The Heart of God
Adapted from a sermon by Fr Mark Basily
Luke 19:1-10
If we break down who Zacchaeus was, we see a tax collector, who was rich, who was short, who runs up a tree to see Christ through the crowds. He is presented in a fairly undignified way.
The fairly Gospel ends with a courageous declaration – “Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold.” – Luke 19:10.
The transitionary moment of this Gospel was Zacchaeus in the tree, and our Lord walking under the tree. If we press pause at this moment when Christ looks up and sees Zacchaeus. You can imagine this moment when their eyes meet. Zacchaeus would have frozen. At this moment, what did Zacchaeus see in the eyes of Jesus? He would have been able to see into the heart of God. He would have felt the love, the mercy, the tenderness, the kindness – all that flows from the heart of God. This is the moment that would have changed Zacchaeus’ life forever. The moment when he looked into the heart of God.
God looks into our hearts, that is what He is most interested in. We, too, need to look into the heart of God – to understand Him, and to understand our place in the heart of God. If we understand our place in the heart of God, then our lives can be changed. We will see the love He has for us, we will see the forgiveness He has for us, the restoration, the kindness, all for us. We will see our place in His heart.
The iconographer of the Father’s embrace for the Arabic church spent a few months working on this icon. We got to know him and watched him work. One day I came to the liturgy and he had just completed the face of Jesus. He was staring at the icon and I said, “it looks really good.”
He said, “Abouna, I want you to pray the mass today and gaze into His eyes, and after the liturgy tell me what you felt.”
He wanted to make sure that whoever looks into the face of Christ would feel His Love, His warmth, His compassion. That whoever looked into the face of Christ would see the heart of God. We need to know and to see the heart of God.
I was walking in the park with my kids, and a man asked me, “what is God’s message to me today?”
So I responded, “God’s message for today is that He loves you.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m very sure.”
“I don’t know about that.”
And he left. How can we not know that? How can we not know that God’s loves us? We need to look into the heart of Jesus, and allow it to change our lives in the same way it changed Zacchaeus’ life.
Every day, we need to look into the heart of Jesus. Jesus looks into our hearts each and every day, and we need to look into His heart. What do you see when you look into the heart of God?