Zacchaeus Meets Jesus

Zacchaeus, a wealthy but despised chief tax collector in Jericho, was too short to see Jesus over the crowd, so he climbed a sycamore tree to catch a glimpse as Jesus passed by. To the crowd's astonishment, Jesus called him down by name and invited himself to stay at his house, prompting Zacchaeus to repent publicly, pledging to give half his goods to the poor and repay fourfold anyone he had cheated. Jesus declared that salvation had come to his house that day, summarizing his own mission in the memorable words, 'the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost' - a vivid picture of grace reaching even society's most reviled outcasts.