Luke 19:1-10
At that time, Jesus was passing through Jericho. And there was a man named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector, and rich. And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not, on account of the crowd, because he was small of stature.
So, he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore fig tree to see him, for he was to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down; for I must stay at your house today.”
So, he made haste and came down and received him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all murmured, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.”
And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have defrauded any one of anything, I restore it fourfold.”
And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of man came to seek and to save the lost.”
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In our Gospel reading today from Saint Luke, we read of Zacchaeus. His story is well known to us, I am sure. He is the chief tax collector, wealthy and hated for working for the Romans and taking money from his fellow Jews to give their hated foreign enemy. We are told that he is short of stature, a remarkable detail as he is the only person in the whole of the Gospels whose height is mentioned. And we are told that he climbed a tree so that he could see Jesus. We are even told what kind of tree it is, a sycamore fig tree.
Now, let us begin with the understanding that this Zacchaeus is a sinner. All men, of course, are sinners, but this is a man who has become wealthy by squeezing money out of his own people to give to their gentile oppressors and make himself rich in the process. But it is not out of any sense of sin that he desires to see Jesus. The Fathers tell us that it merely out of a sense of curiosity. Jesus is the man that all are talking about, particularly about the great miracles He is performing. Who would not want to see Him, especially when He was conveniently walking through the city? And Zacchaeus is no different to all others.
Except, of course, he has a problem. He is a very short man. Too short to see over the heads of the others in the crowd of people who throng the streets, eager to see Jesus. Now, if he were any other man, the people might have had some sympathy for him, and moved aside so that the little man could make his way to the front and see what was happening. But he is not any other man. He is the hated tax collector. He is someone no one feels any sympathy for. He is someone nobody wants to help.
But Zacchaeus didn’t get to be the chief tax collector without being clever and resolute. He quickly devises a plan to achieve his aim. He runs ahead of the crowd, to a place Jesus has not yet reached. And knowing that when the crowd arrives with Him, they will press around him and block his view yet again, he climbs a tree, ensuring that he will be able to see all that is going on in the street below.
And his plan proves itself successful. Jesus arrives. Zacchaeus has a clear view. Mission accomplished. And so that’s where it all might have ended, save for one thing. Zacchaeus displayed a modest degree of curiosity in Jesus. And our Lord repaid that small interest a thousand times over and more.
For despite all the others who filled the streets and crowded around Him, it is the small man in the tree that Jesus zeroes in on. He sees him. He speaks to him. And then there occurs the almost unnoticed miracle. These two have never met; yet our Lord calls him by name. And he does more than call him by name. He invites Himself to go to the houses of Zacchaeus and be his guest.
Unsurprisingly, the crowd is shocked. How can Jesus, the One so many think may be the promised Messiah, the One Who has shown Himself to be someone sent by God through His many miracles, how can He enter into the house of a sinner like Zacchaeus and be his guest?
But a greater shock is coming. Because the sinner, the exploiter of his people, the collaborator with the oppressor of the Jews, is about to undergo a remarkable transformation before their very eyes. They are about to witness his repentance and the evidence that his repentance is genuine.
Zacchaeus, hearing their murmuring, stands up and declares before Jesus and those gathered that he will give half of all his great wealth to the poor. And that those he has cheated he will not only repay, but he will repay them four times the amount he defrauded them of.
Now, it may occur to you to think that it is easy to make such a declaration, but what evidence is there that Zacchaeus made good on his promises? Well, the Fathers tell us that we have the word of Jesus Himself that his repentance was true, and his promises were honoured. Because if this were not the case, our Lord would not have declared that salvation had come to the house of Zacchaeus.
And the Fathers tell us more. They tell us what it cost Zacchaeus to keep his word. They tell us that it would have cost him everything. That may seem like a high price indeed. But if that seems so, then we should recall the words our Lord speaks elsewhere in the Gospels: what does it a profit a man to gain the whole world, but forfeits his soul? No amount a wealth is worth it if it comes at the cost of eternal life.
So, we have in Zacchaeus a man who having showed some curiosity in Jesus and received in return a powerful call from Jesus to draw closer to Him. And he responded to that call, recognising his sins and repenting of them. Repenting not just with his lips, but with his deeds. And we, like Zacchaeus, are sinners who are called to follow Christ. I pray you will heed the example of the little man who climbed a tree and repent as he did; and that your repentance will bear fruit unto eternal life. Amen.
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