Explanatory Bible or commentary on all books of the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, edited by A. P. Lopukhin [contents]

| January 29, 2021

“Why did the Lord accept money from Zacchaeus the tax collector and bless him?..

By worldly standards, he acted like a failure.

He squandered his property and ruined his children’s inheritance. Lost everything"

— sermon by priest Konstantin Kamyshanov on the Gospel of Zacchaeus.

Paid and free

Today (January 29) the Gospel about Zacchaeus the Publican was read in churches.

So Jesus walks through Jericho and sees the local chief of the tax police sitting on a fig tree and looking at Him.

Christ calls him, and together they go to visit the official for lunch.

At lunch, the taxman suddenly decides to give four times the amount to those he has offended, and give half of his estate to the poor.

This is what happens: you paid and you are free? Gave money and paid off? Did you buy yourself the Kingdom of Heaven with money?

This story is familiar to us. We all know how, in the hard times of bandits, robbers and murderers wore crosses and gave money for the temple. So what, they were saved?

Don't know

I know one priest who refused to accept help from such people. He denied them the right to build a temple with dirty money

I know a place from the Gospel when a sorcerer wanted to buy the grace and power of God from the Apostle Peter. The sorcerer's name was Simon.

And the sin of buying positions in the church has since been called “simony.”

How to see God. About the repentant publican Zacchaeus. Sunday Sermon

One day the Lord Jesus Christ passed through Jericho. “And behold, someone named Zacchaeus, a chief of publicans and a rich man, sought to see Jesus who He was, but he could not follow the people, because he was small in stature; and, running ahead, climbed up a fig tree to see Him.”

Zacchaeus “sought” only to “see Jesus.” And he was not ashamed of this thirst of his in front of people. Like a boy, he climbed a fig tree. And Jesus saw him and said: “Zacchaeus! Come down quickly." Zacchaeus only wanted to see, and suddenly he himself was not only seen, but also recognized.

And - moreover: the Lord says: “Today I need to be in your house.” He didn’t say, “I want to,” or, “So be it, I’ll come in.” But it is precisely “necessary”, as if someone or something is forcing Him, the Lord of heaven and earth, to do this! Zacchaeus “descended quickly and received Him with joy.” But Zacchaeus, as the chief of the hated publicans, was fenced off by a wall of negative public opinion. And even the fact that Jesus honored him with His attention did not at all elevate Zacchaeus in the eyes of people.

On the contrary: Jesus Himself, entering the house of a sinner, fell in their eyes. Everyone “began to murmur, and said that He had come to a sinful man.” And Zacchaeus felt it. He felt guilty both before people and before Jesus , both for his sins and for the fact that he unwittingly “set Him up.” And he wanted with all his heart to finally break through this wall, and he exclaimed: “Lord! I will give half of my property to the poor, and if I have offended anyone in any way, I will repay him fourfold.”

He said this both before Jesus and before the people. He opened his heart to both Jesus and the people. And the heart opens not with words, but with deeds, or with the readiness to immediately begin to do this deed .

And only here the Lord says: “Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham.” The Apostle Paul says that God “is the Savior of all men, and especially of those who believe.” So Zacchaeus seemed to be a descendant of Abraham, but only now the Lord recognized and approved this.

And only now, when Zacchaeus opened his heart, did he become the son of Abraham , and therefore the brother of his children. He immediately entered the family of believers who are saved and testify to their faith by deeds .

So, one of Jesus’ contemporaries had a desire to touch Him, like a bleeding woman; some want to talk to Him, some want to invite Him into their home, some want to wash His feet with their tears. And with Zacchaeus - only to see. This is where his journey began.

And this legitimate human desire to see Jesus is answered by holy icons. And the church values ​​this opportunity and will never give it up to anyone . And how many people, looking at the icons, felt themselves seen by the Lord, and began a new life in Christ.

And how surprising and joyful it can be when we suddenly find out that the one we dream about also dreams about us! And the one whom they wanted to see so much considers it simply necessary for themselves to come and live in our house!

In the life of St. Macarius the Great is told how after his death one of his disciples saw his soul ascend to heaven; and on his way the demons tried to stop him, reproaching him for the sins he had committed or not committed; and he passed by them.

And when he reached the very doors of heaven, the demons, wanting to catch him at least in the last moment of his ascent to God, exclaimed: Macarius! You defeated us!.. And in his spiritual wisdom, Saint Macarius silently turned to them and already at the doors of heaven said: Not yet! - and entered the Kingdom of God.

Only by contempt for vanity, only by the willingness to be judged by God alone and by no one else except our conscience, which is the voice of God in us, can we enter the path of reality, the path of life, break away from ghosts and lies.

And therefore, at the beginning of Great Lent, reminding us of our spiritual blindness, the Church first of all tells us that only by breaking away from vanity did Zacchaeus become able to accept the Savior Lord Jesus Christ under his roof, into his home, into his soul, into his life; became able to repent – ​​i.e. to turn away from everything that is not God’s truth, God’s ways - and therefore the Lord said about him that salvation had come to his house.

Truly, repentance is the first step of the ladder leading to the Kingdom of God. No one could ever step on the second step without first stepping on this first. In the emptiness of this life, repentance is the first and only true knock on the heavenly door . And to all those who repent, who rise to see Him, the Lord reveals himself; and to whom He appears, all the secrets of Heaven and earth and all the countless and enduring treasures that God has prepared for those who love Him since the creation of the world are revealed and made clear .

Let us think about our own state, let us stand before God as an all-merciful, but at the same time inexorable in its truth and purity of judgment. And at least let us get closer to the Kingdom of God, into which the publican Zacchaeus entered with one step. Amen.

See also:

Zacchaeus didn't ask for anything

Why did the Lord accept money from Zacchaeus the publican and bless him, and in the case of Simon kill the sorcerer?

Zacchaeus didn't actually ask for anything. Neither the Kingdom of God nor the kingdom of the earth. By worldly standards, he acted like a failure. He squandered his property and ruined his children’s inheritance. Lost everything. Became bishop of Caesarea. Then, according to the word of Clement of Rome, he went with the Apostle Peter to Rome and there suffered martyrdom

For any of us, such an exchange of property for a cruel death in a foreign country is temptation, passion, grief and the height of misfortune. On the contrary, we pray so as not to lose either property, health, or life. The loss of all this is a personal disaster for us. And for the Apostle Zacchaeus, fierce death and life full of hardships turned out to be the desired life that he bought from God with his sacrifice to the poor and offended.

So what did Zacchaeus want and what did he hope for?

The Gospel says that Zacchaeus stood in the middle of the dining room and, simply in the delight of his soul, decided to get rid of what had oppressed his soul all his life - the love of money.

Zacchaeus the publican was well aware that he offended people while earning his fortune. And obviously this understanding tormented and depressed his heart.

Being close to Christ, he experienced a strong surge of grace in his heart and realized that the grace and sweetness of the world argue and are at enmity with each other in the human heart. We know this too. For example, we fast not out of love for fanaticism over ourselves, but because we clearly realize that the power of a fat body and the satisfaction of passions lulls the heart. The heart of a full belly is deaf to the spirit. Fasting is like clearing a spring of debris. Fasting weakens the power of dark and inert matter over us, and we become lighter in heart. And in order to make it easier for the heart to rise to heaven, we throw off the ballast, and it rushes to God without hindrance

Zacchaeus shed ballast differently than we do - a teaspoon per year. And I dropped everything at once. He was a smart man and knew how to count. We, too, seem to be smart people. But about such a mind and about such people they say:

-He’s smart, but his mind is a fool.

Zacchaeus did not buy or ask for anything. He simply threw his money chains at the feet of Christ and became free. His body became less free without money. But the soul became absolutely free from the earth. She became like God in freedom. Because freedom is one of the most important attributes of God. We are all looking for this divine freedom, but not there.

What feat did Zacchaeus accomplish?

Jesus and Zacchaeus, mosaic. St. Mark's Basilica, Venice Source: Wikimedia Commons

We learn about the righteous Zacchaeus only from the Gospel of Luke:

Then Jesus entered Jericho and passed through it. And so, someone named Zacchaeus, the chief of publicans and a rich man, sought to see Jesus who He was, but he could not follow the people, because he was small in stature, and, running ahead, he climbed up a fig tree to see Him, because He had to pass by her. When Jesus came to this place, he looked, saw him and said to him: Zacchaeus! come down quickly, for today I need to be in your house. And he hastened down and received Him with joy. And everyone, seeing this, began to murmur and said that He had come to a sinful man; Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord: Lord! I will give half of my property to the poor, and if I have offended anyone, I will repay him fourfold. Jesus said to him: Now salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham, for the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost (Luke 19:1-10).

This story stands apart in the entire corpus of the Four Gospels. It is not one of the stories of miracles that fill the pages of the Gospels; there is no healing, no exorcism, or any other noteworthy sign in it. There were probably many such stories in Jesus’ earthly life, because He was constantly surrounded by crowds. But the evangelists, with rare exceptions, did not preserve evidence of meetings that were not accompanied by miracles. The story of Zacchaeus represents such an exception.

There is a comic element to this story. A small man climbs a tree to see Jesus passing by. He understands that if he doesn’t do this, he won’t see anything behind other people’s backs. Meanwhile, Zacchaeus was not just an ordinary tax collector, like Levi-Matthew. He was the chief of tax collectors, which means he had people under his command and had to demand respect for himself. At the same time, as a publican, he was an accomplice of the occupiers, and therefore was despised by his own people.

For an adult wealthy person of this position, like a boy, to climb a tree in front of a crowd means to attract the curiosity of others, to become an object of ridicule and gossip. But Zacchaeus does not pay any attention to these inevitable consequences of his action. All his attention is focused on Jesus passing by. He climbs the tree because it is important for him to see Jesus with his own eyes, and not just hear about Him from someone else's words.

And his diligence is fully rewarded: he not only sees Jesus passing by, but also attracts His attention. Jesus knows why he climbed the tree, what potential of faith is hidden behind this unusual act. And He calls him by name, which neither Zacchaeus himself nor those around him could have expected, and speaks of His intention to come to his house. Jesus' arrival at the publican's house causes murmurs because He came to a sinful man. Although in this case the evangelist describes this as the reaction of “everyone,” the reader understands that primarily behind this murmuring are the Pharisees, who constantly accused Jesus of eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners (Matt. 9:11). But neither Jesus nor Zacchaeus pays attention to the murmurs. Happy when Jesus came to him, Zacchaeus makes a promise to change his life: to give half of his property to the poor, and to repay the offended fourfold.

Being rich, Zacchaeus knew how to count money. And even in the described case, on a wave of emotional upsurge, he does not promise to give away all his property to the poor, as Jesus offers to do to the rich young man (Matthew 19:21; Mark 10:21; Luke 18:22). As for the promise to repay four times, here the calculation is based on the prescription of the Law of Moses, which prescribes paying with four sheep for one stolen (Ex. 22:1). But this turns out to be enough for the salvation that Jesus proclaims to Zacchaeus and his “house” (family). The emotional impulse of the chief tax collector resonates in the heart of Jesus, and He does not demand anything from him beyond what he is able to give.

The Gospel of Luke says nothing about the subsequent fate of Zacchaeus, and his name is not mentioned in Acts. According to church tradition, Zacchaeus was made bishop of Caesarea in Palestine after the resurrection of Jesus. According to the testimony of the writing attributed to the holy martyr Clement of Rome, he was a companion of the Apostle Peter, preached in Rome and suffered martyrdom under the emperor Nero1 Clement of Rome (Pseudo). Meetings. 1, 20, 73–74; 3, 66 (PG. 1, 1217, 1247–1248, 1311); Rufinus of Aquileia. Preface to the translation of “Meetings” by Clement of Rome (PG. 1, 1207–1208)..

The story of Zacchaeus is read in the Orthodox Church on Sunday four weeks before Lent. They are given a series of Gospel readings dedicated to repentance: on the next three Sundays, parables from the Gospel of Luke about the publican and the Pharisee (Luke 18:9–14) and about the prodigal son (Luke 15:11–32) are read, as well as the teaching about The Last Judgment from the Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 25:31–46). Thus, the story of Zacchaeus becomes the first link in a chain of four readings designed to prepare the believer for entering Lent as a time of deep repentance, revision of life guidelines, prayer and active good deeds.

According to church teaching, fasting consists not only of abstaining from food. One of the chants heard at the beginning of Lent says:

What Zacchaeus promised to do fits the tone of these calls.

Perhaps it is no coincidence that fasting is mentioned as one of the virtues of the Pharisee in the parable of the publican and the Pharisee. The connection between the story of Zacchaeus and this parable can be traced not only in the church calendar, but also in the Gospel of Luke itself. The virtues that the Pharisee lists in his prayer to God include fasting (total abstinence from food from dawn to dusk) twice a week and tithing of everything he acquires. Zacchaeus does not promise to fast, but promises to give up half of everything he has in favor of the poor (and not just half of what he will acquire in the future), and to settle accounts with all those offended. In the eyes of Jesus, these declared intentions turn out to be more precious than all the ostentatious righteousness of the Pharisees, which did not cause anything from Him except harsh criticism (Matthew 5:20; 6:2, 5, 16, etc.).

Read more: Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk. Jesus Christ. Life and teaching. Book One: The Beginning of the Gospel.

It's always not enough, it's always a pity

There is no sin in wealth. A rich person is normally God's accountant. God gives a person intelligence, stubbornness, health, strength, makes him a little stupid, because a smart person cannot love money and gives the treasury to the rich.

Spend it on yourself, leave it for people and give it to God’s work. The Old Testament required tithing. Christ asked to love your neighbor as yourself. That is, you should give half. But who does it?

We are basically poor people and we think that we have nothing to give.

That's what everyone says. And partly, right. Christ himself did not accept the sacrifice at the temple - the corvan, when it was brought by a man whose father was languishing in grief.

Recently a healthy man came and asked for a job in the church. It turns out that his wife and three children live in poverty, and he came to a church where they pay almost nothing. I had to send him home

- Go. Nourish your family, children, wife, parents. Earn money and if you have a surplus, donate it to God’s work and to works of mercy. Marry your daughters. Rest your parents in peace. And then go and become a monk. But, since you made a mistake in yourself and got married, be kind enough to keep your small church in order. A small church cannot be desolate. You will be of more use to the world. Having such a bad attitude towards your loved ones will do you no good in the church. People go to church out of love, not run away from it

We don't give anything to the poor and weak because we never have enough.

The poor have a hard time finding money to pay apartment taxes. They barely have enough for food and medicine

We've just got some money, but it's not enough for good housing. For good doctors. For good teachers and good clothes

The man also became rich. He no longer wants to be treated in Russia and goes to Germany. Resting in the Alps or Spain. A decent house is already required, no worse than people’s.

And so on ad infinitum.

The poor fellow is sitting in a hotel in the Alps in front of the fireplace. Warming up after a ski trip. He drinks red wine and, looking at the fire, suffers and is bored. You can't feed your heart with money. And there is always little money, and you always feel sorry for them.

Christ or money?

Christ did not say empty words: it is easier for a rope to enter the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. It was not because He said that because He, as a Marxist, was looking for social justice, but simply indicated the danger of the situation. Christ did not scold the rich, but only suggested the path to happiness and showed the trap along this path.

This trap is in the heart, because the Kingdom of Heaven is also in the heart, and the path to it runs through the heart. Big money often disfigures people.

Often it is not only impossible to live with such people, it is also impossible to even communicate with them as human beings. Rich people are often arrogant, arrogant, selfish, angry, insolent, and therefore simply stupid. They torture people around them and suffer themselves. It’s as if they live on fire themselves and burn with this fire everyone who gets in their way

But Zacchaeus the Publican guessed, and choosing between money and Christ, he chose Christ.

Christ or money? Should we love our neighbor as ourselves, or should everyone love themselves, and let God help everyone according to their righteousness? Let him give much to the righteous.

Let him not give anything to the sinner. We are on our own. It's already difficult for us

Well, let a person not reach the Gospel. Let him then observe the light measure of the Old Testament, fulfill the simple commandments and leave the tithe. But this is not the case either.

Okay, what do we do in church then? What are we looking for in it?

Zacchaeus sought Christ's love. He found it in Caesarea and Rome. I was looking for love, but found death.

But there is no death, and we will not be able to die.

He sought and found within himself the Kingdom of God, and in it Christ

Let us pray to the Apostle Zacchaeus to help us understand the words of Christ:

– Seek first the Kingdom of God, and everything else will follow

Grace, strength, spirit, joy, and the meaning of life will be added - and heaven will open to the heart

The Lord, after all, is also glad to give us what he has.

So we are not alone in the sacrifice of love. Even the persons of the Trinity exist by this sacrifice.

Jesus and Zacchaeus

On the way to Jerusalem, “Jesus entered Jericho and passed through it.” Many caravans heading for the holiday passed through Jericho. Their appearance always meant the beginning of the holiday, but this time the people were interested in something much more important. It became known that the Galilean Teacher, who had recently brought Lazarus back to life, was walking in the crowd. And although there were rumors about priests conspiracies against Him, the people sought to express their respect to Him.

Jericho was located at the intersection of busy roads, so here one could meet Roman officials, soldiers, and strangers from all over the world, and the need to collect taxes made the city a haven for many tax collectors.

The chief tax collector, Zacchaeus, was a Jew, but his compatriots hated him. He achieved high position and wealth by performing a service that the Jews abhorred and which was synonymous with uncleanliness and extortion. But this rich official was by no means such an inveterate sinner as he seemed. External attachment to worldly goods and pride hid a heart receptive to Divine influence. Zacchaeus heard about Jesus. The news of a Man who was kind and courteous to the outcasts spread far and wide. The desire for a better life was awakened in this chief of tax collectors. He felt like a sinner before God, but what he heard about Jesus gave him hope. When news of Jesus' approach spread throughout Jericho, Zacchaeus decided to see Him. The chief of the tax collectors longed to look at the One whose words instilled hope in his heart.

The streets were filled with people, and Zacchaeus was small in stature and could not see anything in the crowd of people. Then he ran forward to the fig tree, whose branches hung over the street. And now the rich tax collector climbed onto the fig tree and from there looked at those passing below. Zacchaeus' unspoken desire to see Jesus was heard by the Savior's heart. Suddenly, right under the fig tree, He stops and looks intently upward, as if reading the soul of the chief tax collector. Not believing his ears, the man on the fig tree hears: “Zacchaeus! come down quickly, for today I need to be in your house.” The crowd parts, and Zacchaeus leads the great Guest to his home, and the rabbis scornfully grumble: “He has come to a sinful man.”

Zacchaeus was shocked and surprised. Love and a sense of devotion to the new Mentor prompt him to repent and confess his sin before everyone. “Zacchaeus... stood up and said to the Lord: “Lord! I will give half of my property to the poor, and if I have offended anyone in any way, I will repay him fourfold.”

Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham.”

Once upon a time, Christ’s disciples marveled at His words: “How difficult it is for those who hope in riches to enter the kingdom of God” (Mark 10:24,26). And so, they were convinced that what Christ said: “What is impossible with men is possible with God” (Luke:18:27) is true. They saw how by the grace of God the rich could enter His Kingdom. Once Zacchaeus was influenced by the Holy Spirit, he rejected everything that was dishonest.

Christian business owners should conduct themselves in this world as our Lord would conduct Himself in their place. Like Zacchaeus, every converted person will testify to the enthronement of Christ in his heart by forsaking all the bad things he has done.

If we have injured someone by a dishonest transaction, if we have been cunning in trade, if we have cheated without formally breaking the law, we must confess our sin and make good the loss to the best of our ability.

The Savior said to Zacchaeus: “Today salvation has come to this house.” Not only Zacchaeus received the blessing, but also all his household.

Salvation comes to a person precisely when Christ is accepted as a personal Savior. Zacchaeus received Jesus not only as a temporary guest in his home, but as the One who would live in the temple of His heart. The scribes and Pharisees accused him of sins. They grumbled because Christ came to his house. But the Lord recognized him as the son of Abraham, because “those who believe are the sons of Abraham” (Galatians 3:7).

(Gospel of Luke, 19:1-10)

Prepared by I. Bednyakova

Retro article from the newspaper “Hidden Treasure” September 2004

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