another mystery, let us speak accurately. Gold, frankincense, and myrrh they offer; as the Scripture says of Him: *To Him every knee shall bend, of heavenly, earthly, and infernal* A beings, in their gifts they prefigured the future; in gold, signifying the glory which the angels of heaven bring; in frankincense, the supplication of earthly men; in myrrh, the supplication of souls detained in the underworld. Since one who approaches Christ must obtain three virtues, which the Apostle mentions: faith, hope, and charity B (1 Cor. 13:13); with the treasures of their hearts opened, they offered faith, like shining gold; hope, like sweet-smelling incense; charity, like myrrh binding together the members of the Church. And having received a response in their sleep not to return to Herod, they returned by another way into their own country (Matt. 2:12). For it behooved those who had once approached Christ not to return by the same tracks of impiety; but, practicing chaste faith and deeds, to depart from the serpent, the slayer of men, into the inheritance of Christ. For to Him indeed belongs glory for ever and ever. Amen.
ON ZACCHAEUS THE PUBLICAN
Those who love good things differ in no way from the thirsty, O beloved; for while they do not find what they seek, they are inflamed by an even greater thirst for the desired object. At night, they imagine the desired fountains as if they were thirsty; but by day, wandering from place to place, looking around with roving eyes, they seek those things which they crave in their hearts. And just as travelers in the burning hour traverse a waterless land, pressed by thirst, and look around to see if there are fountains, and often climb hills where a fountain is held to be; and if they see it from afar, they rejoice, and with quickened step hasten toward it, until when they arrive, they slake their thirst: such are men who love Christ. For by day they seek for themselves the desired Christ through good works; but at night they converse with Him through prayers, and in their sleep they imagine themselves walking with Him: and if they think they see Him from afar, they rejoice and exult, just as those who are thirsty do when they find the desired fountains: and, having awakened, they wish to sleep again, that they may enjoy the same visions while asleep. Such was Zacchaeus, whom the reading of the Gospel just now set before you. For see me him running, burning with divine zeal, and climbing into a tree, and looking around for Jesus, that he might behold the fountain of life. And seeing the Lord, Zacchaeus calmed his eyes indeed, but inflamed his heart with a greater desire. *Jesus entered*, it says, *and was passing through Jericho. And behold a man named Zacchaeus: and he was a chief publican, and he was rich: and he was seeking to see Jesus, who he was* (Luke 19:1-3). Behold the man’s desire, O beloved. *And he could not see for the crowd, because he was small in stature. And running ahead, he climbed into a sycamore tree, to see Jesus, for he was about to pass that way* (Luke 19:4). Zacchaeus, small in stature, but great in the prudence of the Spirit, was seeking to see Jesus: he desired to see God bestowing heavenly things upon men: he was seeking to see the creator of the angels, and the administrator of heavenly light walking with human steps: he was seeking to see how the sun of justice, sitting in the cloud of the body, might illuminate the eyes of the hearts of the faithful; he was seeking to see God Jesus, the good likeness, the desirable thing, the sweet name of Jesus, by whose name the reality itself is signified: he desired to see the purple lamb, whose blood redeemed the world, and whose fleece from Adam until the end shall cover the naked; he desired, as a captive soldier, to see his king; as a sheep, his shepherd who was wandering; as one who was darkened, he desired to see the light; he desired to see the herald of piety, who did not have the sweetest condiment of divine knowledge: he was seeking to see, as an infirm man, health; as a hungry man, heavenly bread; as a thirsty man, the vivifying fountain: he was seeking to see Him who gave life to the priests, and had raised Lazarus from sleep. O divine love! O good concupiscence! O love equipped with golden wings, or rather, that transfers to heaven the soul of him who possesses it! Now divine love, which lifts him from the earth, made him climb into the tree: it no longer allows him to look at earthly things, or to mingle with men; but looking toward divine charity, he was receiving heavenly things: from these he hastened to those, and having climbed the tree, he was looking for Christ, and in his mind was ascending above the cloud. And seeing Christ, Zacchaeus was saying appropriately: *To Thee I have lifted up my eyes, who dwellest in the heavens* (Ps. 122:1). Zacchaeus saw the Lord, he was all the more inflamed with love: Christ touched his heart, and he was made one from another; from a publican he was inflamed with zeal, from an infidel he became faithful, and from a wolf he became a sheep marked. Who thus loves father and mother, who thus loved a wife or others, as Zacchaeus loved the Lord, as can be proved from the deed itself? For he gave all his own good things to the poor for Christ’s sake, and to those whom he had defrauded, he restored fourfold. O good deeds of the disciple! O moderate and divine virtue of the teacher, which leads to action from the mere sight of Jesus! The Lord had not yet instructed Zacchaeus with a word, but he was seen only by the one desiring, and the virtue of faith was drawn upward from the heart of the desirer. Something similar happened in the woman with an issue of blood. For approaching the Lord, and seeking health from Him, she did not wait for Him to touch her with His hand, but approaching herself, she secretly touched his fringe; and the power of healing was drawn from the one she touched as if from a sponge. And Zacchaeus indeed did this unknowingly, moved by divine zeal, and burning with spiritual love he hastened to the sycamore tree: but the Lord, having perceived something mystical, said, *Descend* (Luke 19:5). I know your soul; I know your holy love: Descend: remember Adam hiding himself naked under a fig tree: but you, if you wish to obtain salvation, do not hasten to the sycamore. It behooves Me to render this sycamore dry, and to plant another tree, the cross. That is a good tree; hasten to it with your soul: for from there you will be cast promptly toward the heavens. In this tree [of the sycamore] the serpent is entangled in the leaves, in this he is hidden, there he nests. Hasten, descend before he hisses at your soul, as he did to Eve, when he persuaded her to taste the sweet pleasure; hasten, descend: while I am present, descend: for when I am seen, he is restrained. Hasten, descend: I do not wish to leave you in the sycamore; I do not wish you to perish, for you are My sheep, you have hastened to Me. Hasten, descend, and make haste to your house; there it behooves Me to rest: for where faith is, there I rest; where love is, thither I go. I know what you are about to do; I know that you are about to give all your good things to the poor, and first to those whom you have defrauded, fourfold to be restored. Among such men I willingly lodge. And Zacchaeus hastening descended, and went into his house, and received Jesus: and full of joy, standing he spoke; not walking, not sitting, but standing, that he might declare the immutable purpose of his soul; standing he said, while fervent in Spirit, he was debating with an irrevocable sentence: for he knew where he was sowing, and where he was about to reap; and he said: *Behold the half of my goods I give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone, I restore fourfold* (Luke 19:8). O pure confession proceeding from a pure heart! A confession not subject to shame, offered to the glory of God, subject to no shame, breathing Adam, flourishing with justice, with which justice may the God of all deem us worthy, by the grace and kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.