Zacchaeus Sunday 2021

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

of the Holy Spirit. Amen. When we hear about

Jericho, and when we hear about this man, Zacchaeus,

we know that Lent, the great fast, is approaching.

We know that next week, we're going to start

singing from this book. This is called the Lenten

Triodion. There's a little blurb in your announcement

sheet about that, but what's important about

that is we're getting ready for the Lenten season.

Zacchaeus Sunday is kind of a clarion, a bell,

telling us to prepare ourselves. It's about this

time of the year that many, I hear many people,

and sometimes in myself when I think about it,

get a little worried about the fast. Sometimes

the word dread is used. Great Lent's coming.

Not ready. Well, that's when we're ready. And

let me leave you with this thought about the

coming of Great Lent. After Lent 2020, could

Lent 2021 be very hard? No. We didn't have the

liturgical structure. We didn't have all the

services. We didn't have the fellowship. We didn't

meet inside the church. Lent 2021 is going to

be a very different and more intense experience

for us, a blessing. We will sense the doors of

repentance opening up for us. We're going to

sing that hymn next Saturday at Matins, the doors

of repentance. So it starts with Zacchaeus. As

the deacon said, when he came in and looked at

the gospel, he knew what it was going to be.

He says, here we go. We're getting ready now.

Zacchaeus, chapter 19 of the gospel of Luke.

What's next to that fresco up there of Zacchaeus

and the tree? What's the next fresco? That's

the next thing that's going to happen with Jesus

after he tells a couple of parables and some

teachings. So you see, Zacchaeus Sunday is Christ's

entry, starting his way up to Jerusalem, and

the next thing is going to be Palm Sunday. Between

Zacchaeus and Palm Sunday, we've got a little

time. Thank God. to work on our spiritual life.

So Zacchaeus, this man, he was a tax collector.

You heard that? Chief of the tax collectors,

which means in the Roman tax collecting system,

he was appointed to collect the taxes. And if

the Romans said, get 30 shekels and bring them

in, he would take 60, keep 30 for himself. and

he would send out his junior tax collectors,

and they would do the same, and then he would

skim off the top of them. He was a rich man.

Probably a lot richer than that rich young man

that came to Jesus and couldn't give anything

up. And Zacchaeus was a petty thug. No one liked

him because of his extortion, his racketeering,

his protection, and all of that. He probably

heard that Jesus was coming to Jericho, this

city, ancient city. There's a sign as you drive

in to Jericho. Big banner over the main drag.

The world's oldest city. You think they get some

stuff right. Apparently, it's still kind of a

dysfunctional place. He heard that Christ was

coming. There were crowds all over the place

as this miracle worker, this man who people say,

this is going to be, this is the Messiah. And

have you heard about this miracle worker? This

supposed Messiah? Zacchaeus probably thought,

I really have to see this man for the Romans

get him and crucify yet. another supposed Messiah.

I'd like to see what this is all about. I don't

know what was in his mind, but the scriptures

are very clear. He wanted to see Jesus. But the

motivating force behind wanting to see Jesus

was that he wanted to see who he was. That statement

is the reason we have this reading as we get

ready for Lent. Because the Lent is not about

how good I can fast, how many church services

I can come to, the various meals I'm going to

prepare, and how much I give to the poor. Those

things all are going to happen. It's about seeing

who Jesus, who he is. Probably seeing kids up

in the tree. I remember we had our Palm Sunday

procession a couple years ago, and there were

children who had seen that fresco. They looked

up there, and there were children in our olive

trees as we walked by. It's a beautiful memory,

and we have some pictures of that. Well, Zacchaeus

probably seen kids in a tree, thought he would

climb that sycamore fig tree that's still there

in Jericho. By the way, there's like a quickie

mart across the street from it. So it's got a

fence around it, and the claim is that it's this

Jericho tree that Zacchaeus climbed up. He wanted

to see Jesus, and nothing was going to stand

in the way of that desire. Lent is about what

we desire. Christ? to know Christ, who he was.

Like the blind man shouting out, Jesus, son of

David, have mercy on me. Or the Canaanite woman

shouting out, Jesus, son of David, my daughter

is possessed. Or like the lepers. All three,

notice. marginalized, outside the community of

Israel. Jesus is coming to Zacchaeus too. And

he says to him, Jesus says to him, we have it

in the scripture, Zacchaeus sees him in the tree

and he knows his name. Make haste. We hear the

word make haste. It sounds wonderful, but it

just means hurry up. Hurry up. Come down. I must

be at your house today to be in your house, to

abide with you. Hurry up. Why would he say hurry

up? Why did he just say, Zacchaeus, I'll meet

you at your place later. No. Christ wants to

be with us. And he says to us one word. Dilly

dally. procrastinating, putting something else

in front of him. My beloved one, make haste.

Your time is short. Come. I want to be with you.

That clarion call that Lent is approaching. The

bell is ringing. We have to be We have to recognize

that God in his mercy, his compassion, is calling

us. The people around had no compassion for Zacchaeus.

Why would they? The people around the blind man

who yelled, Jesus, son of David, said, be quiet.

The disciples told Jesus to send that obnoxious

woman, that Canaanite woman away. In Zacchaeus'

case, the crowd was pressing on. And he, in his

desire, and nothing could deter him, took a radical

and strange path to see Jesus. And Zacchaeus

did what the rich young man that we heard about

recently could not do. Remember that? Jesus says,

keep it away. Come and follow me. The man couldn't

part with one shekel of his riches because his

heart, his desire was captivated by something

on this earth and not God. Zacchaeus in his repentance

says, I will restore whoever I cheated fourfold.

You see, this is not just a sentimental story

about... a man who decided to repent and became

then a bishop in Caesarea, a disciple of Christ,

one of the 70 disciples, in fact, and ordained,

consecrated by St. Peter. No, this is not just

a change. This is a radical message for us about

our desire, the desire of our heart. Yes, almsgiving

and all of that, but the desire of our heart.

Our Commendate Zechariah of Essex said this.

He said, the great tragedy of our times lies

in the fact that we live, we speak, and we think,

and even pray to God outside of our heart. As

it were, outside of the house in which Christ

wants to abide with us. And truly, Our Father's

house is in our heart. The place where the Spirit

and the glory of God would find rest, that Christ

may be formed in us. But as long as we are held

captive by our passions and all the things that

crowd into that heart, our anger, our resentments,

our judging, Our fears that somehow God is going

to change us into something bizarre. All the

distractions outside that take us away from the

Lord and distract our mind from our heart and

lure it into the ever -changing and vain world

of natural and created things, thus depriving

us all of our spiritual strength. We will not,

he says. when those things are there, we will

not know the new birth from on high that makes

us children of God and gods by grace. This is

the message of Zacchaeus Sunday. Absorb it. Take

it upon yourself. You heard what St. Paul wrote

to St. Timothy. We trust in the living God who

is the Savior of all men, especially those who

believe. Make your faith manifest, he says. Make

it real. Zacchaeus did it. Yeah, he had to live

the next day and deal with whatever was coming

down that pike on Monday morning or whatever

day the next day after he met Christ. He had

to apply himself. Let us also follow this inspiration

of the great Zacchaeus. the Father among the

saints, the Apostle among the 70s, Zacchaeus,

Bishop of Caesarea in Palestine. Amen.