Chapter Nineteen
Lk. 19:1. Then Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through it.
Lk. 19:2. And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus, a chief tax collector and a rich man,
Lk. 19:3. He sought to see Jesus, who He was, but could not because of the crowd, for he was small in stature.
Lk. 19:4. And running ahead, he climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Him, because He was about to pass by it.
Lk. 19:5. Jesus, when He came to that place, looking up, saw him and said to him: Zacchaeus! Come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house.
The Lord snatches the strongest vessels from the devil and destroys his cities. For see how He not only made tax collectors His disciples, but also captures the chief among the tax collectors, Zacchaeus, unto salvation. And that a tax collector is a lowly creature, and the chief among the tax collectors, as one presiding over wickedness, is even more abominable — of this no one has any doubt. For tax collectors acquire their means of living in no other way than from the tears of the poor. Yet this chief among the tax collectors is not left in contempt, but shows hospitality and in return receives salvation. For when he desired to see Jesus and for this purpose climbed up into a sycamore tree, the Lord perceives him before he himself saw Him. Thus God everywhere anticipates us, as soon as He sees our readiness.
Lk. 19:6. And he made haste and came down and received Him with joy.
Lk. 19:7. And when they all saw it, they began to murmur, saying that He had gone in to be a guest with a sinful man;
Jesus, seeing him, commands him to come down quickly, as He is to be in his house. Zacchaeus did not delay, for one must not hesitate when Christ commands something, but came down and "received Him joyfully," though many murmured. Let us see, then, what fruits he bears on the occasion of Christ's visit.
Lk. 19:8. Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord: Lord! Half of my possessions I give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.
"Half of my goods, Lord," he says, "I give to the poor." Do you see the fervor? He began to sow without sparing and gave not something small, but his entire livelihood. For even what he retained, he retained in order to have the means to repay those he had wronged. By this he teaches us as well that there is no benefit if someone, possessing unrighteous wealth, shows mercy to some while leaving the wronged without attention. See how he acts in this case as well. "If I have defrauded anyone of anything," he restores it "fourfold," thereby compensating the loss caused to the wronged party. For true mercy does not simply restore the loss, but does so with addition, in accordance with the Law. For the Law required the thief to pay fourfold (Ex. 22:1). If we examine this precisely, we shall see that absolutely nothing of his possessions remained to him. For he gives half of his goods to the poor, and only half remains to him. From this remaining half he again restores fourfold to those whom he had wronged. Therefore, if the life of this chief tax collector consisted of injustices, and for everything he acquired unjustly he restores fourfold, then see how he was stripped of everything. In this respect he proves to be one who reasons above the Law, a disciple of the Gospel, since he loved his neighbor more than himself, and this not in promise only, but in actual deed. For he did not say: I will give half, I will restore fourfold, but: behold, I "give," I "restore." He knows the instruction of Solomon: "Do not say: 'Go, and come again, and tomorrow I will give'" (Prov. 3:28).
Lk. 19:9. Jesus said to him: "Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham."
Christ proclaims salvation to him. "Today," He says, "you give, today salvation is yours." For by the words "to this house," He undoubtedly points to Zacchaeus as the one receiving salvation. By "house" is meant Zacchaeus, because the Lord would not have called a soulless building a son of Abraham, but clearly called the living master of the house such. He called him a son of Abraham, perhaps because he believed and was justified by faith, or perhaps because he magnanimously despised riches and loved the poor, like that patriarch. Note: the Lord called Zacchaeus a son of Abraham now, when He saw in him a likeness in way of life. He did not say, "because this man also was a son of Abraham," but that he now is. For before, being a chief tax collector and a gatherer of tribute, and having no resemblance to the righteous man, he was not his son.
Lk. 19:10. The Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost.
Since some were grumbling that the Lord went into the house of a sinful man, in order to shut their mouths, He says: "The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost." Such is the literal meaning.
But one can conveniently explain this in another way as well, for the benefit of moral instruction. Anyone who surpasses many in wickedness is small in spiritual stature, for the flesh and the spirit are opposed to one another, and therefore he cannot see Jesus because of the crowd; that is, being troubled by passions and worldly affairs, he cannot see Jesus acting, moving, and walking. For such a person perceives no activity befitting a Christian. And the walking of Jesus signifies when Christ works something in us. Such a person, having never seen Jesus walking and having experienced no activity befitting Christ, often through repentance comes to his senses and climbs the sycamore tree, that is, he despises and tramples underfoot every pleasure and delight, which are signified by the fig tree, and in this way, having risen above himself and making the ascent in his heart, he is noticed by Jesus, and himself beholds Him. Then the Lord says to him: "Come down quickly," that is, through repentance you have come to a higher life, so come down through humility, lest pride deceive you. Humble yourself quickly, for if you humble yourself, then "I must be at your house." It is necessary for Me, He says, to be in the house of the humble. For "to whom shall I look: to the humble and contrite in spirit, who trembles at My word" (Isa. 66:2). Such a person gives half of his possessions to the poor, that is, to the demons. Our possessions are of two kinds, that is, bodily and spiritual. Everything bodily the righteous man yields to the demons, who are truly poor and deprived of every good, but he does not give up his spiritual possessions. As is known, the Lord also says concerning Job: "only spare his soul" (Job 2:6). If such a person has wronged anyone in anything, he repays fourfold. By this it is hinted that everyone who through repentance passes to a way contrary to his former wickedness heals all his former sins by the four virtues, and thus receives salvation. He is called a son of Abraham, since, like Abraham, he went out from his land and from the kinship of his former wickedness, and settled outside the house of his father, that is, outside himself, and denied himself (for he was the house of his father the devil (John 8:44)), and thus, having stepped outside himself and become estranged, he receives salvation.
Lk. 19:11. And as they heard these things, He added and spoke a parable, because He was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the Kingdom of God should immediately appear.
It seems to me that these people, hearing about the Kingdom of God, understood it in the sense of a supposed divine favor toward the liberation of the Jewish people, and therefore assumed that Jesus, going up to Jerusalem, would receive this kingdom.
Lk. 19:12. A certain man of noble birth went to a distant country to receive for himself a kingdom and return;
But the Lord, in order to show them that they reason foolishly, for His Kingdom is not a sensible one, and at the same time to express that as God He knows their thoughts, speaks the present parable, presenting Himself in the person of a man "of noble birth." For although He became man, He did not depart from the height and nobility of the Godhead. And having accomplished the Mystery of the Dispensation in the flesh, He again departed "to a far country," that is, so that even in His humanity He might sit with His flesh "at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens" (Heb. 8:1). For as God He always sat with the Father, but as man He then sat down when He ascended, waiting until His enemies be made His footstool (Heb. 10:12–13). And this will be at the end of the world, when all, even those unwilling, will submit to Him, believing that "Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Phil. 2:11).
Lk. 19:13. And having called his ten servants, he gave them ten minas and said to them: put them to use in trade until I return.
Lk. 19:14. But his citizens hated him and sent an embassy after him, saying: We do not want him to reign over us.
His "citizens" are the Jews, who hate Him. "And they have seen, He says, and hated both Me and My Father" (John 15:24). They did not want Him to reign over them. Therefore, renouncing His kingdom, they said to Pilate: "We have no king," and again, "Do not write: The King of the Jews" (John 19:15, 21). Yet Zechariah cries out: "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion...: behold, your King comes to you, righteous and saving" (Zech. 9:9); and Isaiah: "Behold, a King shall reign in righteousness" (Isa. 32:1); and David: "I have set My King upon Zion" (Ps. 2:6).
The Jews hated the Lord, but He gave ten minas to His servants. His servants are those to whom ministries in the Church have been entrusted. They are said to be "ten" on account of the perfection of ecclesiastical leadership. For the order in the Church has a perfect arrangement of leaders, and there was no need for either more or fewer of them. For example, we see in the Church the following three actions: purification, illumination, and perfection, and three ranks among which these actions are divided. Deacons purify through catechism and teaching, presbyters illuminate through baptism, and bishops appoint to sacred ranks and perfect, that is, they ordain. Do you see that the ranks are proportionate to the actions, and that there are neither more nor fewer ranks of leaders? To these servants the Lord distributes "ten minas," that is, gifts, which are given to each one for benefit (1 Cor. 12:7). For everyone to whom leadership has been entrusted, even if he is unworthy, has a gift from the anointing itself, and this is truly a great Mystery of God's love for mankind and Divine Economy.