By Archimandrite Zacharias Zacharou
According to Cyril of Alexandria, Zacchaeus was consumed with the desire to know God the Saviour in person and to see Him. This is the seed of salvation and when this seed falls into the heart of man, he has a great longing to see Who the Lord is. Once he is possessed by this longing he will do certain things which will seem mad in the eyes of the world, but which will in fact prepare the way for his first meeting with the Saviour. Such was the case of Zacchaeus when he began to seek the Lord.
And this was the Lord’s desire, for the Son of God came to save sinners. It is hardly astonishing that He should want to save a chief publican: in every time and place, the Lord seeks out His own. Zacchaeus’ desire made him run ahead and climb a sycamore tree so that he could see the Lord. But what was happening in his heart was visible only to Him Who is both God and Man. The crowd could not see the transformation of his heart, nor could they understand the nature of his desire. But even before Zacchaeus had seen Him, the Lord had perceived the movement of Zacchaeus’ heart in a supernatural way, with the eyes of His divinity. He saw that the wild and greedy heart of the chief publican had now begun to soften and, melting with desire, had become transfigured so that he was ready to bear within himself the image of Christ.
Zacchaeus has ignored his reputation and esteem, which hinder man’s approach to God, and he now attracts public scorn. In his shame he becomes kin to the Lord Jesus Who, at this point in the Gospel, is on His way to be crucified on the Cross of shame in order to deliver the world from the shame of sin. In our desire to see the Lord we too will make fools of ourselves, bearing as much shame as possible in order to achieve our goal: to find our Lord and Saviour. We are indifferent to the opinion of men and any fear of becoming a laughing-stock fades away.
For we know that the Lord will grant us the honor of seeing His Face – which is far more beautiful that we can ever imagine – and our souls will be truly satisfied with His glory. On account of his burning desire, then, Zacchaeus despised all his worldly honors and was pleased to look ridiculous in the eyes of the people, if he could only gain a different kind of honor: that of finding favor with the Lord and being visited by Him.
- From the book Remember Thy First Love, pp 70-72.
