The Fervor of Zeal - Homily on Zacchaeus Sunday (2026)

IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER AND OF THE SON AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. AMEN.

INTRODUCTION

The Liturgical Calendar of the Church is the guide for all Christians

The Liturgical calendar provides the framework and a context in which we live our Orthodox life, and consists of periods of fasting and feasting, the lives of the Saints, the rank of the services, and daily Scripture reading, as it flows from day to week to year - in short, the Liturgical calendar is the rhythm of life for all Orthodox Christians.

Today marks the end of the services in the cycle of the Pentecostarion, and instead of finding a conclusion that completes this part of the Christian year, we find a service that links us and introduces us to the next Liturgical period in the Church year - the Lenten Triodion.

The Labyrinth of Lent

As we move through the period covered by the Lenten Triodion, we navigate Lent as through a labyrinth (or a treasure hunt), with each week dedicated to a particular theme and a unique message that prepares us physically and spiritually to meet Christ on Pascha. For example, next Sunday we will read the story of the Publican and the Pharisee and be instructed in the greatness of a man who recognizes his sin and repents, contrasted with the one who does not and only sees the sins of his neighbor. The following Sunday is the Sunday of the Prodigal Son, wherein we are taught of the infinite compassion of God toward His children, whom He desires to “come to themselves,” turn from their sin, and return home to Him. The next Sunday is that of the Last Judgment, wherein we learn of God’s great patience and boundless mercy; however, even He does not forgive those who do not repent (cf. St. Mark the Ascetic, On Those who Think that They are Made Righteous by Works, #78). There are then six more Sundays, after which is Pascha, the Bright Resurrection of Christ, at which time we pray that Christ would rise in our hearts, giving and sustaining in us a new and enduring life in Him. But before this, there is a path to be trodden, a race to be run, and a struggle to be had before any reward can be obtained.

These are but the most immediate and obvious examples of how the entire structure of Church life, from morning prayers to fasting to the communion of the Body and Blood of Christ, interprets the spiritual life for Christians and instructs us in Christian living.

And, today is Zacchaeus Sunday.

NARRATION

Zacchaeus

With the conversion of Zacchaeus, the Evangelist Luke speaks to us of the zeal which Zacchaeus has when he, the chief tax collector, learns that Jesus is coming nigh.

His public notoriety

In the Gospel reading for today, which we have just heard, we are told of a tax collector, that profession whose proprietors were despised by most citizens because of their dishonesty, and Zaccheus was no different, if not even worse, as we are told that he was a “chief tax collector” indicating the level of experience he had in this trade.

We know of the public opinion held about Zacchaeus when the crowds describe him pejoratively as “a sinner,” being a transgressor of the laws of Moses and one who extorts even his own countrymen for personal gain. He later admits to Jesus that he has falsely accused others and swindled them out of their money. It is little wonder why they despised him; however, they could not perceive what change was being wrought in his heart at this moment.

His short stature

When he heard that Jesus was in his city of Jericho and would soon be walking by, he desired not to talk to him but only to see him, as the Evangelist Luke tells us. However, due to his short stature, Zacchaeus was unable to easily move through the crowds or peer over the heads of his fellow townsfolk. Therefore, he climbed up a tree, which enabled him to see Jesus and, by the same token, to be seen by Jesus and by all his neighbors whom he had financially fleeced.

Although short in stature, and even littler in soul - stunted by his own sins, crippled by his own corruption, and made decrepit by his own deceitfulness - Zacchaeus (awoken within) rises above this present hindrance by climbing a tree in order that he may simply look at Christ.

His zeal

When Jesus sees him, he announces to him that He is going to stay with him, and our Evangelist notes that this sinner received Jesus joyfully and then actually confesses his sins to Jesus by offering to give half of all he has to the poor and then also to give back “fourfold” that which he had falsely acquired. Can we see that this is what the grace of God does in the heart of man(!), because Jesus responds by saying, “Today salvation has come to this house.”

ON ASCETICISM AND ZEAL

Hardships chosen and unchosen

In the life of every human being come afflictions - some chosen, others not chosen, and each to varying degrees. Often, people will accept, if not choose, various afflictions in pursuit of some goal, whether it be to supply for the needs of one’s family, or for the sake of developing a particular talent, or perhaps in business for the sake of making more money. How many hours does an athlete train, how regimented is his diet, and how focused is he every day on that one goal? The same goes for the artist who shuns other responsibilities and sometimes his own health via food and exercise to practice and excel in his craft. However, the reward of choosing afflictions and sufferings for the Kingdom of Heaven, for drawing closer to Christ, for acquiring Christ, yields better dividends in the present and the future life; however, only those who do so know this. Those who pray more, those who fast more, those who give more, those who sacrifice more, those who love more find that the fruit produced by these actions is present within the action itself (and by “more” we mean the example of the woman who gave the two mites, which is “more” than all others – quality not quantity). “Those who suffer for the sake of true devotion receive help,” writes St. Mark the Ascetic. “This must be learnt through obeying God’s law and our own conscience” (Ibid. #54).

Many Christians are not asked to be martyrs, but if we could describe it so, every Christian is asked to be a “little martyr” every day, by sacrificing their will and desires to become what Christ would have them be. There is no need to fear when increasing the spiritual tension in our life, because it will only make us more focused on the spiritual world and less lazy, yet we are not asked to increase that tension so much that we snap and are no good for anything, except to languish in despondency because of it. Again, St. Mark notes, “You will lose nothing of what you have renounced for the Lord’s sake. For in its own time it will return to you greatly multiplied,” (On Those who Think that They are Made Righteous by Works, #50)

The fruit of this sacrifice yields more than the sacrifice itself because a lifetime of service to God yields an eternity with Him (which begins here and now). He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him, yet He gives us more than we could imagine - more grace to enable us to endure hardships, more peace where there was none before, no matter how hard we tried to attain it, more love when we thought someone was unlovable. What asceticism does, what spiritual exercises do, is develop us spiritually, assisting us in our spiritual maturity, year after year. It teaches us how to approach Pascha and the Lenten season, fasting, temptations - it enables us to use the tools the Church gives us, such as the Services, the Scriptures, the Lives of the Saints, in order to be transformed. These labors for Christ add clarity, lucidity, transparency (perspicacity, shrewdness, acumen, astuteness) to our spiritual vision, enabling us to perceive the spiritual world with discernment. You can’t get that out of a book.

The fervor of Zeal

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.

It is no coincidence that St. Theophan the Recluse (whom we commemorated two days ago) places “zeal” as the topic of his opening chapters in his manual of spiritual transformation. He writes,

the result of the fervor of zeal is a certain quickness and liveliness of spirit, with which people undertake God-pleasing works, trampling upon oneself and willingly offering as a sacrifice to God every kind of labor, without sparing oneself… Without this we will be serving God in a state of sluggishness, boredom, and lack of interest… Zealous pleasing of God is the path to God which is full of consolation and gives wings to the spirit. Without it one can ruin everything (29, 31).

And how does one acquire it? It is not the result of any human effort, but comes by the grace of God, but not without our participation, that is why we engage in spiritual exercises, in asceticism, in order to nurture and train ourselves to receive grace, to receive zeal, and when we have it, we continue in asceticism so that we learn how to keep it.

CONCLUSION

What can help us, alongside being at the Lenten Services to pray, and keeping the fast physically and spiritually, is to:

• Learn the purpose of each of the Sundays in Lent – what are they trying to teach me? Why is St. Gregory Palamas the focal point of one Sunday and St. Mary of Egypt, another?;
• Read and pay attention to the Scripture readings and learn how they are to be interpreted and how they point to the resurrection, or to a spiritual virtue, or how a certain Saint is an example for us; and
• Before Lent begins, we can take an account of ourselves: do we want to read a particularly edifying spiritual book that we have been putting off, can we go with less so that we can give to the poor; we can make a plan for our life during Lent.

How is each of us going to approach Lent and, even more so, that victorious day of the resurrection?

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Many here have been through the Lenten period for decades, while others perhaps only for years, and others maybe even less. Perhaps we feel as if we fail, year after year, to rise to the occasion, and that the expectation we have for ourselves is only to suffer through Lent while dreaming of that festive table. Perhaps we have grown lazy or forgetful and have become lost in this labyrinth. However, may Zacchaeus intercede for each one of us today, praying that God would give us the zeal and that salvation would come to the house of our souls. 

So (here we are, and) what can we do?

St. Isaac the Syrian suggests:

As long as you have feet, run after work, before you are bound with that bond which cannot be loosed again once it is put on.

As long as you have hands, stretch them out to Heaven in prayer, before your arms fall from their joints, and though you desire to draw them up, you will not be able.

As long as you have fingers, cross yourself in prayer, before death comes loosing the comely strength of their sinews.

As long as you have eyes, fill them with tears in prayer with lamentation on account of your sins, before that hour when dust will cover your black clothes, and your eyes will be fixed in one direction in an unceasing gaze and you will not know it. (458-459)

Reverend Fathers, Fathers, Brothers, Mother, Sisters, may we all make a good beginning, even starting from this moment, God helping us.

THROUGH THE PRAYERS OF OUR HOLY FATHERS, LORD JESUS CHRIST, HAVE MERCY ON US. AMEN.