Jesus calling Zacchaeus Painting by Jacopo Palma il Giovanni
Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
The Call of Zacchaeus
Zacchaeus was a little man, despised by everyone in Jericho because he was a Chief Tax Collector for the Romans and had become very rich from his ill-gotten gains. He was desperate to see this famous teacher who was drawing vast crowds, but he was so small he had to climb a sycamore tree to catch sight of Jesus as he passed through Jericho. 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 came 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 the lost.”