The Penitent Zacchaeus

A Word for the Thirty-Second Sunday after Pentecost

Today’s Gospel, beloved brothers, teaches us, by the example of Zacchaeus the chief of the tax collectors, the good discipline of giving alms to the poor, of repenting by deed, and not by word only, and of making amends to our neighbors for the wrongs we have committed against them[1]. It teaches everyone, the rich and those who are not rich alike, the discipline of active repentance, the discipline of acquiring, through generous and proportionate alms to the poor and through restitution to those who have been wronged, the great and abundant mercy and favor of the Lord and the eternal salvation of the soul. Zacchaeus was a tax collector, a farmer or gatherer of taxes from his fellow citizens; and such tax farmers often collected the taxes not without sin—and not without great sin—they wrung the taxes out of the people, so to speak, often by every kind of oppression and injustice, just so that they might take in twice or three times more than they themselves paid to the Roman officials appointed from Rome to make the collection, and enrich themselves as far as possible at the cost of the people’s need. And for this reason Zacchaeus was very rich and was disliked by the people, who even nicknamed him a sinner. But this sinner—wonderful are You, O Lord, in all! — when the Lord came into Jericho and into the house of unrighteousness, came to his senses, recognized the ugliness and the ruinousness of the love of silver, of gain, of injustice joined with hard-heartedness, and sincerely repented to the Lord of all his wrongs and became a righteous man. Lord!, he said, half of my property I will give to the poor, and if I have wronged anyone of anything, I will repay it fourfold.

O the blessed voice of the repenting publican, who felt all his blessedness from the visit to his house by the First Goodness and the Source of blessedness of rational creatures! How suddenly the publican was reborn! He who before this knew only the art of amassing and growing rich – now all at once he learned the good science of giving and distributing, and of diligently unwinding that ball of yarn which before he had so diligently wound up. May this serve as an example for us and for you, brethren and sisters! Even now, my brethren, among us Russians – though not precisely among us – there are many cruel publicans, counting on easy gain and unrighteous enrichment; only it is a great pity that they are not like the publican of the Gospel. Zacchaeus distributed all that he had gained unrighteously to the poor – of whom there were evidently a good many even in that time, not only in ours – and to whomever he had wronged he returned fourfold; but our publicans, who in short order amass far more than Zacchaeus, enrich only themselves and do not think of distributing what they have gained unrighteously to the poor, or even – what audacity and pride – laugh at those who give alms or distribute to the poor who, in their opinion, do not deserve a piece of bread; – do you see – all these beggars are idlers and drunkards, supposedly every last one of them; true enough – condemning is the easiest thing of all – for it takes long to sort things out – to tell a genuine beggar from a false one. Let us grant that even among the poor it is not without sin: all people are sinful, and among them there are actual drunkards and idlers. But I will say a word to these strict judges – not mine, but the Lord’s: what will they say to it? By what judgment you judge, you will be judged, and with what measure you measure, it will be measured to you[2]. Are you pure and righteous before God, you who so strictly judge the lesser brethren? And as for you – I would say to them – eternal conscientious toilers, men of self-restraint, chaste, incorrupt to the depths of the heart, not lovers of money – is your wealth earned by righteous labor, does your conscience not convict you of lies, untruths, bribes, idleness, idle games that feed the love of gain, envy, vainglory, rivalry, mutual enmity and ill will, banquets, every kind of luxury, and so on? And yet you dare to raise an eyebrow and condemn the lesser brethren to famine and almost to death by starvation? Is the nature of the poor really iron, cast of steel, and not subject to the same passions and weakness as all of ours is – so that they may not drink, or eat, or warm themselves in a warm corner after growing stiff with cold in the frost for several hours? No, our publicans are cruel, even though they were both born and raised in the Christian, heavenly, love-filled faith, and live in it and enjoy its countless blessings. And yet – do they truly enjoy them? The publican of the Gospel shines as a bright star of active repentance and mercy: we ought to imitate him.

May the all-good and almighty Lord soften our hearts and the hearts of all people of property and means. It has become the custom only to revile the poor, to despise them, to call them idlers, while no one takes the trouble to give them work and something to do, and no one will even give them clothing so that they could work out in the frost. But can reviling and contempt help such misery? Come to these poor people with practical help: clothe them, feed them, give them something to do—and you will see that they will work gladly. Or—without any further trouble—give material assistance to the parish trusteeship for the establishment of a House of Diligence, so that it can build one and set up constant work in it, so that our idlers and your idlers would not be eating their bread for nothing; and take care, all of you, to keep giving them work within their strength—and there will be no more idlers. All of them, among other things, are the fruit also of our hardheartedness, of our inattentiveness, of our pride and self-indulgence—it is not they alone who are guilty of their idleness, but society as well. Tell me: what would you do if you found yourself in their midst, standing in their place? God deliver everyone from their lot, and let the fortunate ones of this world give thanks to God that they, with all the multitude of their sins voluntary and involuntary, live in plenty and luxury, and that all good things pour down on them like a river—and let them repent of their vain life, of their games and amusements; but let them not forget that while they are very warm and bright and well fed and merry, many, many are very cold and hungry and utterly without joy. Amen.