Note: This series is written as a first-person narrative to present Jesus in the context he walked in with the unknown disciple that narrates introducing my thoughts and sparking more ideas with his questions. Enjoy.
Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. I was gazing at the buildings. Jericho was a wealthy town filled with rich priests and officials.
“Look at that,” John said.
I looked in the direction he indicated at the edge of the crowd.
“What?”
“Wait for it.”
Then I saw a man’s face appear and disappear. Then it happened again.
“Is he jumping up and down?”
“Oh, him,” one of the residents said. “That’s Zacchaeus; he is a chief tax collector and makes lots of money stealing from us.”
We didn’t see Zacchaeus for a while.
We continued on, and I saw movement in a tree ahead. A bird? No, a man.
When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.”
“WHAT!?” the same guy who informed us of Zacchaeus yelled.
Zacchaeus came down at once and welcomed Jesus gladly.
All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”
We went to his home. A few joined us, except for the resident Pharisees. I heard one say he doubted any of the food had been tithed. I shook my head, knowing my Lord’s willingness to talk to anyone.
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 the lost.”
That angered the Pharisees even more. Jesus had just forgiven the most corrupt official in town. Because of that, the repentant tax collector is turning over a new leaf and making everything more than right. In fact, this will probably leave him without even a mite of currency.
A Ronin's Journey 