Because we are cancelling services due to the weather, here is my sermon for Sunday, January 25 - Zacchaeus Sunday.

Because we are cancelling services due to the weather, here is my sermon for Sunday, January 25 - Zacchaeus Sunday

Today’s Sermon in a Nutshell:

“And there was a man named Zacchaeus he was a chief tax collector, and he was rich.” This one sentence sums up the entire story of this man’s life: his name, his profession, and that he was rich. And because he was a tax collector, and a “chief” tax collector at that, we know he was not a practicing Jew and was despised by his people.

At the time of Christ, nothing is Judea was quite so hated and despised as was the Roman tax, for it not only reminded the Jews that they were a subjugated people, but it was an affront to Judaism itself. To the Jews, there was only one King, God, not Caesar. Thus, having to pay tribute to an earthly, non-Jewish monarch was fundamentally and religiously irritating.

Yet there was more: this dirty work of collecting taxes was not performed by the Romans, but by collaborating Jews. And to make matters worse, these tax collectors had the power to determine the amount of taxes and often overcharged their fellow citizens so that they could line their own pockets. And because Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector, it meant he oversaw an entire region. Therefore, this “little man” had a big reputation for being very rich, but his wealth did not serve him well. In the world of flesh, he had everything; but in the spiritual world, nothing. He was ostracized by his community, devoid of God, empty, lonely, and despised. This chief of tax collectors was, in essence, chief among sinners. Lost.

Like Zacchaeus, we often become “lost” to God through our own measures. Just as he lost his dignity, self-respect, reverence, character, conscience, and friends by his wrong choices, so do we. Gradually at first, but then headlong by our lack of faith, conviction, and morals. When you lose your relationship with God, all others will go wrong. 

Yet this is the crux of this gospel story. That which is lost can be found. And just as Jesus “found” Zacchaeus who had climbed a sycamore tree, we can be found by Christ by also climbing out of our sinful, desolate lives. And in finding Christ, acknowledging our sins, and striving to live a godly life, we, too, can be changed, transformed, and restored to that which we were created to be by God. 

Fr. John Memorich