It was very hot on that day and I was covered with dust and exhausted, exhausted but happy, for I had collected many Shekels for the taxes. The Jews that I had employed to do the collecting were not getting the task done sufficiently so I was making the rounds in the city myself.  Besides, I enjoyed collecting from time to time; it gave me some personal satisfaction.  I decided to take a little rest, so I sat down under a shade tree near the main road into town.  I carefully laid down my heavy leather bag full of gold and silver coins and pulled off my sandals.  My feet were tired and dirty.  I sat facing away from the road as I often did so that people passing by might not recognize me.  I knew everyone hated me, but I didn’t care, I had it made.  As I sat there rubbing one of my feet, I was pondering the life that I lived.  I had no wife or children, no family of any kind that were still alive but I had lots of wealth. I didn’t have any friends either; nobody wanted to be friends with a “swindler” like me.  They all hated me and they were jealous.  They hated me because I collected money for the Romans.  And since I was the chief Publican, I was rich, probably the richest man in the city. They would kill to be me, the poor souls.           

         The people of the city would also make fun of me because of how short I was or because I walked funny. They liked to laugh and scoff at me. I didn’t go out of my house at night for fear of what would happen to me. One time the raucous young boys of one of the villagers knocked me down in the street and pelted me with stones.  But they would never do that again.  I raised the rate of taxation on their father times two.  I smiled as I thought about how he pleaded with me not to raise it.  He cried at my feet claiming he would not be able to feed his family.  The more the people ridiculed me, the more I would raise their taxes.  They had no way of knowing whether it was the Romans raising the taxes or me.  If they didn’t have the money, I would take possession of whatever things of value they did have. The government didn’t care what I did, as long as they got their correct percentage of money.  There were many people who worked for me, doing the dirty work so to speak, Jews collecting from Jews for the benefit of the Roman government. I received collections from the residents of the city as well as from the trade route that ran to and from Jerusalem. I realized I was not a happy man, but I had gold and silver and bronze. I had many possessions; I had a large dwelling and plenty to eat. What else was there?

          I could have laid down under that tree and taken a nap but it was time to move on; there were many more stops to make before sundown. I was determined to collect my quota that day and a lot more. As I stood up and brushed myself off I heard someone coming up the road. It was two men; they were walking toward me into the city.  They were talking and seemed to be excited about something.  I turned away from them and acted as if I was preoccupied with my belongings. As they approached I heard one of the men exclaim that he would hurry home to get his family so they could see “this man”. As I turned back around one of them looked at me and said “the man they call Jesus is coming, he heals the sick, he healed a blind man by the side of the road!” Now of course I thought the man had just been in the sun too long or had tasted too much wine, but he had a look about him like a child who had just made a new friend. What was he talking about? I wondered. They hurried on up the road and I looked in the direction from where they came and saw a large, slow moving crowd in the distance. Then I wondered if this could be the man I had been hearing stories about, Jesus of Nazareth. He was supposed to be a man of God, a prophet or some kind of teacher. There were claims that he went around preaching and working miracles. The crowd was slowly moving up the road toward me. I watched as it drew closer and closer, then I remembered that I should hide myself, some of these people would surely know who I was. I even thought for a moment that I would just ignore all this sudden excitement and go on my way. But curiosity got the better of me and I stood there and watched as the crowd of people got closer. They seemed to be encircled around a single figure as they walked and there was much excitement and loud talking. There were children darting in and out and there were men and women alike walking along. The attention was definitely fixed on a single person in the center of the group as they moved up the road toward me. This had to be that man named Jesus. 

          I suddenly realized that if I was going to get a glimpse of this person, I would need to get up high and out of the way. I was much too short to see over this mob of people. I quickly slung the bag of coins over my shoulder and looked around for a sizable tree to climb up in. I ran a little further up the road ahead of them to a large Sycamore tree by the side of the road. I climbed up several branches, being careful not to spill my days’ work. I quickly straddled a good sized branch and looked back toward the oncoming crowd. I then got my first glimpse of the person in the center of all the commotion. It was indeed a man; he was dressed in a robe similar to the others. He was walking with a staff as if he had been traveling a long way. The people that were walking along could hardly look away from him. I watched and as they were almost upon me, several of the people started pointing up at me and laughing. I felt foolish, I knew they recognized me and I was about to be ridiculed. The crowd was now even with the tree that I was in. I looked down at the man and he looked up at me and stopped. The whole crowd immediately came to a stop. He looked me right in the eye, it was as if he could see right though me. His eyes were warm, yet intense. I felt a strange sensation throughout my body, the hair on the back of my neck tingled. A small limb on the tree started shaking; the one my hand was on for balance. I could not look away, and had no desire to. The crowd continued its rumbling and I heard my name several times, but the noise seemed to become distant. I was locked in on this man’s eyes. The noise of the crowd gradually became a murmur, then silence. After what seemed like forever, the man spoke, “Zacchaeus, come down from there immediately. I must stay at your house today.” (Luke 19:5). 

          He addressed me by my name! What could that mean? “Stay at my house” I thought. Suddenly for some unknown reason, I felt overjoyed. My body started moving before I was ready; I scurried down out of the tree before I could fall. Some people in the crowd stepped back out of the way. I dropped the bag of money next to my feet. I looked up, shaded my eyes from the sun, and looked upon the face of Jesus. I cleared my suddenly dry throat and stammered a bit. “Stay at my house?” I heard myself say. “Yes… yes, stay at my house; you are welcome in my house!” I said with sudden excitement. I heard the people standing around start to grumble and talk among themselves. I looked at no one except this man. He smiled as if amused by me. “Now?” I asked almost giddy. He nodded, so I bent over and slung the bag of coins over my shoulder and begin to walk back toward the city. What was I doing? Why was I so excited about this visitor? Why was this man interested in ME of all people? I was not a Godly man; I was not even a good person. I walked on looking back ever so often. Most of the crowd had dropped back behind Jesus; some of them had even stopped and were not following anymore. I wondered again, why does Jesus want to come to my house? Does he know that I am probably the most hated person in the city? Why would he want to associate himself with me? Then I heard one of the men behind say in a loud voice “He has gone to be the guest of a 'sinner.'” (Luke 19:7). I felt my face get hot, I felt sick to my stomach, but I kept walking. I did not want to turn and look at Jesus after that. 

          I headed down one of the side roads, the road that led to my house; I could still hear the people behind me. As we got to my house, I stopped and turned around. There were still a lot of people behind Jesus, but they had become quiet. I led Jesus through the door and called to my servant to bring food and drink. I set my heavy collection bag on the floor. I suddenly felt ashamed of it. I felt ashamed of all the luxurious possessions that I had around in my house. I felt ashamed of everything I stood for. I didn’t understand what was happening to me or why, but I knew I wanted to be in the presence of this person. I still didn’t understand why he was here in my house or why he chose me to visit with. I looked back outside and the people were all gathered together in front, others were walking up from all directions. Jesus and I broke bread together and drank of the cool water my servant brought us. I didn’t realize how thirsty I had become. I sat and listened as Jesus spoke. He spoke with wisdom like no other man I had ever known. 

          When we had finished our meal and were rested, Jesus prepared to leave. It was almost as if he came to my house for the benefit of the people outside, to make a point or something. I followed him to the door and watched as he walked toward the crowd. I turned and picked up the collections bag I had been carrying all day and hurried out the door behind him. One of the men was handing Jesus back his staff when I stopped in the middle of the road and dropped the bag on the ground spilling some of the money. I then said "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." (Luke 19:8). Jesus turned and looked at me knowingly. After a moment He said in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear, "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 19:9-10).

          After this He went on to speak to the crowd. He preached to them and told them a parable. I stood and listened intently. When He was finished, He looked back at me and smiled. He then began to slowly make his way back up the road. The crowd, which had grown considerably, followed on. I walked along behind them for a time until Jesus got back to the main road. He was now heading in the direction of Jerusalem. I stopped and watched as He and the crowd slowly moved up the road. I had completely forgotten what I had been doing that day up to that point. I had a feeling of excitement though, a renewal of spirit. I picked up my heavy leather bag of money and headed toward the house of the raucous boys, my bag was about to get a lot lighter.