WEBVTT 00:00:00.940 --> 00:00:04.440 In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 00:00:04.440 --> 00:00:11.480 of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Today, salvation comes 00:00:11.480 --> 00:00:17.199 to the house of Zacchaeus. In the church, the 00:00:17.199 --> 00:00:20.579 Sunday of Zacchaeus signals to us the coming 00:00:20.579 --> 00:00:25.539 of Great Lent. Liturgically, we are five Sundays 00:00:25.539 --> 00:00:29.899 and four weeks from the Lenten season. Starting 00:00:29.899 --> 00:00:33.320 next week, the Sundays will begin to highlight 00:00:33.320 --> 00:00:37.619 different themes to prepare us for Lent and will 00:00:37.619 --> 00:00:42.479 remain that way all the way through it to bring 00:00:42.479 --> 00:00:45.219 us to Pascha and even afterwards to bring us 00:00:45.219 --> 00:00:48.640 to Pentecost. Next Sunday, we will hear the Lord 00:00:48.640 --> 00:00:52.020 speak about the publican and the Pharisee, which 00:00:52.020 --> 00:00:55.899 when approached in the liturgical calendar, undoubtedly 00:00:55.899 --> 00:00:59.640 unites Zacchaeus, the tax collector, to that 00:00:59.640 --> 00:01:02.880 tax collector, praying in the temple, God be 00:01:02.880 --> 00:01:06.879 merciful to me, the sinner. But before that, 00:01:07.079 --> 00:01:11.920 today we encounter Zacchaeus and the Lord together. 00:01:13.480 --> 00:01:16.760 Zacchaeus has three things working against him. 00:01:17.200 --> 00:01:21.760 He is a publican. That is, he is a tax collector. 00:01:22.180 --> 00:01:27.299 He is a Jewish man. who has collaborated with 00:01:27.299 --> 00:01:32.400 Rome in order to gain wealth and a better standing 00:01:32.400 --> 00:01:36.079 for himself in society through Roman taxation 00:01:36.079 --> 00:01:40.939 and extortion, at the expense of his Jewish peers, 00:01:41.099 --> 00:01:45.000 explaining why he's likely living in Jericho, 00:01:45.079 --> 00:01:49.760 a place of immense disrepute in the collective 00:01:49.760 --> 00:01:54.159 mind of ancient Israel. He is the chief of tax 00:01:54.159 --> 00:01:56.900 collectors, not simply a tax collector, but the 00:01:56.900 --> 00:02:01.760 chief. And he is rich, revealing that he is very 00:02:01.760 --> 00:02:06.099 good at what he does, taxing his fellow Jews 00:02:06.099 --> 00:02:10.979 well above what is required by Rome and pocketing 00:02:10.979 --> 00:02:17.139 the rest for himself, extorting. And he is small, 00:02:17.199 --> 00:02:21.530 or little, as the translation put it. In the 00:02:21.530 --> 00:02:25.669 ancient world, this last detail is a literary 00:02:25.669 --> 00:02:29.229 cue. It is a literary way to tell us something, 00:02:29.289 --> 00:02:32.909 not only about his stature and height, but about 00:02:32.909 --> 00:02:38.629 his spirit. Call it what you will, ableist, whatever 00:02:38.629 --> 00:02:41.729 modern term we might put on it, but the ancient 00:02:41.729 --> 00:02:47.330 world didn't like small people. Nothing against 00:02:47.330 --> 00:02:52.349 small people now, of course. But it had philosophical 00:02:52.349 --> 00:02:56.629 ways of explaining someone's small in stature. 00:02:57.229 --> 00:03:01.689 His smallness of size, for them, went hand in 00:03:01.689 --> 00:03:05.669 hand with a smallness of spirit, an inability 00:03:05.669 --> 00:03:10.449 to see. You can read ancient philosophers saying 00:03:10.449 --> 00:03:12.969 this. This is pretty much how all the church 00:03:12.969 --> 00:03:16.629 fathers take Zacchaeus here. He has a small spirit. 00:03:17.319 --> 00:03:21.539 a small heart, meaning there's not much space 00:03:21.539 --> 00:03:24.879 in it. There's not much room in it. And he's 00:03:24.879 --> 00:03:29.139 also rich, so he has no space. He has hoarded. 00:03:29.379 --> 00:03:33.000 There is no space for anything good in himself. 00:03:34.500 --> 00:03:38.879 But Zacchaeus has heard about Jesus, and he's 00:03:38.879 --> 00:03:42.120 seeking to see Jesus, specifically who Jesus 00:03:42.120 --> 00:03:47.569 is. So having heard that Jesus is in close proximity, 00:03:47.710 --> 00:03:51.530 being small and surrounded by a great crowd, 00:03:51.789 --> 00:03:55.409 he climbs up into the sycamore tree to see him. 00:03:55.949 --> 00:03:59.770 And it's here, however, that the story changes. 00:04:00.370 --> 00:04:03.689 In reality, it isn't Zacchaeus who's seeking 00:04:03.689 --> 00:04:08.849 Jesus. It's Jesus who's seeking Zacchaeus. In 00:04:08.849 --> 00:04:13.400 fact, he has come all the way into Jericho. to 00:04:13.400 --> 00:04:17.519 find him. And as Zacchaeus is trying to see Jesus, 00:04:17.680 --> 00:04:23.120 Jesus rather sees Zacchaeus. Looking up, Jesus 00:04:23.120 --> 00:04:27.339 says, Zacchaeus, hurry, make haste, come down, 00:04:27.480 --> 00:04:33.079 for I must, for I must stay at your house today. 00:04:34.379 --> 00:04:39.300 In Zacchaeus's desire to know who Jesus is, Jesus 00:04:39.300 --> 00:04:43.860 turns Zacchaeus back on himself. He finds him. 00:04:43.920 --> 00:04:48.980 He calls him by name, Zacchaeus. He enters into 00:04:48.980 --> 00:04:51.899 his house, the house that Zacchaeus leaves to 00:04:51.899 --> 00:04:54.819 go looking for Jesus. Jesus is actually looking 00:04:54.819 --> 00:04:57.759 for that house, to stay there, to abide there, 00:04:57.879 --> 00:05:01.740 to enter into it. When the crowds are aghast 00:05:01.740 --> 00:05:04.639 at what's going on, calling Zacchaeus a sinner, 00:05:04.759 --> 00:05:08.420 shocked that Jesus receives hospitality from 00:05:08.420 --> 00:05:11.970 such a man. Jesus never denies the truth of it. 00:05:12.389 --> 00:05:18.189 Neither does Zacchaeus. Jesus sees. Jesus knows 00:05:18.189 --> 00:05:21.269 who Zacchaeus is. This isn't a secret to him. 00:05:22.069 --> 00:05:26.870 Zacchaeus has come to see and know himself in 00:05:26.870 --> 00:05:32.069 this meeting between him and Jesus, who he himself 00:05:32.069 --> 00:05:37.889 is, the sinner, the extortioner, the fraudster. 00:05:38.399 --> 00:05:42.439 the phony, the one who has ruined people's lives, 00:05:42.639 --> 00:05:46.339 the one who has profited off of the weakness 00:05:46.339 --> 00:05:50.139 of people. That's exactly what Jesus comes for 00:05:50.139 --> 00:05:53.839 him. All the way into Jericho, into the darkness, 00:05:53.959 --> 00:05:58.160 to see him, to save him. He comes for sinners 00:05:58.160 --> 00:06:03.180 like Zacchaeus, like me, like you, to seek us 00:06:03.180 --> 00:06:07.720 out and find us. And in all of this, Zacchaeus 00:06:07.720 --> 00:06:11.779 comes to see who Jesus is, the Lord, which is 00:06:11.779 --> 00:06:14.839 what he calls him, Lord, applying the name revealed 00:06:14.839 --> 00:06:18.660 by Christ to Moses in the burning bush so long 00:06:18.660 --> 00:06:22.819 ago. Kyrios, Adonai, Lord, not a title, but the 00:06:22.819 --> 00:06:26.560 divine name of the God of Israel and the God 00:06:26.560 --> 00:06:30.240 of Abraham. Today, salvation has come to this 00:06:30.240 --> 00:06:36.439 house since he is also a son of Abraham. In Luke's 00:06:36.439 --> 00:06:41.279 gospel, this word salvation, salvation is a loaded 00:06:41.279 --> 00:06:45.100 word in Luke's gospel. It is a hypostatic word, 00:06:45.120 --> 00:06:49.040 meaning it is a word describing a person. This 00:06:49.040 --> 00:06:52.779 salvation is the same salvation that Simeon holds 00:06:52.779 --> 00:06:55.839 in his hands all the way back at the beginning 00:06:55.839 --> 00:06:58.759 in the temple. What we will celebrate next week, 00:06:58.939 --> 00:07:02.339 behold, my eyes have seen the salvation which 00:07:02.339 --> 00:07:07.620 God has prepared. The salvation is Christ himself. 00:07:08.139 --> 00:07:12.060 He has shined darkness into the house of Zacchaeus 00:07:12.060 --> 00:07:15.439 and has begun the process of healing and salvation 00:07:15.439 --> 00:07:20.939 in Zacchaeus' life and heart and sight. Like 00:07:20.939 --> 00:07:24.220 last week with the blind man, the story of Zacchaeus 00:07:24.220 --> 00:07:28.480 is also a story of healing, a healing of spiritual 00:07:28.480 --> 00:07:32.439 sight, a healing of spiritual space in one's 00:07:32.439 --> 00:07:36.660 heart. which had been hoarded out by riches, 00:07:36.920 --> 00:07:41.079 greed, extortion, and filth that made Zacchaeus 00:07:41.079 --> 00:07:45.319 sick, which had left no space in his heart for 00:07:45.319 --> 00:07:50.339 God or for his neighbor. Jesus heals the heart. 00:07:50.600 --> 00:07:55.079 Jesus enlarges it. And he sets Zacchaeus on a 00:07:55.079 --> 00:08:00.060 journey of repentance. And notice the immediate 00:08:00.060 --> 00:08:05.579 fruit, how Zacchaeus repents. How Zacchaeus immediately 00:08:05.579 --> 00:08:10.079 changes. He doesn't just say he's going to change 00:08:10.079 --> 00:08:14.480 his life. Lord, I'm going to change my life and 00:08:14.480 --> 00:08:18.120 I'm going to try to begin to follow you. He isn't 00:08:18.120 --> 00:08:21.180 just talking about something generically, something 00:08:21.180 --> 00:08:26.779 nebulously. No, he gives calculated, specific 00:08:26.779 --> 00:08:31.779 ways, precise ways that he will do so in repentance. 00:08:32.460 --> 00:08:35.580 I will give half of all my riches to the poor. 00:08:36.580 --> 00:08:40.419 I will restore fourfold every person that I've 00:08:40.419 --> 00:08:44.879 defrauded and taken advantage of. For Zacchaeus, 00:08:44.919 --> 00:08:48.220 it isn't just a matter of feelings. It isn't 00:08:48.220 --> 00:08:51.440 just a nice experience basking in the presence 00:08:51.440 --> 00:08:54.820 of Christ, that he feels good that Christ is 00:08:54.820 --> 00:09:00.340 in his house. It is a real change. A real desire 00:09:00.340 --> 00:09:05.200 has emerged. a real cost, a sacrifice, just like 00:09:05.200 --> 00:09:08.120 the holy new martyrs of Russia that we remember 00:09:08.120 --> 00:09:12.940 today, a sacrifice, a life. He will put his money 00:09:12.940 --> 00:09:17.620 where his mouth is. He pronounces judgment on 00:09:17.620 --> 00:09:22.539 himself. I have stolen. I have defrauded. I have 00:09:22.539 --> 00:09:25.580 sinned against them, against myself, against 00:09:25.580 --> 00:09:32.759 you, Lord. The heart changes. And the grasp that 00:09:32.759 --> 00:09:38.960 he has on his money changes. He lets go and he 00:09:38.960 --> 00:09:43.820 empties himself. In the now, in the present moment, 00:09:44.059 --> 00:09:49.120 in the today, Zacchaeus makes a resolved twofold 00:09:49.120 --> 00:09:52.980 judgment. One on his past, what he will leave 00:09:52.980 --> 00:09:58.500 and forego. His love for the world. His love 00:09:58.500 --> 00:10:01.860 for money. Being a fraudster, an exploiter, a 00:10:01.860 --> 00:10:06.620 person who preys on the weak, but also on his 00:10:06.620 --> 00:10:11.019 future. Rather than taking, he will now, today, 00:10:11.220 --> 00:10:15.440 give himself. He will empty what he has for the 00:10:15.440 --> 00:10:19.679 sake of others. He will give his life away. That's 00:10:19.679 --> 00:10:26.399 salvation. What Christ begins in our heart is 00:10:26.399 --> 00:10:30.350 changed. And it finds its completion and activity 00:10:30.350 --> 00:10:34.070 by being worked out in the life of our neighbor, 00:10:34.269 --> 00:10:39.590 in the life of someone else surrounding us, someone 00:10:39.590 --> 00:10:43.889 that we might have wronged or someone we haven't 00:10:43.889 --> 00:10:47.129 met yet or someone we know, the life of our neighbor. 00:10:48.429 --> 00:10:52.629 This evidence is the sonship of Abraham. This 00:10:52.629 --> 00:10:58.440 one, he, too, is a son of Abraham. As Abraham 00:10:58.440 --> 00:11:02.100 made haste, as Abraham ran to serve and give 00:11:02.100 --> 00:11:05.360 hospitality to the three angels when God approached 00:11:05.360 --> 00:11:09.220 him in Genesis 18 at the sacred terebinth tree 00:11:09.220 --> 00:11:12.620 of Mamre and received the Lord into his house, 00:11:12.720 --> 00:11:19.179 fed him. Zacchaeus does the same. He hurries. 00:11:19.179 --> 00:11:21.440 He listens to the Lord. He gets down from the 00:11:21.440 --> 00:11:24.279 tree. He makes haste. He extends hospitality 00:11:24.279 --> 00:11:28.340 to the Lord and alms to the poor. and those he's 00:11:28.340 --> 00:11:31.279 extorted, those he's wronged. Like Abraham, he 00:11:31.279 --> 00:11:34.179 leaves his house, but only to be called back 00:11:34.179 --> 00:11:37.980 into the house of his own heart by the Lord himself. 00:11:40.700 --> 00:11:43.820 Like Abraham, he leaves his former life behind. 00:11:43.879 --> 00:11:48.240 He renounces the devil, repents, turns, and follows 00:11:48.240 --> 00:11:51.720 God, beginning the life of salvation, letting 00:11:51.720 --> 00:11:58.019 go of anything that gripped him before. Brothers 00:11:58.019 --> 00:12:03.639 and sisters, in this season, the Lord comes to 00:12:03.639 --> 00:12:07.399 our house. Indeed, the Lord has come to our house. 00:12:07.700 --> 00:12:11.299 Salvation is literally coming into your homes 00:12:11.299 --> 00:12:15.440 this Theophany season. As the light shines into 00:12:15.440 --> 00:12:17.980 our darkness and the waters, the holy waters 00:12:17.980 --> 00:12:23.639 of Jordan cleanse our homes. We think we're seeking 00:12:23.639 --> 00:12:27.440 the Lord. That's sort of how we live our lives. 00:12:27.940 --> 00:12:31.340 We think we're seeking the Lord. How strong are 00:12:31.340 --> 00:12:33.720 we seeking Him? How actively are we seeking Him? 00:12:34.419 --> 00:12:37.840 We think that way. But it's the Lord who seeks 00:12:37.840 --> 00:12:42.600 us. He finds us where we're at. And He calls 00:12:42.600 --> 00:12:47.940 us by name and He says, Today, today, I must 00:12:47.940 --> 00:12:52.299 stay in your house. I must stay in your house. 00:12:52.899 --> 00:12:57.029 What does that mean for us? It isn't simply our 00:12:57.029 --> 00:13:01.570 literal house, though it is that too, but the 00:13:01.570 --> 00:13:06.269 house of our heart as we prepare for this season 00:13:06.269 --> 00:13:11.929 of great Lent. In his own words, the Lord says, 00:13:12.210 --> 00:13:17.190 Receive me, for I must stay in your house, the 00:13:17.190 --> 00:13:22.629 house of our hearts. So whatever we are clinging 00:13:22.629 --> 00:13:28.620 to, can we let go of it? Can we free ourselves 00:13:28.620 --> 00:13:32.820 of it, or at least begin to? Can we empty ourselves 00:13:32.820 --> 00:13:37.600 of the riches of this world, of this life, and 00:13:37.600 --> 00:13:41.799 enlarge the smallness of our spirit? As St. Paul 00:13:41.799 --> 00:13:45.059 puts it to the Corinthians, can we enlarge our 00:13:45.059 --> 00:13:48.600 hearts in order to make room for Christ in us? 00:13:48.659 --> 00:13:51.799 He is holding nothing back from us. Can we make 00:13:51.799 --> 00:13:55.889 space in our hearts for him? That's what Lent 00:13:55.889 --> 00:14:00.490 is all about. Emptying ourselves. Putting to 00:14:00.490 --> 00:14:05.289 death our sin. Really changing. Really changing. 00:14:06.889 --> 00:14:10.809 Really changing. Not talking about it, but doing 00:14:10.809 --> 00:14:14.289 with Christ's help. In order that what has died 00:14:14.289 --> 00:14:17.950 in our hearts, what is mortified in our bodies 00:14:17.950 --> 00:14:21.700 and our spirits, might be raised. In the power 00:14:21.700 --> 00:14:24.039 of the resurrection to newness of life. With 00:14:24.039 --> 00:14:27.840 Christ our God on Pascha. When we declare that 00:14:27.840 --> 00:14:32.039 Christ is risen from the dead. Christ has trampled 00:14:32.039 --> 00:14:35.500 death by death. Death in us. In order that he 00:14:35.500 --> 00:14:39.120 might live in us. That's what the Sunday of Zacchaeus 00:14:39.120 --> 00:14:42.919 announces. That's what it heralds. Well in advance 00:14:42.919 --> 00:14:47.539 of what Christ will ask us in Lent. So today. 00:14:47.940 --> 00:14:53.789 Now. Let's prepare, not generically, not saying, 00:14:53.830 --> 00:14:56.009 oh yeah, we'll repent, we'll do these things, 00:14:56.090 --> 00:14:59.669 but let's make specific, calculated, prayerful 00:14:59.669 --> 00:15:03.250 plans for how that repentance will manifest in 00:15:03.250 --> 00:15:07.870 our hearts. How the old man in us will die another 00:15:07.870 --> 00:15:11.350 year in order that the hidden person of our heart 00:15:11.350 --> 00:15:15.350 might live, in order that salvation might come 00:15:15.350 --> 00:15:18.740 to us and fill our homes, both literally and 00:15:18.740 --> 00:15:22.620 spiritually with new life and power that courses 00:15:22.620 --> 00:15:26.500 only from the resurrection of Christ our God. 00:15:26.659 --> 00:15:27.200 Amen.