WEBVTT 00:00:00.200 --> 00:00:02.540 In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 00:00:02.540 --> 00:00:07.000 of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Today, because of the 00:00:07.000 --> 00:00:11.560 liturgical calendar, we have the coincidence 00:00:11.560 --> 00:00:15.820 of the feast day of the entrance of the Lord 00:00:15.820 --> 00:00:21.179 in the temple, and then also the Sunday of Zacchaeus, 00:00:21.359 --> 00:00:29.179 which is a signal that Lent is approaching. feast 00:00:29.179 --> 00:00:32.280 day of the presentation of the Lord in the temple 00:00:32.280 --> 00:00:39.119 is an important one because as the liturgical 00:00:39.119 --> 00:00:45.000 texts emphasize so beautifully, the maker of 00:00:45.000 --> 00:00:49.960 the law who gave on Mount Sinai the law to Moses 00:00:49.960 --> 00:00:55.060 now comes to the temple as a little child of 00:00:55.060 --> 00:01:01.240 40 days in fulfillment. of the law. As beautiful 00:01:01.240 --> 00:01:05.719 as this feast is, I want to focus our attention 00:01:05.719 --> 00:01:10.280 this morning on Zacchaeus and Zacchaeus Sunday. 00:01:11.599 --> 00:01:15.599 I have always enjoyed reading the story about 00:01:15.599 --> 00:01:21.840 Zacchaeus. His conversion experience is exemplary 00:01:21.840 --> 00:01:29.829 for all of us. He was a tax collector, short 00:01:29.829 --> 00:01:33.849 in stature. He climbed up into a tree to see 00:01:33.849 --> 00:01:39.329 who this Jesus was, this important person. And 00:01:39.329 --> 00:01:43.450 Jesus acknowledges his presence and says, today 00:01:43.450 --> 00:01:50.390 I will dine with you. Zacchaeus comes down and 00:01:50.390 --> 00:01:54.230 throws a dinner at which our Lord is present. 00:01:55.790 --> 00:02:00.209 I always found it somewhat humorous that Zacchaeus, 00:02:00.230 --> 00:02:03.829 who was a tax collector, when this Sunday comes 00:02:03.829 --> 00:02:09.289 around, is when people normally start fretting 00:02:09.289 --> 00:02:15.490 about their income tax and paying IRS. It's sort 00:02:15.490 --> 00:02:21.210 of maybe a reminder to us that this world is 00:02:21.210 --> 00:02:27.139 not as important as we might think it is. But 00:02:27.139 --> 00:02:30.139 his conversion experience, as I said at the beginning, 00:02:30.460 --> 00:02:35.680 was exemplary. He stood up this person who was 00:02:35.680 --> 00:02:39.960 despised because the Jewish people did not like 00:02:39.960 --> 00:02:43.840 tax collectors, especially those who were themselves 00:02:43.840 --> 00:02:47.439 Jewish, because they had a reputation for defrauding 00:02:47.439 --> 00:02:52.560 others. And of course, that's... We always think 00:02:52.560 --> 00:02:55.479 in one way or another that the impersonal IRS 00:02:55.479 --> 00:02:59.240 takes too much of a bite out of our wallet anyway. 00:02:59.699 --> 00:03:03.360 So tax collectors have never been very popular. 00:03:05.000 --> 00:03:09.280 But Zacchaeus stands up and he says, if I've 00:03:09.280 --> 00:03:12.080 cheated, I'll give half of my goods to the poor. 00:03:12.379 --> 00:03:15.780 If I've cheated anyone or defrauded everyone, 00:03:15.919 --> 00:03:22.870 I pay it back four times over. Now, we can look 00:03:22.870 --> 00:03:27.330 back in our lives, and I'm sure that each and 00:03:27.330 --> 00:03:31.409 every one of us have had some type of a conversion 00:03:31.409 --> 00:03:37.870 experience. Maybe it's not as dramatic as Zacchaeus', 00:03:37.870 --> 00:03:44.030 but a conversion experience nevertheless. Those 00:03:44.030 --> 00:03:47.349 of us who were born and brought up Orthodox, 00:03:50.599 --> 00:03:56.659 in the teens, or in early adulthood, when our 00:03:56.659 --> 00:04:01.520 faith in one way or another is challenged. And 00:04:01.520 --> 00:04:04.860 at that point, we either decide, yeah, I'm going 00:04:04.860 --> 00:04:08.240 to take my faith seriously. I'm going to go to 00:04:08.240 --> 00:04:12.439 church. I'm going to say my prayers. I'm going 00:04:12.439 --> 00:04:17.519 to be a follower of Jesus Christ. Sometimes, 00:04:18.990 --> 00:04:24.470 After many years, this same person baptized as 00:04:24.470 --> 00:04:29.050 a Christian will come back and resume the practice 00:04:29.050 --> 00:04:36.129 of taking Christianity seriously. Clerical commentators 00:04:36.129 --> 00:04:41.850 on this type of event call these folks not converts, 00:04:42.009 --> 00:04:46.389 but reverts. because they've come back to the 00:04:46.389 --> 00:04:48.750 church. I always found that a little amusing 00:04:48.750 --> 00:04:57.810 myself too. Then those of us later on who probably 00:04:57.810 --> 00:05:03.889 as adults have either turned our faith and taken 00:05:03.889 --> 00:05:08.689 it seriously or we were raised perhaps in another 00:05:08.689 --> 00:05:12.709 Christian church. And we started investigating 00:05:12.709 --> 00:05:20.329 the Orthodox Church. And that, our conviction 00:05:20.329 --> 00:05:26.170 came that in the Orthodox Church, that is where 00:05:26.170 --> 00:05:28.910 the fullness of the Christian faith resides. 00:05:31.129 --> 00:05:35.629 So look for a moment into your own heart and 00:05:35.629 --> 00:05:40.750 see what was the conversion. that took place 00:05:40.750 --> 00:05:46.370 in your life. How did you come to take Jesus 00:05:46.370 --> 00:05:53.370 Christ and his church seriously? That varies, 00:05:53.490 --> 00:05:57.569 as I said, for many of us. But we made that commitment. 00:05:58.370 --> 00:06:01.689 And as Christians, we have to follow upon our 00:06:01.689 --> 00:06:06.910 commitment. This is done, of course, by being 00:06:06.910 --> 00:06:12.399 faithful as possible, in church attendance, in 00:06:12.399 --> 00:06:17.139 receiving the sacraments, confession and holy 00:06:17.139 --> 00:06:22.259 communion, and particularly also preparing appropriately 00:06:22.259 --> 00:06:27.800 by fasting and saying those prayers before communion, 00:06:28.139 --> 00:06:33.240 by being faithful in our daily prayers. Sometimes 00:06:33.240 --> 00:06:36.639 that isn't easy. I think for older folks like 00:06:36.639 --> 00:06:39.759 myself who are retired, and don't have business 00:06:39.759 --> 00:06:44.540 and family obligations, it's a little bit easier. 00:06:45.060 --> 00:06:47.980 But many of you have to pack off the kids to 00:06:47.980 --> 00:06:53.279 school, jump in the car, and go to work, or work 00:06:53.279 --> 00:06:59.459 from home nowadays. But one way or another, we 00:06:59.459 --> 00:07:03.939 have to take time out to be faithful in our daily 00:07:03.939 --> 00:07:09.199 prayers. And also, in reading the scriptures. 00:07:10.779 --> 00:07:15.319 You could go on the OCA website and find the 00:07:15.319 --> 00:07:20.120 epistle and the gospel for each and every day. 00:07:20.879 --> 00:07:25.199 I would suggest also, as I've suggested many 00:07:25.199 --> 00:07:30.740 times, to divide up the Psalter so that you say 00:07:30.740 --> 00:07:33.899 some Psalms in the morning and some in the evening. 00:07:35.439 --> 00:07:39.740 Because the Psalms express all possible human 00:07:39.740 --> 00:07:46.060 emotions and needs to pray with the Psalms and 00:07:46.060 --> 00:07:49.600 reading the scriptures and then saying our own 00:07:49.600 --> 00:07:54.839 prayers. So Zacchaeus' conversion experience 00:07:54.839 --> 00:08:02.000 today reminds us that not only of our own personal 00:08:02.000 --> 00:08:06.519 conversion experience, but reminds us also that 00:08:06.519 --> 00:08:11.860 each and every week, each and every day, we have 00:08:11.860 --> 00:08:19.379 a recommitment, a return to that commitment that 00:08:19.379 --> 00:08:23.899 we made to Jesus Christ at the moment of our 00:08:23.899 --> 00:08:29.129 conversion. So let us ask our Lord today to give 00:08:29.129 --> 00:08:33.070 us the grace to be faithful to our commitment 00:08:33.070 --> 00:08:37.210 and to love him with our whole heart and soul 00:08:37.210 --> 00:08:41.950 and body and strength and express this in our 00:08:41.950 --> 00:08:44.330 love for one another. Amen.