15th Sunday of Luke - The Sycamore of Faith
And the king made silver and gold at Jerusalem as plenteous as stones, and cedar trees made he as the sycamore trees that are in the vale for abundance. (2Ch 1:15)
Dear beloved,
The wisdom of the Scriptures cannot be equaled by any human wisdom. The word of God is alive in every letter of the Gospel and lives in every person that reads it with piety and love of God. Many times we find in the Scriptures a new world, beyond the usual understanding, a world full of meaning that awaits us to be mature enough to discover it and understand it. We'll try today to shed a new light over the Gospel of Zacchaeus, concentrating on the tree in which he climbed to see Jesus.
The sycamore we hear about in today's gospel is an inferior species of fig tree frequently encountered in the Middle East. This tree with deep and powerful roots is a very intriguing hybrid. The trunk and the leaves are similar with the fig tree, but the leaves resemble the mulberry tree, well known for its medicinal leaves frequently used in medicinal infusions.
Why our Savior did choose this weird tree? We know that the acts of our Lord are never in vain, there is always a concealed knowledge, a wisdom that hides behind the ordinary facts. Maybe the choice of this tree is not random. This tree shockingly resembles the Church of the New Law, planted by Christ Himself, with roots so deep that the gates of hell will not prevail upon it. This new Church has in her roots the legacy of the Law of Moses, but upon it Christ, with his green spiritual thumb, has grafted a new crown with new leaves; leaves that have in them the sap that cleans the soul that washes away the ancestral sin.
The branches of the sycamore start spreading low and are sturdy enough so one can climb them very easily. Is this fact arbitrary? Maybe, but this resembles to much with the open and inviting door of the Church , easy accessible to everyone. One just needs to have the wish to enter it and will discover Christ. Maybe you heard of Him, like Zacchaeus, maybe you even has misconceptions about Him, but you never truly knew Him. You infer however that climbing the sycamore of the Church you will be able to discover Who is He truly and will be able to meet Him face to face.
I was also telling you that this tree also bears some fruits a sort of little figs and not very attractive at first sight. This fruits are frequently consumed[1] by poor people in the Middle East. This fruits are not as glamorous as the oranges or bananas or pineapples but they are found in abundance and they fulfill their main duty of nourishing the people that gathers them. In the midst of its street, and of the river, from here and from there, was the Tree of Life, which bore twelve fruits, each yielding its fruit according to one month. And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. (Rev 22:2)
In a similar fashion the Church is not the most appealing tree for the contemporary man. Apparently it does not bear the most tasty fruits, so it does not appeal to those that seek glamour and fame, but it satiates the those who poor in spirit, poor in the spirit of this fallen world I mean; those that do not seek the most expensive fruits, but the simple meal, the daily bread.
These fruits have another particularity, they do not grow at the end of the branches, but they grow close to the trunk , as they would like to be as close as possible to the source of the live giving sap. We can learn from them that we should stay as close as possible to the trunk of the faith of our Holy Fathers in which runs the sap of the Holy Spirit. We do not need to venture on other denominational branches that grow apart from their holy origin and, sooner or later, as the Scripture prophesizes, we'll dry out and fall.
Dear Beloved,
The Orthodox Church is the only tree from which we can see Christ with clarity in His full glory. It is the only place where the perspective of Christ is not obstructed by the mobs of this world that in their hubbub does not allow us to accede to Him.
Many times we are not wanted in this world either because we are too pious or because we are too sinners. But Christ always wants us because He knows we are His sons, His heirs. Salvation is universal. Christ say the Fathers loves to greatest sinner more than the greatest saint could love God. His image is present in us even in the most dreadful sinners and can be brought up, with faith in Christ and a will to change.
Zacchaeus wants today his salvation. He has sinned too much and seeks redemption. He climbs the tree, but does not know what he seeks, but he wants to see Christ. Maybe he realized that this thirst for the divine which was tormenting his souls could not be filled by the treasures of this world. Maybe he realized that the perpetual something else he was looking for was actually a Someone else. We do not know. We only know that when he saw Christ from the top of the sycamore tree his life was changed; forever!
Let us not forget that Christ is waiting for us, let us not forget that He wants us, let us not forget that anything we've done wrong He, as a loving parent, wants to forgive. Let us take example from Zacchaeus and remember the sycamore tree, because this strange tree has another characteristic, very important, it grows very easy wherever you plant it. It is enough to take a little branch, plant it, water it and soon powerful roots will penetrate the soil. Let us therefore take a little branch today from the tree of faith and plant it deep in our hearts so it will grow strong in us the wish for salvation and the love og God!
[1] Then Amos answered and said to Amaziah: I was no prophet, nor was I a prophet's son. But I was a herdsman and a gatherer from sycamore trees.
(Amo 7:14)