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.