Sunday Of Zacchaeus. He Sought To See Jesus Who He Was.

Jesus will show Himself to every man, without exception. Why is it that some, such as Zacchaeus see Him as He really is, and others such as the crowd who judged Zacchaeus, do not see Him even though He is in their midst? The whole point to life is to "see Jesus", that is, to know Him. Zacchaeus gives us import instructions as to how to accomplish this. Every day, we must be like Zacchaeus, recognizing who we are, and how little we are and how much our sins present an obstacle to knowing God, and run ahead of them to await the Lord coming to us. HE will always come – are we always in the proper state of mind to receive Him?

Zacchaeus Sunday A before and beginning story, to be continued… Text and audio.

Today, brothers and sisters, we have a “before” story and a “beginning” story. It is appropriate on this Sunday – only four Sundays remain now after this Sunday before Great Lent. On this day we talk about Zacchaeus, how he was before, at the beginning of the salvation. And it is appropriate because during Great Lent should be, for all of us, a struggle to become more spiritual, to know more about ourselves and about God, to do good works, to pray, to fast.

It’s a struggle that is difficult. We will see next Sunday the prayer of the Publican. In our mind’s eye, we think of Zacchaeus when we think of the Publican and the Pharisee, when he was crying: “Oh, God, be merciful to me a sinner”, because he felt the weight of his sins. This is after Zacchaeus had been received by Christ, and he had entered into the struggle against his passions.

In the Christian life salvation comes to us by degrees, because salvation is us being changed. We change by degrees. Nobody changes all at once. You might make a decision at a critical moment in your life as Zacchaeus did, but you don’t change all at once. You change with struggle.

Now, what happened to Zacchaeus …

Zacchaeus Sunday 2009. A “before” and “begining” story, to be continued…

LISTEN NOW Lots more about the Sunday of Zacchaeus:   http://www.orthodox.net/sermons/great-lent-sunday-before-great-lent-01_1999+sunday-of-zacchaeus_1tim;4-9-15+luke19;1-10.doc 1st Sunday before Great Lent (Word DOC format) Sunday Of Zacchaeus 1 Tim:4-9-15, Luke 19:1-10 1999 http://www.orthodox.net/sermons/great-lent-sunday-before-great-lent-01_2001+sunday-of-zacchaeus.html 1st Sunday before Great Lent (HTML format) Sunday Of Zacchaeus 2001 http://www.orthodox.net/sermons/great-lent-sunday-before-great-lent-01_2002+zacchaeus-sunday.doc 1st Sunday before Great Lent (Word DOC format) Zacchaeus Sunday 2002 http://www.orthodox.net/sermons/great-lent-sunday-before-great-lent-01_2007-01-21+sunday-of-zaccheaus.mp3 1st Sunday before… Continue reading Zacchaeus Sunday 2009. A “before” and “begining” story, to be continued…