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
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
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.