In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one God, Amen.
Christ climbs the Tree. He rises up above the people so that He may see us and we see Him. He climbs the Tree and holds out His arms in a warm embrace. “Now My soul is troubled,” says the Lord,
‘and what shall I say? “Father, save Me from this hour”? But for this purpose I came to this hour.
John 12:27–32
Father, glorify Your name.’
Then a voice came from heaven, saying, ‘I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.’
Therefore the people who stood by and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, ‘An angel has spoken to Him.’
Jesus answered and said, ‘This voice did not come because of Me, but for your sake.
Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out.
And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.’
For the Son of Man comes and not only tells us what we should do, He demonstrates what it is to bear the image of God, His is the example we must follow. Around us, in a world full of sin and confusion, in a world whose power and authority are passing away, even here the word ‘love’ still is important. And our society is desperate for it, searching for it, longing for it, but they do not know what it is. Some believe it is merely pleasurable feelings while others believe it is getting whatever they want, some believe it solely about attraction to another while others shout out slogans of “free-love” and permissiveness: yet these are selfishness and exploitation, they bear no resemblance to love.
Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in Him.
John 13:31–35
If God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and glorify Him immediately.
Little children, I shall be with you a little while longer. You will seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come,’ so now I say to you.
A new Commandment I give to you, that you love one another, as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.
Yet this Commandment to “love one another” is not new, it can be found in the Old Testament as well as among atheists and other religions: what is new, what is radical, is “as I have loved you.”
Christ climbs the Tree. He climbs to demonstrate to us what love is, to demonstrate to us how we must love one another. Christ climbs and the rulers of the earth, the demons, tremble, Christ climbs and the earth shakes, Christ climbs and mankind is reconciled with God. Christ climbs and I am overcome, I see the enormity of the action and I want to turn away. So, the Church, in her love for me, coming down to my weakened state and meeting me where I am, presents to me this day another who climbs the tree.
Zacchaeus climbs the tree. He has heard Christ is coming and wants to see Him, so he turns towards the heavens and he climbs. And Christ sees his efforts and encourages him. “Zacchaeus,” says the Lord,
‘make haste and come down; for I must stay at your house today.’ So he made haste and came down, and received him joyfully.
He made the effort to see the Lord and the Lord honours the intention. I, too, may receive honour from the Lord by even just a tiny effort, and I am encouraged. But notice he receives honour but he does not receive salvation. Only when Zacchaeus offers glory to God, gives to the poor and makes restitution,
Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have defrauded any one of anything, I restore it fourfold.
Only then does Christ proclaim, “Today salvation has come to this house,” not to Zacchaeus alone but salvation for the whole household. And then, because of his faithfulness, is his place as a son of Abraham proclaimed.
Christ climbs the Tree and I baulk before the magnitude. But here, at the foot of this tree, I am shown a way to start my climb, and Christ sees me and honours me. There is still work to do and I must still bear my tree, my cross, but I may bear it alongside Christ and alongside each of you.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the Tree of the Cross is the way to true love which is so desperately needed in our world. The Lord says,
If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.
Luke 9:23–24
For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.
And when we do not think we can bear it, when we think we cannot make a start, when we do not know how to reach the heights of the Cross, let us climb the tree alongside Zacchaeus. Work will still be needed of us, effort and endeavour are required, but we can make a start to see the Word of God, Jesus Christ, and receive Him into our households. Let us make this a reality, let us respond to Christ, that we too may be declared heirs of Abraham and inheritors of eternal Life.
That we may offer praise, glory and worship to our God and Saviour Jesus Christ together with His unoriginate Father and the All-holy, Good and Life-giving Spirit. Amen.
Brethren, it was fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, blameless, unstained, separated from sinners, exalted above the heavens. He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people; he did this once for all when he offered up himself. Indeed, the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect for ever. Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, a minister in the sanctuary and the true tent which is set up not by man but by the Lord.
— Hebrews 7:26–28, 8:1–2
At that time, Jesus was passing through Jericho. And there was a man named Zacchaios; he was a chief collector, and rich. And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not, on account of the crowd, because he was small of stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaios, make haste and come down; for I must stay at your house today.” So he made haste and came down, and received him joyfully. And when they saw it they all murmured, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” And Zacchaios stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have defrauded any one of anything, I restore it fourfold.” And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of man came to seek and to save the lost.”
— Luke 19:1–10