The Zealot pointed to a tree over their heads. "Look!" A man was
standing on a heavy lower limb of one of the sycamore trees that grew at
the side of the street. The whole crowd gaped. Jesus spoke with someone
in the crowd for a moment and then called to the man in the tree:
"Zacchaeus, come down here! I want to visit your home."

Judas turned to a man beside him. "Who is that fellow?"

"He is the chief tax collector in Jericho. He is very rich."

"A tax collector!" exploded Judas. He turned to the Zealot. "Did you
hear that? He wants to stay with a tax collector! Why does he insist on
mixing with such people? Everyone will say he is a lover of traitors and
sinners!" If Judas had not known it was useless, he would have protested
to Jesus then and there.

Zacchaeus climbed out of the tree and stood in front of Jesus. "May I
come to your home?" asked Jesus again.

"Oh, yes, Master!" exclaimed Zacchaeus, and he turned to lead the way.

The rumor spread fast. The Galilean Prophet was staying with Zacchaeus!
The deliverer of Israel--staying with a tax collector? Impossible!
Perhaps he was not Messiah at all!

The publican knew that people considered him a traitor. He knew how much
it meant that Jesus had chosen him for a friend. The next morning, just
before Jesus left his home, Zacchaeus declared in the presence of all
the disciples: "I am not the man I was yesterday. I intend to be a
different person. If I have cheated anyone in collecting taxes, I will
give half of all that I possess to the poor; and I will give every man
whom I cheated four times what I took from him."

Jesus smiled. "Zacchaeus, this day God has forgiven your sin and
accepted you in his Kingdom. Because you believe, you are a true son of
Abraham."

After they had left, Judas could contain himself no longer. "Master,
think of our task in Jerusalem!" he exclaimed. "What will the best
people think of us? They will never believe we come to do God's will if
we act as though we approved of lawbreakers!"

"Judas," answered Jesus, "the Son of Man has come to seek and to save
those who are lost. Zacchaeus was waiting for someone to summon him to
repent and submit himself to God. My Father has sent me into the world
to tell just such people--outcasts, beggars, sinners, even
gentiles--that he is ready to receive anyone who will repent."

Many people were waiting at the city gate for Jesus to lead them to
Jerusalem. Going before them, he walked from the