~ Zacchaeus the Tax Collector ~

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

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

All the people saw this and began to mutter,
"He has gone to be the guest of a 'sinner.'"

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."

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

(Luke 19:1-10)