“Zacchaeus, hurry down; for I must stay in your house today” ( Luke 19:5)

Zacchaeus’ motive for seeing Jesus was simple. He just wanted to satisfy his own curiosity. He was short among the crowd so he climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus. He considered it worthwhile to exert some effort in order to be able to look at Jesus. Being a tax collector, he understood that there was no free lunch in the world.

Although Zacchaeus’ curiosity might be done unintentionally, Jesus was serious to take every opportunity to lead mankind back to God. “Zacchaeus, hurry down; for I must stay in your house today”. These words, though unintentionally spoken by Jesus, implied also Jesus’ love and mercy to all mankind.

When Jesus came to his house, Zacchaeus promised to give half of his belongings to the poor. Also, he was willing to pay back four times the money he had cheated from other people. He had discarded everything that was important to him in the past.

It is obvious that a person, totally believed in God, will regard things from the outside world as unimportant.