Sermons & Homilies
Christ is risen! After five weeks of Pascha-tide, the light of Christ’s resurrection has perhaps diminished for most of us at this point. It is hard to maintain that joy for so long, to hold onto that light. Thus, it feels appropriate that today we remember the healing of the man born blind.
Today’s Gospel is about thirst. The thirst of God for man. The thirst of man for God. Let us always ask ourselves: Am I seeking the love of God with my whole heart? Do I thirst for salvation? Or do I thirst for worldly things, pleasures, status, human honor? This is a very simple question, but one of the most important questions in life.
What do we do when all seems lost? Where do we turn when there’s no one to turn to? All of the hopes and dreams, all the desires and aspirations of the disciples lay lifeless in a stone cold tomb. We trusted that it had been [Jesus] which should have redeemed Israel (Lk. 24:21). Though the Lord had foretold to them numerous times that He would be betrayed, scourged, mocked, and crucified, the calamity still over took them by surprise.
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.
