Luke 19:1-10

The Sunday of Zacchaeus is often considered to be the beginning of the pre-lenten period as it always falls just as we begin our preparation for Great Lent. But this is not the case. This Sunday is not the beginning of our preparation for Lent, but rather it is the end of the whole cycle of readings which are centered on Pascha. The Sunday of Zacchaeus is the end of our life as it has been and the segue into our life as it will be. We have welcomed our Lord Jesus Christ into the world at the feast of His Nativity. We have been baptized with Him in the Jordan and the light of His presence has shone upon us. We have heard Him teach, we have seen His miracles and now He comes to us.

Zacchaeus was a tax collector – a profession considered by most to be nothing more than a legal means of thievery, for a tax collector would gather not only the taxes owed to the empire, but always extra for himself. He grew rich at the expense of others and so was despised and even hated by all. Zacchaeus had heard of this Jesus Christ; he had heard of His teaching and the report of His miracles was known to all. Hearing that Jesus was coming to Jericho, Zacchaeus wanted to see this teacher and miracle worker for himself. Since he was small of stature, Zacchaeus could not see over the crowd and since he was not honored by the people, no one would make way for him to get to the front of the crowd and so Zacchaeus found a tree and climbed into its branches in order to at least see above the crowd. As Jesus passed by He stopped, looked at Zacchaeus and called to him to come down out of the tree and to receive Him as a guest. Zacchaeus had heard of Jesus; he had observed Jesus from afar; but now he would encounter Jesus face to face.

This is the place in which we also find ourselves today. We have heard of Jesus; we have heard Him teach; we have seen His miracles; we have observed Him from afar. But now we encounter Him face to face. He has come to us and has called us to follow Him. The time has come to leave our old life behind – a life of watching Jesus from afar – and to begin a new life – the life of following our Lord Jesus Christ into His Kingdom.

This is the end of our lives, and it is the beginning of a new life; this is the point of transition from an observer to a participant. We have heard of Jesus Christ, we have seen Him, we have listened to His teaching, but now it is time to act on all that and heed His call to follow Him.

Considering the Gospel we heard, St Nicholai of Ochrid has said, “He who wants to see Christ must climb up in spirit high above nature, for Christ is greater than nature…Zacchaeus was a small man and, seized by the desire to see Christ, he climbed into a tall tree.

“He who desires to meet Christ must purify himself, for he will be meeting with the Saint of saints, the Holy of holies. Zacchaeus was defiled by the love of money and lack of compassion, and so, when he was to meet Christ, he hurried to cleanse himself by repentance and works of mercy.”

Desiring to see Christ, we have lifted our eyes from the dust of the earth and have climbed in spirit as high as we can. We have seen Christ, and more importantly He has seen us. Not only does He see us but He has come to us and now stands before us waiting for us to welcome Him into our lives. If we wish to respond to the call of Christ to follow Him, we must like Zacchaeus disentangle ourselves from the love of this world and ending that life, embark upon a new one.

Zacchaeus was held back by his love of money and lack of compassion, for he had extorted riches far beyond that which was necessary with no concern for the needs and suffering of those from whom he stole. And now, in order to follow Christ, he had to disentangle himself from the holds of his former sinful life and leave them behind. In order to do this, he undertook to practice those works of righteousness which were the exact opposite of his sins. He stole from others and so now he gives to the poor and restores not only what he stole, but with generosity returns that amount fourfold. In doing this, he begins the work of untangling himself from the chains of sin which have bound him to this world and to his former sinful life.

Such a turning away from sin and setting out upon the paths of righteousness we call repentance. “Repentance is the abandoning of all false paths that have been trodden by men’s feet, and men’s thoughts and desires, and a return to the new path: Christ’s path.” (St Nicolai) Repentance is the gateway to this new life. It is marker on the path of salvation that Jesus Christ sets out before us. By repentance we end our old life – we abandon the false path of our own thoughts and desires. By repentance we begin our new life – the life of Christ. We have been lulled by our own self delusion that we are “good people”, that we are not as bad as those other “bad people”. We live in the delusion that we have not done anything really bad, that God certainly must see that we really mean well. Certainly God knows that we “like” Him (and by “like” we mean that we approve of God) so how could He not “like” us. This self delusion continues in us until finally we feel its pain – the awareness of our own worthlessness, our own hypocrisy, the futility of our own lives. This pain by itself leads to despair and self-destruction. But if this pain is accompanied by the fear of God with shame and sorrow for our sins then it becomes for us an agent of healing, leading us to repentance. This pain of self-delusion awakens us to the need to change. But how to change?

And here we see the new path, the path set before us by Christ. He says to us, “if any man would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.” Here is the path, the path of self denial, the path that begins with the ascetic labor of Great Lent. We continue on this path right up to Holy Week where we suffer with Christ, we ascend the Cross with Him and with Him die to this world. But death is no longer the dead end that we fear, but has been transformed by the Resurrection. We are raised with Christ and with this new life we follow Him, living according to His commandments, according to His love, according to the path that He has set out for us. This path leads to the doors of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Today, with Zacchaeus, we come to the end of our old life. We stand at the nexus between our old life of self-delusion in the world which leads only to pain and suffering and self-destruction on one hand and our new life in Christ which leads to the heavenly Kingdom and the eternal life of union and communion with Him. Are you ready to leave your that old life behind? Are you ready to follow Christ? Today is the end of the life of sin, today is the end of the life of watching Christ from afar. Today is the day that we step out of that life and encounter Jesus Christ face to face. We pass through the threshold that leads into our new life – the life we begin by repentance. When we repent, we begin disentangling ourselves from the passions and sins that have wrapped us in their chains. These chains hold us back, they prevent us from following Christ. But repentance is the key that unlocks those chains and that cuts the knots the bind us. Repentance is the end of life as it has been and opens the door to life as it will be – the new life in Christ.

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