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.