On his way to Jerusalem, Jesus had to pass through Jericho. There lived a very wealthy man named Zacchaeus, who supervised all the tax collectors. He was very eager to see Jesus and kept trying to get a look at him through the massive crowd. Since Zacchaeus was a short man and couldn’t see over the heads of the people, he ran on ahead of everyone and climbed up a blossoming fig tree to get a glimpse of Jesus as he passed by.
When Jesus got to that place, he looked up into the tree and said, “Zacchaeus, hurry on down, for I must stay at your house today!”
So he scurried down the tree and found himself face-to-face with Jesus.
As Jesus left to go with Zacchaeus, many in the crowd complained, “Look at this! Of all the people to have dinner with, he’s going to eat in the house of a crook.”
Zacchaeus was amazed over his gracious visit to his home and joyously welcomed Jesus. Zacchaeus stood in front of the Lord and said, “Half of all that I own I will give to the poor. And Lord, if I have cheated anyone, I promise to pay them back four times as much as I stole.”
Jesus said to him, “Your repentance shows that today life has come to you and your household, and that you are a true son of Abraham. The Son of Man has come to seek out and to give life to those who are lost.”
At this time Jesus was getting close to entering Jerusalem. The crowds that followed him were convinced that God’s kingdom would fully manifest when Jesus established it in Jerusalem. So he told them this story to change their perspective:
“Once a wealthy prince left his province to travel to a distant land, where he would be crowned king and then return. Before he departed he summoned his ten servants together and charged them, ‘I am entrusting each of you with fifty thousand dollars to invest while I am away. Trade with it and put the money to work until I return.’
“Some of his countrymen despised the prince and sent a delegation after him to declare before the royals, ‘We refuse to let this man rule over us! He will not be our king!’
“Nevertheless, he was crowned king and returned to his land. Then he summoned his ten servants to see how much each one had earned and what their profits came to.
“The first one came forward and said, ‘Master, I took what you gave me and invested it, and it multiplied ten times.’
“ ‘Splendid! You have done well, my excellent servant. Because you have shown that I can trust you in this small matter, I now grant you authority to rule over ten cities.’
“The second came and said, ‘Master, what you left with me has multiplied five times.’
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