Zacchaeus was a dishonest man whose curiosity led him to Jesus Christ. His name means "pure one" or "innocent" in Hebrew. He was a short man. He wanted to see Jesus. Zacchaeus had to climb a tree to catch a glimpse of Jesus passing by.

Zacchaeus the Tax Collector

¹ 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.”

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Zacchaeus was curious about Jesus. He wanted to learn more. Jesus accepted him and went to his house to eat and to talk. Zacchaeus hoped to be a different person. This hope and his trust in Jesus made changes in his life. He returned money from those he had corruptly mistreated. He showed the evidences of a changed life.