Zacchaeus Sunday 2023

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and

of the Holy Spirit. Amen. enable thee to proclaim

to our kindness the great power to the fulfillment

of the gospel of his beloved Son, our Lord Jesus

Christ. Amen. Wisdom, stand aright. Let us hear

the Holy Gospel. Peace be to all. And to thy

spirit. Reading from the Holy Gospel according

to Luke. At that time, nigh unto Jericho, a certain

blind man sat by the wayside begging. And hearing

the multitude pass by, he asked what it meant.

Five weeks before Lent starts. So you can see

where Lent is going to take you. Lent is hard.

But it's also the best time of year. And if you

embrace it, and if you're moderate, and if you

pray, what joy you will have when we get to Holy

Week and Pascha. So you see now why Zacchaeus

Sunday, this gospel is read today, and why that

fresco is placed in that spot. It's to remind

us of the journey we're going on. We're preparing

ourselves. We're preparing to prepare for Lent.

Next week, you'll be hearing again about a tax

collector. Maybe it's the same one. Certainly,

the day after Jesus comes to Zacchaeus, the next

day, Zacchaeus is probably in his study thinking,

this is going to be hard. This is going to be

really tough. Let's look at this particular gospel.

I point out that today, since the gospel account

about Zacchaeus, he was a tax collector, he was

a publican, he was a public official to take

taxes. This comes from the gospel written by

Luke, chapter 19. Again, this tells us that next

Luke 19 · chapter mention

week... We're entering into the preparation time

for Great Lent. Father Zacharias, one of the

elders from the monastery of St. John in Essex,

he wrote this in his meditation on this day.

He says, Jesus was walking towards the cross

of shame. What's that mean? The cross looks like

failure. which is what most of our life is about,

and not beating ourselves up because we have

failed, but knowing that exactly is where we

meet Christ, because the excellence is of God,

not of us. We have the treasure in earthen vessels.

Clay pot, says St. Paul, so that the excellence,

the glory of God, will not be because we've succeeded,

but that God is dwelling in us, inspiring us,

and saving us. Jesus was walking towards the

cross of shame to be crucified, so as to transform

it into a place of sanctification and clothe

us with glory once again. Leaving the good opinion

of the people behind, Zacchaeus prophetically

placed himself on the way of the cross through

voluntary shame. Think of it. A grown man. Not

very much, not respected at all. In fact, hated

because of what he was. He climbs a tree and

he found the Lord, says Father Zacharias, as

a fellow traveler. Let's speak today only about

a couple of things. First, perspective. Perspective.

Zizekias was rich. Probably a lot richer than

the rich young man in chapter 18 of Luke that

you heard about a few weeks ago. You remember

him. And Jesus said he turned away as if Jesus

failed at his evangelism. The rich young man

turned away. Jesus says how hard it is for a

rich man to enter into the kingdom. And we have

this man. Probably a lot richer. but he sought

to see Christ. That was in his mind. Zacchaeus

may have been short of stature, and because of

that, being a short man, because of that, in

a crowd like the one passing through Jericho

with Jesus at the center of this large crowd,

Zacchaeus... found himself also not just short

of stature, but short -sighted. He couldn't see

anything. So he's an example for us. When we

look at that, we remember. He set his attention.

He directed his thoughts to an action that remedied

that problem that he had of not being able to

see Jesus who he was. This chief of the tax collectors

was probably very corrupt. As I said, much hated.

I won't say he's a bad man. I won't say he's

a good man. I don't use that kind of terminology.

Oh, I'm a good person. I don't say those type

of things. God made all things good. And the

image of God, sin or not, remains in a person

always. But that image, and Zacchaeus had this

problem, and so did the crowd, who no doubt made

fun of him and judged him. Zacchaeus had the

problem that that image was so tarnished, so

transfigured, disfigured, it's like a crazy house

mirror. Have you ever been at the fair and gone

into one of those rooms and seen that mirror

where you can't even get a perspective on yourself?

The reflection is all distorted and out of whack.

That's the image we often show to others. When

we should be showing the image of our Savior.

That's what we're created to do and to be. To

be image bearers of God. Instead we... our anxiety,

our fear, our anger, our dysfunction, our prejudice,

whatever it might be. But see, Zacchaeus is our

model. Why? Because he wanted to know who Christ

is. You can come to church all your life and

have no inkling that this is what we're here

for, to know Christ and to be known by him. Zacchaeus

is our model, how to direct our thoughts, and

our actions towards Christ. For him, he heard

that this great prophet was coming to town and

was passing through his patch of ground where

he did his tax collecting. This great miracle

worker, Jesus of Nazareth, coming to town. Remember,

this is chapter 19 of the Gospel of Luke. A lot

Isaiah 19 · chapter mention

has happened already. He knew for sure. Zacchaeus

did that the religious authorities the Pharisees

and the Sadducees the experts on the religious

teachings and traditions were envious of Jesus

were plotting to arrest him did not like him

at all knowing this I surmise perhaps Zacchaeus

figured he had something in common with Jesus

he wasn't accepted And so he needed to see Jesus,

who he is. And all his attention went into making

that happen. This is what Lent's about. We bring

our attention to Jesus Christ. We change our

perspective like he did. He climbed a tree to

change the perspective. We do something else.

What I'm talking about today is Lent is the time

when we get out of the usual crush. The distraction

of things, we let our faith lift us out of the

quagmire, the mire of this sinful world, where

our heart is always divided. We try to reconcile

love with God, with love for the world. Then

Father Zacharias says, then grief consumes our

inner world, our heart, and deprives us not only

of the spiritual joy, but even temporary joy.

So we rise above what others, like Zacchaeus

did, what they think. He lifted himself. He didn't

care about the shame of it all. One word from

Jesus. This is the second thing I want to say.

First perspective, then this. One word from Jesus

changed this man's outlook completely. Again,

Elder Zacharias. Our God is 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 of us. He just foresees

who will be filled with gratitude at his calling

and follow him. To such a man, to such a person,

God grants the grace of salvation and destines

him. her for the glory of heaven. How marvelous

is our Lord that if we humbly approach Jesus

Christ to really know him, this is our prayer,

that one word of the gospel, one paragraph, one

sentence, will strike our hearts, will soften

it, and will give us such joy or tears or conviction.

That we will be changed as much as that man on

that day was changed. And imagine, imagine that

God comes to us, not after we've done some great

and holy and marvelous thing. He says to Zacchaeus,

I'm coming to your house today, so come down

quickly. Run, run, get down here. The Lord doesn't

wait for us to be good and righteous before he

comes to us. The Lord didn't save the Hebrew

people in Egypt because they were great. He saved

them to bring a family, a people of God together,

and then gave them the law of Moses, then to

teach them how to be a light to the Gentiles

and to the world. The same with us. Jesus doesn't

wait for us to get good, righteous, settled,

religiously well -adjusted, or whatever you want

to say. He sees us where we are. He seeks us

out. And he loves us. This is Christ's perspective

on us. And then what did Zacchaeus say when Jesus

was at the house? Lord, the half of my goods

I give. If I have cheated anyone. He doesn't

say, Lord, I'll make a plan. Future tense. I

will do this. No, he put it in the present tense.

Brothers and sisters, do not procrastinate in

your spiritual life. You do not know the day

nor the hour. You don't have a contract with

death. It doesn't matter if we're healthy or

sick. We don't know. But what we do know is God

loves us and wants us to be with him. We do know

that if we procrastinate, we wait. For some less

stressful time, Zacchaeus didn't wait. Some more

convenient time for our spiritual life, Zacchaeus

didn't wait. We can easily miss the time of our

Lord's visitation to us if we wait for when things

are convenient. Again, Elder Zacchaeus says,

the fiery breath of the divine spirit cannot

remain with us. if we start weighing the gains

and the losses, if we postpone our spiritual

life decisions for later. This isn't simply a

story of a bad guy who became good. This is not

a story of, well, Jesus just happened to pass

through Jericho, and he met this person. This

story is the signpost of our preparation for

Lent. It sets the tone of how we're going to

approach that. How? We humbly, we bear our shame

to confession. We don't have to do it before

the multitudes. Although you may have to confess

your faith before men. And don't worry, the Lord

says, God will give you a word. So don't even

put it in your heart yet. The Lord will give

it to you. This is the time. when we make amends

like Zacchaeus to those that we may have wronged.

This is the time seen in Zacchaeus, what it's

like to actually take Lent seriously. Take it

seriously. Be orthodox on purpose, we might say.

What a blessing, what a joy it can be. There

are no tax collectors in our parish. So this

isn't about tax collectors, although years ago

we had someone who worked for the IRS in our

parish, but she was a nice lady. This is for

us. We are to follow this man's example and to

expect the Lord's word when we approach him humbly

to speak in our heart, and we will be transformed

little by little, step by step. Maybe none of

us are as in... enthusiastic as Zacchaeus, or

don't care about what the crowd thinks about

us with our faith as much as that man didn't

care. So little by little, we will change. So

it's coming. Let's look at Lent with great expectation,

a little bit of fear, obviously, but we're going

to fail anyway. It's okay. The Lord meets us

with the cross in our failures too. Amen.