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In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.
Last week we have entered into the several weeks on our way to the day
of the Resurrection, when we are told to examine ourselves; then a time
will come to think of nothing but the ways of God preparing us for
salvation; and when we reach Holy Week, then we should have no thought,
nothing but the Lord Whose passion we will be contemplating before we
enter together with Him into the glory and the joy of His Resurrection.
Last week we read the Gospel of the Blind man of Jericho; it challenges
us directly; we all contend that we see; we all contend that we are not
blind, and yet, is not the way in which we see another form of blindness?
Are we not blinded by the visible to the invisible, are we not blinded
by prejudice against truth, are we not blinded by passion against
reality? And so, each of us has got to ask himself whether what he sees
is the reality of things, and if not, turn to God asking Him to give him
an insight. And one of the things, that blinds us most hopelessly is
vanity that makes us accept for true all the lies we may hear or observe
which boost our self-respect, which make us reject everything which is
criticism or condemnation of us.
Today's Gospel is about vanity and about the way in which it can be
overcome, indeed about the condition and the cost of it. Zacchaeus was a
rich man, Р° man known in his town, a man
whom everyone would recognise; he was a man of unrighteous ways, and yet
something stirred within him when he heard of Christ and he
wanted to see Him. It probably was to a certain extent a desire to see
the New Prophet of Israel, but this would not have been enough to prompt
him to do what he did; in the crowd, because he was too small of stature,
he climbed into a tree; sure, he was surrounded with laughter, with
mockery and yet, he so wanted to see Christ, it mattered so much to him
to see Him that he was prepared to be mocked, laughed at rather than let
Him pass by. And in all this crowd through which Christ was passing
Christ saw only one man: Zacchaeus, and He called him down and He went
to stay with him.
Vanity is that condition of our soul, that miserable condition of our
soul, in which we are afraid of human judgment, in which we derive our
sense of worth from the judgment of those who surround us. And indeed it
is vanity, because the things for which we are praised are vain, empty,
unworthy of the greatness of man; and also, we do not turn for praise to
those people capable of a sound and at time severe judgment; we turn to
the people who are ready to offer us the praises which we want. This
makes these praises doubly vain, its substance is naught, and the people
from whom we receive it are also empty, in our own eyes, until they
speak of us good. St John Climacus says that vanity is the attitude of
one who is afraid of men and is arrogant before the face of God, who
thinks God's judgment matters little, provided that he has the approval
of those who surround him.
Is that not a true description of the way in which we stand in life, of
the way in which we are prepared to forget the judgment of God provided
we feel supported by the judgment of men? And what is the way then?
Zacchaeus shows us one way: care nothing about the judgment of men
because the judgment of God, the presence of God, or perhaps the
judgment of the one who will not praise us but is a person of integrity
and of truth matters more. Zacchaeus did not know Whom Christ was and
that He was the Son of God become the Son of man, but he knew that
Christ was a man of integrity and he wanted to see Him, to meet Him face
to face.
But then there are also two other ways of shaking off the fear of man,
this dependence upon human's judgment at the cost of our own wholeness.
St John Climacus says to us that the way to get rid of vanity is
humility; St Isaac of Syria strangely says the way is also pride, and
both are true, only that the one will give us life and the other will
give us death. If we choose the way of pride we will assert ourselves
arrogantly, not only in the face of men, but also in the face of God;
our own judgment shall be the only thing that count, and then we will
find death at the end of the road. The way of humility is that of bowing
before the judgment of God. If we are incapable of soaring Godwards, lie
before Him like the parched earth is before the face of the sky,
abandoned, helpless, thirsty, hungry, longing, desperate not to be able
to achieve what we wish to achieve, this is the beginning of humility.
But even that may be too much for us, even that may be too difficult for
us because we are not used to let go, to abandon ourselves, offer
ourselves to an act of God. Then we can begin to overcome vanity by
gratitude. Whenever we discover that there is in us a moment of vanity,
let us ask ourselves: why? Very often, it is because we have,
inadvertently quite often, said the right thing, or inadvertently done
the right thing; we can then turn to God and thank Him that He gave us
the opportunity, that He gave us eyes to see the need, ears to hear the
cry, a mind to understand, a heart to respond, good will to bring us
into motion and the mean to do the right thing. Is not that reason
enough for us to be grateful, do we not know, all of us, from experience
that it is not the need that will call out of us always, inevitably the
right response? How often there is a need and our heart is parched, and
cold, and indifferent? How often someone cries for help and we
understand nothing, how often our heart has been stirred and our mind
began to understand, but we are not used to compel ourselves, and our
will wavers, and wavers too long, until it is too late. And we could go
on describing our condition in many more details. Let us learn first of
all to be grateful that God gives us the possibility to do right instead
of preening ourselves and be proud of the fact that for once we have
done what should be natural to us always, and then gradually we may
outgrow even that level and still remaining grateful, still remaining
amazed at God's goodness. We may then learn to be humble in a way in
which no one knows, not declaring that we are unworthy, but in adoration
of God's greatness, in veneration of other people, in the readiness to
forget ourselves completely for the sake of God, for the sake of any
person who meets us and challenges us to be compassionate, to be loving,
to be understanding. And the blindness might fall off our eyes, vanity
will leave us free at least for a moment and we will be able to face
ourselves and to face God and others as the Publican did when he entered
the Temple, and did not dare to come unto into it because it was the
place of holiness where God abides, the place where he thought only the
worthy ones can come. And we will be accepted by God because of this
recognition of His holiness and the reverence, with which we will treat
Him and our neighbour. Amen.
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