Zacchaeus Sunday 2024

Glory to Jesus Christ, and of the Son, and of

the Holy Spirit. My goodness, what a magnificent

account, what a story. You can see Zacchaeus

up in his tree in that fresco up there. If you

take a look. And of course it's not there by

accident in that particular spot. There's a particular

reason it's right there because it's right before

Palm Sunday. Jesus is passing through Jericho

in order to go to Jerusalem and all the events

that will follow they all are depicted right

there all the way here and aren't you? anxious

like I am, to be a Thomas Sunday too. In the

Gospel, St. Luke tells us that the Lord was surrounded

by an enormous crowd. And he stops. There's a

man in a tree. This Zacchaeus, this rich man.

You know all about the tax collectors and the

Romans. Nobody's liked tax collector then. Nobody

likes tax collection now. But this man practiced

extortion, racketeering, and protection. So he

was lining in his own pockets big time. And he

was the chief of the tax collectors. He's up

in the tree, this man. Can you picture this,

this short little guy that everybody hates? And

Jesus stops, and he points, and he says, Zacchaeus,

he calls the man by name. He calls each of us

by name, too, you know. He calls him by name.

Zacchaeus, hurry up. Hurry up. Come down. Can

you imagine Zacchaeus' surprise that this man's

calling me by name? I don't know him. He never

met me. Don't assume that Jesus turned to his

disciples and said, hey, that guy from the tree,

what's his name? I can't remember. No, Jesus

is passing through Jericho. He knows each of

us by name, brothers and sisters. He knows everything

about us, our needs, our wants, and he cares.

Imagine, though, not just the chaos of surprise,

the disciples' surprise, but the surprise of

the crowd. This man, and Jesus says, quickly

come down. I must abide at your house. Abide,

it's a lovely word. It means to stay, of course,

that Jesus would stay. But abide has so much

more elegance to it and depth to it. We think,

come and abide in us and cleanse us in the prayer

to the Holy Spirit. I must abide at your house.

I must be with you in your midst. This is not

a casual drop -in visit. And St. Luke records

that some in the crowd that day watching what

happened offered an analysis of the moral state

of this man, which is, you know, what we do.

We comment on everything. We judge everybody

around us. They did the same. This is probably

why Jesus, one of the few things he says, don't

do or else, is... Don't judge because you'll

be judged the way you judge others. This doesn't

mean don't be discerning. But they condemned

him. This man, Jesus, he's gone to be a guest

with a man that is a sinner. When they saw it,

they all murmured. They grumbled saying this

man has gone to be a guest with a man that is

a sinner. In one verse. Don't they tell us exactly

what Jesus does for us? It's the good news that

God loves us. For while we were still weak, says

St. Paul, while we were sinners, at the right

time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will

scarcely die for a righteous person, but though

perhaps for an unrighteous person, though perhaps

for a good person, one would even dare to die.

But God chose his love for us in that while we

were still sinners, Christ died for us. Yes,

the people were right. But they should have celebrated

it, not murmured it. He has gone to be a guest

with the man that is a sinner, which is exactly

what he does for us. For you and for me. Our

God is humble. And he has come to be a guest

with each one of us. He's so humble that he even

comes to send, to share his life with us in the

bread and the wine, his body, true body, and

truly his blood. How humble God is. So yes, number

one, the people at right, he's gone to be a guest.

He comes to us. Number two, he abides with us.

He wishes to dwell with us. He says, hurry. You

know those moments in the morning when you're

hurrying to get out of the house? But he's saying

also, hurry and pray a little before you leave.

And thirdly, we know, we think of this story

of Zacchaeus as the beginning of the pre -Lenten

cycle, sort of a sign. On the way. That's why

that's significant. Jesus is there. He's passing

through Jericho. He sees Zacchaeus. He abides

with him. Zacchaeus changes. He repents. I give

half of my goods to the poor. And if I've offended

anybody. Fourfold I give them. And he changed.

You know Zacchaeus became a bishop eventually.

And a martyr. So we see this gospel. We understand

that it's leading us to great Lent. And next

week it's the publican and the Pharisee. But

technically speaking, this gospel is actually

the last gospel reading for the year which began

with Pascha and Pentecost. It marks the end.

And so we're about to embark on something new.

So before we start the new year, some of us like

to look back and examine ourselves. And that's

an opportunity that's given to us today, too.

It's what we do at confession, but maybe we do

it now as a parish for a moment. What's the effect,

we might say, having heard all these Gospels

from Pascha Pentecost till today, what's the

effect, practically speaking, of the Gospel on

my life? Does this account? Of repentance. Meeting

of the Lord. Abiding with the Lord. Being forgiven

because we're sinners. Does it intersect with

my life in any way? Or is it just something we

hear in the season and we're moving on next week

to something else? How wonderful that the church

gives us this opportunity to see if I'm doing

what Zacchaeus did. Expanding a little effort

to be with the Lord, to see him, to know him.

Zacchaeus was so curious, his desire to know

Christ, who he is. It's about expending some

effort to do that. In prayer, yes. In works of

mercy, yes. But then, Zacchaeus, what does he

do? Jesus says, come down, come down, come down.

It's an example now for us to examine ourselves.

Have we been humble? Have we actually come down?

Do we bow low before each other? Are we obedient

to the commandments of the church? If we are,

then the statement that Jesus said to his followers

in another place, you are the light of the world.

It means something in that case. But if we examine

ourselves today, for myself, I can say, my light,

Christ's light in me, it's no brighter than a

cell phone flashlight. That is not the light

of the world. How can it be that Jesus says you

are the light of the world? But we can't seem

to acquire that because we haven't expended the

effort to rise up. We haven't gone down to lower

ourselves before each other. And we haven't spent

the time abiding in the presence of Christ. Making

our confession. We talk about that all the time.

Am I self -aware? Or am I like the people in

that story? Aware of other people's sins? Rarely

confessing my own, thereby forgetting. I'm responsible

for the Lord, for my soul and its condition.

That's what it means. when we hear the parable

of the talents, which we heard recently. In other

words, brothers and sisters, this gospel is profoundly

important for each one of us if, if, only if,

we take the time to see we're going to launch

into something new and to examine ourselves from

where we've been. This isn't simply a story of

Jesus meeting a bad guy, and the bad guy gets

good. This isn't just a story of Jesus deciding,

I'm going to stay with this guy, and then he

moves on to Jerusalem. This is an encounter with

the living God. Let me end with this quote from

the Elder Zachariah of Essex. I quoted him last

week, too. It's a wonderful little book. about

the pre -Lenten Gospels. He says it's our God,

it's a God who comes to meet us in the course

of our lives. He does not predetermine our future,

ordaining who will be saved and who will perish,

since his only desire is the salvation of all.

We heard that in the epistle. He just perceives

who will be filled with gratitude at his calling

and follow him. To such a person, God grants

the grace of salvation and destines him for the

glory of heaven. St. Luke, the church, is telling

us something today, something like, look at yourself,

wake up, pay attention, wisdom, stand aright,

let us hear the Holy Gospel, let us be transformed,

let us bear our shame to climb that tree, let

us be obedient to come down and to abide with

the Lord, no matter what. the shame is for doing

something like him. To our Lord, who is our life,

be glory now and ever, to ages of ages. Amen.