By the discourse of last Sunday I believe that the rich rejoice and give thanks, they for whom, on account of their patrimony, Zacchaeus opened the heavenly gate that had been shut. For that man opened the heavenly gate when he taught them to arrive at the kingdom by that very thing whereby they were kept from the kingdom—namely, that the substance which was reproached to them for ruin might profit them for salvation. Much, therefore, did Zacchaeus confer upon the rich, that he might make them possess their riches unto eternity, so that those who here were never poor might not be beggars in the future either, but by a certain gainful exchange might receive great things for small, heavenly things for earthly, everlasting things for temporal.
A gainful exchange indeed it is: to be unwilling to have what you possess, so that you may be able to obtain what you do not have, and to make a certain loss of money to be relinquished, so that you may gain the grace ever to be possessed. Zacchaeus, then, since he was a publican and had sought great riches by lending money at the fraud of usury, on suddenly seeing Christ was so converted that with greater covetousness he sought spiritual grace than he had sought worldly money: so converted, I say, that looking back on his past deeds, he himself condemned his frauds, and by cleansing his covetousness he cleansed also, first of all, his conscience. For he said: 'Behold, half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone, I restore it fourfold' (Luke 19).
Perhaps someone will say: why did this holy man, seeing the Savior present, not give the whole to the poor, but only bestow the half, since it is written: 'If you wish to be perfect, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and come, follow me' (cf. Mark 10)? But if you attend diligently, this man did follow that counsel, because he gave not the half but the whole. For take away what belongs to others from the midst, and nothing remains to Zacchaeus. In short, the just man, that his liberality might be accepted, knew how to dispose justly, namely by restoring what belonged to others. For this is the alms that is pleasing before the Lord, which is offered from one's own household substance, not that which is contributed from fraudulent plunder. For in bounty to the poor, not spoils but gifts are sought.
Moreover, how is that a gift which one receives with joy while another loses with tears; over which the one rejoices, the other sighs; whence I know not how much the grace helps you receiving it, yet the complaint of those groaning weighs heavily upon you. For although you bestow the whole, you make a better alms if you restore what is another's. For holy Zacchaeus, foreseeing this, restored what he had taken away, that what he gave might become acceptable. For he said: 'If I have taken anything from anyone, I restore it fourfold.' See how the once he had sinned, to what extent he amended it! For a good creditor, knowing what divine profit he might have, restored with manifold interest the money he had received with interest: to be imitated by us all, and to be imitated by the moneylenders of this age.
But what is worse, there are very many who do not imitate his grace but imitate his usury: they know how to plunder, but they are utterly ignorant of how to restore. And whereas that man of his own accord restored fourfold what he had received, these men, even under compulsion, do not restore even once what they have seized; they prefer to lose their own by litigation rather than to restore what is another's by settlement. The end.