In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

The Apostle Paul is saying to his disciple and spiritual child, Timothy, today, that as a bishop in the Church, he has to set an example to the faithful by his way of life as to what a Christian life is supposed to look like. It’s important for you, and me to remember that a priest also has this responsibility to set the example of how to live a Christian life. However, at the same time, it doesn’t stop there. It also passes on to us because all of us, in our own way, are priests in the Church. There is what is called “the priesthood of the laity”, and it does have its valid expression. One of the ways that it does express itself is in the fact that we are supposed to be setting for each other, and for people around us, a good example of what it is to live a Christian life.

Today, we hear in the Gospel about the Saviour’s encounter with Zacchæus. This Gospel reading about Zacchæus comes to us every year more or less at this time, and it always tells us that Great Lent is coming in a few weeks. Of course, that also means that the Great Feast of Pascha is coming a few short weeks after that. It’s sort of a harbinger of spring, you could say (even though the weather outside is not exactly spring-like today). Nevertheless, we are talking about the spring of Pascha. Zacchæus is reminding us in conjunction with the instruction to Timothy, how we are supposed to be living.

You have to remember, of course, that Zacchæus was not a tax collector employed by the Canadian government. He was not just a tax collector – he was a chief tax collector in the Roman Empire 2000 years ago. When a person was a tax collector in the Roman Empire in those days, it meant that the emperor commissioned a number of people to go out into the Empire, and get money that year in order for him to operate the government, and everything else he wanted to do (and also to have some for himself). So, all these tax collectors went out without any sort of limitation. They went around and extracted all this money wherever they could, and however they could for the emperor. Each area had its quota, I suppose, according to the government. These tax collectors came to the house, and said: We’re taking this, and that. No-one could say “no” to the tax collector because it was the emperor who said that this money was owed him by all his subjects. You could never say “no” to a tax collector of the emperor. That part hasn’t changed too much, because you can’t say “no” to a Revenue Canada tax collector. However, how they collect taxes is very different.

Regardless, in those days the tax collector was not the favourite person of anyone in any society in the Roman Empire. Today we see in the Gospel that Zacchæus is in double trouble with his people because the Jewish people were a conquered people, conquered by the Romans, and subjected to the Romans in a sort of hawkish way. When Zacchæus, a Jewish man himself, was collecting taxes from the Jewish people on behalf of the Roman emperor, you can guess how all the Jewish people around felt about him. They had not very pleasant feelings about this man. There were many more like him, too. The Apostle Matthew was also such a person, but he was not a chief tax collector – he was just a tax collector.

Zacchæus, for whatever reason, is determined to see the Lord because he has heard much about Him. At the same time, he is a little man. (He must have been like my grandmother who was four foot nine. She always said that good things come in small packages. So did we, because she was a pretty good grandmother.) Zacchæus couldn’t see over the heads of people (that’s why I said he was like my grandmother in height). In order to be able just to see Jesus while He was walking by, surrounded as always by many people, Zacchæus gets up onto the branch of this sycamore tree which was by the path where Jesus was going to go. There he would be able to see Jesus, and see Who it is that people are talking about all the time. Instead of Zacchæus’ just seeing Who it is that everyone is talking about, Jesus walks right up to him, and says: “Zacchæus, make haste, and come down, for I must stay at your house today”. (When I was a little boy in Sunday school, they used to have a song which was rather quaint. In that song, Jesus would say to Zacchæus: “Zacchæus, you come down for I’m coming to your house for tea”. I don’t think they were drinking tea in those days, although it is possible that tea from India had gotten as far as the Middle East by that time, but that’s another story.) It was not at all what Zacchæus expected, and it was not at all what the other people around him expected.

Immediately the other people start to criticise the Lord, saying: “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner”. He was not just a sinner because he stole, because that’s what tax collectors did, and they took far more than they were supposed to. You notice that the Gospel says that he was rich. Zacchæus was a sinner, but he was also considered to be a traitor. When they are saying that he was a sinner, they were being mild in their criticism of Zacchæus. Jesus, who is the Friend of sinners like you, and me, and like the Apostle Paul, is there, eating in the home of Zacchæus. That was doubling up the trouble the Lord was in, according to the people who were criticising Him.

However, the Lord knows people’s hearts. He knows there is more than meets the eye in Zacchæus when He walks up to that sycamore tree, and says: “I must stay at your house today”. When the Lord goes to Zacchæus’ house, Zacchæus, like any person would do (especially if they’re Orthodox), gives Him food. Someone can’t come into your house, and get away without being offered food. That’s the Orthodox way, and we inherited that from Judaism. Still, the fundamental expression of Christian love is the giving of hospitality. He could not escape without eating. As the Lord is sitting in the house of Zacchæus, His presence affects Zacchæus, and the words of life that come from Him affect Zacchæus. In the middle of all the people he is feeding (all those people that came with Him, and it was rather more than we who are gathered here today), Zacchæus stands up, and says to Jesus (and this tells us how rich he was): “Half of my goods I am giving to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I am going to restore it four times over”. He had to have a lot in the bank to be able to say such a thing. Zacchæus would still have had something left to live on after having given away all this. However, you understand what a big change had taken place in the heart of Zacchæus by just being in the presence of the love of Jesus Christ. He stopped putting himself first. He stopped putting money first. He stopped putting security first. He found his security, his love, his life, his hope in Jesus Christ. Then nothing else mattered except the love of Jesus Christ. This tax collector, who had been putting plenty aside, immediately understood what was necessary (what all sorts of people did not understand, and even the Apostles were slow to understand sometimes). It’s a lesson to us. That’s why this Gospel is now coming to us before Lent. He gave half of everything he had to the poor. He cared immediately. The love of Jesus Christ was caught by Zacchæus, and he immediately understood what was necessary. The Lord saw what was the potential of this man, Zacchæus.

Zacchæus shared his riches with the poor, and the people whom he had wronged. On top of that, the rest of his life will have been characterised by exactly what he did at this moment. Even though he would still probably be a rich man by most other people’s standards, he will still have multiplied his hospitality thereafter. He would have been bringing into his house, as he did on this day with the Saviour, all sorts of people who didn’t even like him. These people came in with the Lord because they were with Him, and they felt they had to come in with Him, even though they didn’t care at all for Zacchæus. They, themselves, learned a big lesson. The Fathers long, long ago in the early days of our Church’s life, were encouraged to read this Gospel at this time of the year in preparation for Great Lent, because this is how everyone learns this lesson.

All through Great Lent we are going to be reminded, ourselves, that in order to express our love for Jesus Christ we have to give alms to the poor. All sorts of people are forgetting this element of Great Lent. We think it’s all about depriving ourselves of meat, and bemoaning ourselves, and our sins, and so forth – just that. It’s not just that. Yes, we’re supposed to feel sorry for our sins, and we’re supposed to turn about, therefore. Great Lent is all about our turning about from our selfish ways. All through Great Lent the hymns are talking about giving to the poor.

More than anything else during Great Lent, we shouldn’t be concerned about what we are giving up so much as what more are we doing to give to the people who need help – to the poor, the needy, the person that the Lord is sending to me this day. It isn’t everyone who is lacking cash. Mostly these days people don’t lack so much cash, but they definitely lack love. Even if we Orthodox Christians don’t have a lot of cash, we do have love. We do know how to share this love. We do know how to share our hospitality, and our table also. We know how to care for people because we, like Zacchæus, have been touched by the love of Jesus Christ. Our hearts have been moved by the love of Jesus Christ, and we know that because of this love we can give people even what we don’t have enough of. We think we don’t have enough of this love, but the Lord provides enough, and more to us. The fact is, the more you are living the Orthodox Christian life, the more you do things of love for each other, the more love the Lord gives us to give, and to do. This love, which the Lord has given us and is giving us, only increases if we give it. If we don’t give it, it decreases. In stagnation it never increases. The Lord’s love only increases in activity, in its exercise.

Brothers, and sisters, here we are in this temple, which is all freshly painted, with insulated windows. This is an expression, itself, of the Lord’s love for us that He made it possible. This temple that people had thought had come to its end, in fact, did not come to its end. It had to wait for Him to put the right resources into place at the right time with the right people. This temple is once again a sign of the love of Jesus Christ to this city, in this part of the city where people need it most. We are capable of giving this love. I have already seen an example of how it happens in this parish. Let us give glory to God for His love for us. Let us give thanks to God for His love for us, and ask Him to help us more and more to live this love so that people can have the same joy that we have, the same hope, the same strength from serving Him, worshipping Him, and glorifying Him, the Lord who loves us, the all-holy Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, now, and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

† Archdiocese of Canada - Orthodox Church in America