Sermons & Homilies
“For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost,” (Lk 19:10). We find throughout the Gospels Christ coming as the good shepherd to rescue His scattered flock. He comes to enlighten the ignorant, to raise up the fallen, to heal the diseased, to redeem from hell. Today’s Gospel gives us another episode in Christ’s search for His lost sheep.
My Fathers and brethren, we’ve arrived at the last week of Lent. Many of us are exhausted, some discouraged, perhaps even given up, waiting for Pascha to bandage up our wounds and hope for a better Lent next year. Or perhaps we’re succeeding in whatever way we might imagine success looks like. Either way, it’s easy to begin our calculations, or rather, to revert to a calculating mind with regards to our souls.
Zacchaeus is an example of the spiritual athlete and an image of a central virtue essential to the Christian life - zeal. Zacchaeus had already been transformed in spirit; that is why he desired to see Jesus, but it was zeal which did not let his stature or dissolute reputation stop him and which energized these holy desires. Because of zeal, he climbed a tree, not allowing any physical limitations to keep him from engaging in what was for him a truly spiritual act - seeing Jesus; because of zeal, though he was known by all as a crook, employed by the Romans, and swindling his own people, yet he raised himself up to a place from which he could see Jesus and be seen by the whole crowd; because of zeal, this treasonous robber received Jesus “joyfully” into his house, the Evangelist tells us; and, because of zeal, he confesses to the Lord his wrongs and how he will remedy them.
Around the year 271, there was a young man who lived in Lower Egypt, born to wealthy landowner parents, both of whom had only recently died, leaving the young man to care for his little sister and the upkeep of the family home. This young man went to church one day, and while there, he heard the Gospel which we have just heard. Writing about this experience, his friend says that the young man realized this passage had been read for his sake and he immediately left the church, gave away all the land that he had inherited, and then sold his possessions, distributing the money to the poor, and saving some for his sister. This young man we know as St. Antony the Great, and his friend and biographer is St. Athanasius of Alexandria. Originally, St. Antony’s Life was written in Greek, but within twenty years it was translated twice into Latin, then into Coptic and Syriac, and became the impetus for many who desired that perfection which comes to those who leave their homes to make the desert a city.
The Son of God and God has clothed Himself with our humanity, furtherly clothing Himself in the letters of ink of the Holy Gospel. Today, we are given a little glimpse of one of the many qualities of Christ, as in every place of the Gospel.
