Zacchaeus was the chief tax collector and a wealthy man. In his day and age these were not things that would endear him to his fellow Jews. Zacchaeus worked for the occupying Roman government, extorted taxes and fees from his own countrymen, and became wealthy in the process.  He was not part of the Roman world. He was not part of the Jewish world. He is betwixt and between. He is lost

“For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost.”  The story of Jesus and Zacchaeus is a story of the seeker encountering the lost. And in that encounter, what was lost is found.  A heart was changed. The one whose choices in life led to exclusion from his people and family seems to have made an abrupt about-face.  Choices were being unmade and consequences of choices were bring undone. Continue reading →