Reflection on the Word for the Sunday of September 11, 2022
SALVATION IS ONE BY ONE – Luke 15:10
Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."
This Gospel excerpt begins with the mentioning that “Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him.” That is how the tax collectors were hated among all the other sinners, that that had their own category, reserved to them as special sinners. I am not sure that the modern sentiments regarding lawyers as having their own compartment in Hell might be or not similar to this burdening emphasis on tax collectors, labeled on them by the Gospel, because it needs some torch-light to come up with a little insight concerning the charge against the tax collectors in Jesus’ time.
The public sentiment dramatically turned against the tax collectors, when Herod Archelaus, the son of Herod the Great after 10 years of senseless and brutal rule, was forced into exile by the very Romans, his allies. We know the date of this exactly, because the Gospel mentions the event, this is exactly when the famous tax registration happened. However, it did not occur, when Jesus was supposed to be born around 6 BCE, but ten years later.
Some think that this is an inaccuracy in the Gospel of Luke, however it is not, it is a powerful hint. Some also keep asking that why we needed four Gospels, why not just one? This is a mint example, as Matthew told us that the family fled to Egypt because of the persecution, which must have happened before Herod the Great died and Luke tells us when they returned. It is very likely that the family spent more than two years in Egypt, very likely it was about 10 years, because after Herod the Great, his son Herod Archelaus became the King in Jerusalem, and it is very likely that under him the persecution continued. According to Luke, the family moved to Galilee after the Roman census in Judea, ordered by Quirinus the governor of Syria.
From contemporary documents we know, that it happened in 6 CE. Until that there had been a Jewish king in Jerusalem, and the Romans simply did not have the jurisdiction to imply taxes or to order censuses in Judea. This changed when Rome removed Archelaus exactly in 6 CE, then they ordered the census, because the Roman procurator took over the governing in Jerusalem, directly on behalf of Emperor August.
Thus, in during the ministry of Jesus, the Romans levied the taxes, and they had their own method to do it, and it was the tax auction. It meant that the Romans, instead of collecting the taxes themselves, they outsourced the tax collection, they rented it out through tax auction to the greatest bidder. They estimated the amount of the taxes in a district, and they give the tax collection right to a local, who paid the whole auctioned amount in advance to the Romans. After having been paid, the Romans did not care that how much taxes the tax collectors actually collected during the tax year. However, to make it sure that the system will work next year as well, they provided soldiers to help the tax collectors to enforce the process. Enforcement was really needed, because the tax collectors artificially raised the tax rates into the skies.
We can recall that in the Gospel of Luke, a great multitude went to John to hear him out whether his was the Messiah or not. The soldiers there also asked John, that “What about us? What must we do?” He said to them, “Extort from no one by violence, neither accuse anyone wrongfully. ...” And exactly that happened. Some tax collectors also came to be baptized, and they said to him, “Teacher, what must we do?” He said to them, “Collect no more than that which is appointed to you.”
However, exactly that happened, they collected three or four times more than it was originally prescribed. Whosoever was not able to pay, especially defenseless elderly or widows or orphans, they confiscated and foreclosed the properties by force. We can also remember what Zacchaeus, the ominous tax collector told Jesus that “Behold, Lord, half of my goods I give to the poor. If I have wrongfully exacted anything of anyone, I restore four times as much.” The tax collectors were hated as much that they earned their separate mentioning beside all the other sinners and law breakers. However, the corrupt extortion and armed racketeering were just one issue, for the Romans demanded the taxes in Roman currency, with the Emperor’s name and title on it. That is why Jesus asked the audience that “Whose is this image and inscription?” They said to him, “Caesar’s.”
The problem with that was that the inscription said that the Emperor is divine, like literally a God. Thus the tax coin visibly and tangible broke the second commandment, which says that “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.” So the tax collectors were not only collaborators of the enemy, being traitors serving the occupiers, as robbers of the people and the poor, but they were deemed also the renegades who broke the religious law through their greed, worshiping the Mammon.
Nonetheless, the example of Zacchaeus shows that it is not only that almost never too late to turn to God, repent and make amendments, but also that a group description or a social class or being even a social outcast must not consume the heart of an individual completely or for ever. Jesus told Zacchaeus that because he repented and was ready to make personal amendments, that “Today, salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost.”
The Pharisees muttered about Jesus, by saying that “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” as Jesus, like John the Baptist, used to teach people from all walks of life.
However, Jesus did not hang out with sinners, but called them to repent and to change their lives, including their lifestyles. Meanwhile, as it is also obvious that he called the wholeness of Israel to turn to God, and through Israel he called all the nations to repent and to obey God’s commandments, still this call was being meant for the individuals, one by one.
Prophet Ezekiel is very clear about the personal responsibility regarding sin and punishment, making amendments, repenting and submitting one’s will completely to God, as it is written, that the Lord said to him that : “The soul who sins, he shall die. (…) The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son; the righteousness of the righteous shall be on him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be on him. But if the wicked turn from all his sins that he has committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die.
None of his transgressions that he has committed shall be remembered against him: in his righteousness that he has done he shall live. Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked? says the Lord God; and not rather that he should return from his way, and live?
When Jesus calls us one by one to turn to God with our whole hearts, no one can say, that somebody else will do that for me, or I belong to a group which has a good reputation in Heaven, or I my ancestors are known as God-fearing people, so I am covered, because everyone of us, we have to repent one by one, aka ultimately I have to repent, I have to make amendments, I have to return to God with all my hearts and soul, I have to love God with everything I got.
May the Eternal One help us on our journey to Heaven. Amen.
