Luke 19:1-10
Scripture:
Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. 3 He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short, he could not see over the crowd. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.
5 When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.
7 All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”
8 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.”
9 Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
Story:
Zacchaeus was a man who didn’t have love in his heart. He did things that weren’t nice. He took more money from people than the law required. People did not like him. One day he heard that Jesus was coming to his town. People knew that Jesus taught them about God’s love. They wanted to see Him, so they went to the road and waited. Zacchaeus went too, but he couldn’t see, because he was so short. Then he got an idea. Zacchaeus climbed a tree and sat there to see Jesus. When Jesus came by, He looked up and told Zacchaeus to come down so He could go to Zacchaeus’ house.
Jesus showed love to Zacchaeus and that changed his heart. Now Zacchaeus had love for other people. He told Jesus he would sell half his things and give the money to poor people. He said that he would give back the money he had stolen, plus more!
Jesus knew Zacchaeus’ heart did not have love in it. But He showed love to Zacchaeus and that made him change. Jesus loves, you, too. He wants you to have a heart with love in it. He wants you to show your love to other people, just like He did.