone I shall repay it four times over.” And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house because this man too is a descendant of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost.”

Too bad that today this world has collapsed. There is neither right nor justice. There are miserable human thoughts that have destroyed every truth of revelation. The right is by nature.

Mother of God, Angels and Saints ensure that Christians return to the truth of their God.