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by Jacob Muringayil, London
During this Great Lent, I would like to bring Zacchaeus to your attention.
We all know that he was short in height and hence climbed a Sycamore tree to
see Jesus.
Normally, there is nothing special to note while reading that a
short man climbed a tree to see Jesus. But, we should realize certain facts
from this act of Zacchaeus from a Christian point of view.
Why did he climb
the tree? Naturally, the answer is: he wanted to see Jesus and of course,
that is the very basis of it.
But, to see Jesus, what made him climb the tree?
Firstly, Zacchaeus was aware of his weakness which made him unable to
see Jesus directly which was his shortness in height.
Secondly, he knew that he needs the help of a tree so that its height could substitute his weakness
or in other words, his shortness could be substituted with the height of a
tree which overlooks Jesus Christ and
Thirdly, he was determined that he
could take the pain of climbing the tree to see Christ or he did not mind
taking that pain.
If he was not aware of all these three facts, he would
not climb the tree to see Christ. In order to fulfil his desire to see
Christ, he did all the above and finally got blessed by Jesus by having
Jesus in his house and life everafter. He did not hesitate a little to do
all the above to see Christ, because, he was sure that if he did it, he
would see Christ and it happened. His awareness of his weaknesses, his trust
in substituting his shortfall with the height of the tree and his
determination to climb it made him a blessed creation of Christ.
This year, during this Great Lent, Jesus is asking all of us to learn from Zacchaeus
to realize our weaknesses and find remedies to them as he did.
We must realize our shortness in spiritual life, the falls we had in the past and
the sins we committed which together made us unable to see Christ directly,
during this Lenten time.
Then, we should make it up by climbing on the tree
of intercession of Mother Mary, Saints and other Venerable Church Fathers
who support us always through their lively presence and prayers whenever we
need to see Christ in our life and
Finally, we should be determined to take
the pain of giving up our worldly life, fasting, praying, observing the
Lent, confessing before the Apostolic Priest and taking part in the Holy
Sacrament of Qurbono which takes us to Christ and Christ into us as happened
with Zachaeus, which we have to do in all purity and holiness.
This is the season of Great Lent. In Orthodox Faith, Lents and Fasts are
very important. They give the observer a special feeling of doing something
in the name of Christ which is not normal in daily life. When that feeling
creeps into the mind of the individual, it will naturally inspire some
thoughts in his mind as to why or for what I am doing it or what is the
purpose behind it. Slowly he will try to find answers to those questions and
those answers will bring him a message about the existence of God, presence
of Christ in our life, Faith of our Church and our Forefathers and Leaders
right from the Old Testament time to the present time who lived saintly life
through Lent and Fasting and the Spiritual necessity of observing them.
In addition, the change in lifestyle during Lenten period will bring the
individual more of the presence of Christ and HIS ideologies. Anyone who
sincerely observes the Lent and Fasting with full faith will be rejoicing in
Holy Spirit as the decision to observe Lent will function as a door opener
to invite Christ into own life. When someone opens the door for Christ, HE
will happily occupy the room and lead the individual blessedly.
When one person receives Jesus into life, those around him in his family will feel
the difference or Jesus will make it feel as it happened in the case of
Zacchaeus. When he was on top of the tree, Jesus asked him to come down and
then told him, "I am coming to stay with you in your house today" and HE did
it. It gave Zacchaeus' whole family the opportunity to see Christ and feel
HIS presence and experience the blessing received from HIM. When Zacchaeus
confessed and atoned, it represented the change occurred in the whole family
and it opened a new door to a divine life in their family life after. It all
happened owing to the desire of Zacchaeus to see Jesus Christ and his
determination to struggle for it and he was thereby opening the doors of all
the hearts in his family to receive Christ though he did not mean and
realise it initially.
Similarly, when one member of a family opens his
heart's door in front of Christ, HE will utilize that opportunity to attract
others in the family towards HIM because HE loves everyone and waits for
everyone to come towards HIM. It sends us a clear message that if one person
in a family is living in the presence of our Lord, the whole family will
come under the shade of Christ and HIS Holy Spirit and on the other hand, if
one person is living in sins which represent the presence of Satan around
him, others in the family will also come under the sight of Satan and slowly
he will spread his shade over to other members. As a big family, I believe,
the Holy Church also is subject to the above rule and hence, it is
imperative that the Holy Church as a whole must observe Lent in all holiness
to purify our big family.
Lent must be the time to realize our shortfalls which leads to our
determination to leave them behind for good. We must give up our desires to
go after worldly comforts. If we start doing it during Lent, we will be
able to spread it gradually to our entire life which includes
non-Lenten time. That will certainly lead to a change of lifestyle and it
represents the change of mind as a person immune to change of mind cannot
work out change in lifestyle.
Dedicated observation of Lent indispensably
brings about change in general attitude towards viewing the Faith, analyzing
own life, learning more about Christly sermons and understanding and
upholding the vitality of being part of a true Church which still goes ahead
on the path lead by Jesus Christ and followed by the Saints of our Holy
Tradition who dedicated their whole life to transfer the Right Faith They
realized during their lifetime into the posterity. The net result of all
these will be purification of souls.
When body does not get contaminated
with sins, it will inspire the individual to abstain from maligning the mind
and it will certainly transfer a wave of self purification which will open a
way for purification of the Soul and when all the above happen, that is
attaining in real terms the first stage of the purposes of our noble worship
- Self Purification. We must be able to aim at this target when observing
the Lent and when we view observation of lent from that angle, we are
fruitful children of Christ otherwise, we are similar to the fig tree which
Jesus cursed for not bearing fruit When HE was hungry. HIS hunger and thirst
for our souls still remain and this is the right time we can start bearing
fruits to quench HIS thirst and fill HIS hunger.
Let God's Holy Spirit lead us all in this Lenten time.
See Also:
The essence of Lent:
Learning and struggling to bend our knees, mend our hearts, and lend
our hands
The prayers during lent remind us that there is no use of observing
lent if we do not change inside. No amount of abstinence from food
and other things will help us in any way if we do not bring about a
renewal inside us.
Great Lent: A Season of Renewal for All
Prophet Isaiah was emphatic in arguing that lent and fasting are not just pious
"obligatory Observances" for the people of God, but a tremendous transforming
force. Being mortal and feeble, humans need periodic renewal of body,
mind and soul. How is this possible?
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