seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Luke 19:1 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.”
When I read the title as shown in my online Bible, I thought it was about Matthew. Matthew was a tax collector too! But Dr. Luke is kind enough to give us the wealthy thief's name.It's not easy being a tax collector. Heck it's not easy being a tax payor. No one likes taxes. How did the chief tax collector get to be so wealthy? He figured out ways to steal from people in the name of taxes.
There were no W2's back then. There were no 1040's either. When the tax man came, he figured out how much he could get from you and he took it. Even if he had to drive away on your cart and your oxen.
In verse 3 it says Zacchaeus was short. Shortness is a problem I never had to deal with personally. I've always been "that tall one, towering a head high over everyone else". Choir directors were thrilled that I was an alto because they could stick me in the back where I wouldn't look out of place. But.... I have dealt with short people. Think Danny Divito. That's a short guy. Short guys have an attitude. It comes from years of having to physically look up I guess. Now don't write me nasty letters. There are nice short people. But it's been my experience that short people don't like me much. We don't see eye to eye, lol.
So, Zacchaeus was a short clever [climbed the tree] thief. When he met Jesus, he lost his short attitude. Jesus healed him totally.
Now here's a problem... Zacchaeus was a tax collector. How would he do his job? His job was to take from the poor and avoid giving it to the rich. He was kind of a reverse Robin Hood. How could he take from the poor? How could he avoid lining the pockets of the rich if the "law" said he had to collect?
I guess Zacchaeus would start the first tax service that "finds every last penny". Instead of collecting taxes, my guess is, Zacchaeus would give everyone a refund.
You get a refund, you get a refund, you get your cart and oxen back, you get a refund.....
Jesus came to change people like Zacchaeus.
A kind tax collector, well that's a head scratcher of biblical proportions... right?
