Zacchaeus Sunday and A Lenten Book Read-Along


Yesterday’s reading was Zacchaeus:
1Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. 2A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. 3He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd. 4So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.
5When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today." 6So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.
7All the people saw this and began to mutter, "He has gone to be the guest of a 'sinner.' "
8But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, "Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount."
9Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. 10For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost." (Luke 19 1:10)


The reading of Zacchaeus makes me think of the X-man for two reasons. One being that he is small of stature – the X-man feels his shortness greatly. The other reason is when he was in Preschool, the Church School made a “quilt” out of paper, each square being a bible verse that the children copied and illustrated. For reasons unknown to me, my three or four year old child chose as his quote: “ "Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount." I've often pondered what about that passage stood out to him.

If you’ve been around Orthodoxy for awhile, you know that the reading of Zacchaeus is the last reading before the church begins the Lenten Triodion  (the prayer book used during Lent). Next week is the first of four Pre-Lenten  Sundays, and then we enter into Lent on February 15th (Pascha  on April 4th is really early this year – I believe it is either the earliest Pascha can be, or just a day or two later than the earliest Pascha can be). To prepare for our Lenten Read-Along, I wanted to announce the book so you can get a copy.

I’ve chosen Middlemarch by George Eliot.  It garnered several votes  prior to our choice of Emma, and I think that it will be a good discussion.

I’ve never read it, so come along on my journey!

(icon credit Come and See Icons  )