Zacchaeus The Tax Collector

Jesus gave Zacchaeus a second chance to prove himself. Zacchaeus did reform himself and it must have pleased Jesus to see his positive turn around from the way he was.

From: Simposious.com

Zacchaeus, or Zaccheus (Greek: Ζακχαῖος, Zakchaios; Hebrew: זכי‎, “pure”, “innocent”),

was a chief tax-collector at Jericho, mentioned only in the Gospel of Luke. … He was short

in stature and so was unable to see Jesus through the crowd (Luke 19:3). Zachaeus then

ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree along Jesus’ path.

Luke 19:1-10

Zacchaeus the Tax Collector

19 Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. 3 He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.

5 When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.”6 So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.

7 All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”

8 But 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.”

9 Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”