A homily by Fr. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois on Sunday, October 31, 2010.
“WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOU ARE IN THE PRESENCE OF HOLINESS?”
(Homily text: Luke 19: 1 – 10)
We begin this morning with a question that each of us ought to ask ourselves regularly: “What do we do when we are in the presence of holiness?
What did Zacchaeus do?
He climbed a tree, for one thing. For another, he repented of his deceitful ways.
I think it’s fair to say that when Zacchaeus first heard that Jesus was passing through Jericho, he was probably just curious to see Jesus. Maybe he’d heard about some of the things Jesus had done as He made His way into town. For one thing, Jesus had healed a blind beggar at the edge of Jericho (see Luke 18: 35 – 43). Maybe Zacchaeus had heard about that, and wanted to see something more like it take place.
We simply don’t know.
But we do know that there was an urgency to Zacchaeus’ desire to see Jesus….Notice that Luke tells us that Zacchaeus ran to get ahead of where Jesus was going to pass by. We also notice that Zacchaeus then climbs a tree to get a better view, since he was a short man.
At this point, we ought to stop for a moment. For to our 21st century sensibilities, neither action (the running and the climbing) seem to constitute anything at all unusual. After all, in our society today, adults regularly run (for fitness). Not many climb trees, however, since it is usually children who want to do those things.
But in the first century, a grown man risked ridicule for running, and more ridicule for climbing a tree. Neither action was likely to bolster a person’s esteem in the eyes of the community back then.
But Zacchaeus sets aside his pride and his social standing (such as it was, considering that he was a chief tax collector) in order to get a better look at Jesus.
At this point, we ought to pause again, and recall what the occupation of tax collector entailed in the first century.
Tax collectors are never most people’s favorite personages in any age. However, in the first century in occupied Palestine, most Jews hated them. The reason was simple: Many tax collectors were Jews who collaborated with the Romans by providing the Romans with the financial means to continue to oppress the Jews and to occupy the Holy Land. Moreover, the Roman system of taxation was rife with the possibility of graft and corruption, for the Romans contracted with a local tax collector, who paid the total amount of tax due in advance. After the payment was made, the tax collector then extracted payment from the residents of his district, and was able to pad the total amount due, keeping the difference between the taxes which were due and the money that was collected. Evidence of the graft and corruption which the system encouraged can be seen in Zacchaeus’ pledge to repay four fold anyone he’d cheated.
No wonder that tax collectors were lumped in with the prostitutes and other “sinners” in the estimation of many people. We hear this in the grumbling of the crowd as Jesus tells Zacchaeus that He will be staying with him that day. They say, “He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner!”
So, what do we do when we are in the presence of holiness?
This, of course, is the question we began with this morning.
Keeping this question in mind, let’s return to the text, and see what Zacchaeus does.
First of all, as we make our way through the sequence of events as Jesus greets Zacchaeus (who is still up in the sycamore-fig tree), let’s take the time to notice what is not said. The things that we might normally expect to show up in Luke’s recounting of this event are missing. Notice that Jesus never insists that Zacchaeus change his ways, for example. Not one word is reported to us about that. So far as we know, this important aspect of Zacchaeus’ change of behavior is missing entirely from Luke’s account.
Next, notice that Zacchaeus volunteers to do something: He will give away half of his goods to the poor, and he pledges to repay anyone he’s defrauded four fold.
In so doing, Zacchaeus lives out John the Baptist’s instructions (which can be found in Luke 3: 10 – 13) to those who were to give away half of their possessions (John the Baptist said that those who had two coats should share one with someone else in need), and to tax collectors, that they should not collect more than the amount prescribed.
In response, Jesus says that “Salvation has come to this house.”
What’s missing here? How did we get from Zacchaeus’ announcement of his intentions to live a new and better way to Jesus’ announcement that salvation had come to Zacchaeus’ house? After all, Zacchaeus didn’t make a statement of faith, nor did he admit (at least not openly) the mistakes of the past.
As I said a moment ago, I think what’s missing in the text is as important as what’s present.
Notice that Zacchaeus doesn’t say something like, “Lord, I’m sorry I’ve done the things I’ve done. I repent, and ask for God’s forgiveness.” No such statement – or anything like it – is to be found in the text.
But Zacchaeus’ actions constitute evidence of a new, inner reality.
For Zacchaeus’ actions prove that there’s been a change of heart. Maybe Zacchaeus’ conscience bothered him as Jesus came into his house. Maybe it bothered him a lot.
I know that if I’d been in Zacchaeus’ shoes, my conscience would be bothering me! Maybe you would feel the same way.
So, what do we do when we are in the presence of holiness?
Zacchaeus’ actions give us a good pattern to follow:
- Be willing to set aside our dignity: That’s what Zacchaeus did by running to get ahead of Jesus, and by climbing the tree to get a better look. To get a better look at Jesus, we might just look a little bit like an idiot in the process.
- Be ready to have Jesus address us personally, by name: Notice that Jesus exercises His divine omniscience to address Zacchaeus by name. Jesus singles him out for special attention. Jesus “seeks out and saves the lost” (see verse 10) as He calls Zacchaeus (and us) by name, each one personally.
- Recognize the urgency in Jesus’ address: We hear the word “today” (as in “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.”) “Behold, now is the day of salvation,” we read in II Corinthians 6: 2b. A change in our hearts should begin today!
- Evidence of a change of heart within is shown in the way we live: Certainly, there was a change of heart, a new way of living, that came to Zacchaeus that day. His willingness to change his ways was an outward and visible sign of the reorientation of his heart within.
May we, too, respond to the presence of holiness that Jesus’ presence among us represents, that we may amend our lives, that salvation may be ours.
AMEN.
