Zacchaeus

Zacchaeus (Greek form of the Hebrew Zaccai, meaning pure) was the chief tax-collector (architelones) at Jericho, described as wealthy, who climbed a sycamore tree to see Jesus as he passed through the city (Luke 19:1–10). As a senior customs official in one of Judea's most commercially important cities — Jericho controlled the balsam trade — Zacchaeus would have been both prosperous and despised, since tax-collectors worked for the Roman system and were considered collaborators and extortionists.

Jesus stopped beneath the tree, called Zacchaeus by name, and invited himself to the tax-collector's house, declaring: I must stay at your house today. The crowd grumbled that Jesus had gone to stay with a sinner. But Zacchaeus stood and declared: Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold. Jesus responded: Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost — a statement that crystallizes the purpose of the entire Lukan narrative.