I.

In Chapter 19 of Luke, we have the account of one Zacchaeus, a wealthy tax-collector in Jericho. As he seems to have been short in stature, he climbs a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus who was passing by. I once read an alternate interpretation that argued that he climbed the tree because Jesus was short. Zachaeus just wanted to peer over the heads of normally sized people blocking his view. In any case, Jesus spots him in the tree and tells him to climb down. Jesus “means to stay” at his house that day. Jesus assumes the man’s hospitality.

When they all arrived at Zachaeus’ home, “everyone began to murmur.” What was Jesus doing fraternizing with sinners? Tax-collectors were evidently both rich and in a sinful trade. But Zachaeus “stood his ground.” He gives half his belongings to the poor. If he defrauded anyone, he paid back “four times” the cost. Jesus tells him that “this day” “salvation” has come to Zachaeus’ house. “The Son of Man came to search out and save what was lost.”

If we look at that passage, several issues seem clear. If Zachaeus were not wealthy, he could give nothing to the poor. He was not only just but generous; he gave back more than he needed to give. Salvation could come to a man who was rich, even to a wealthy sinner, still rich even after giving half his possessions away. The issue was not whether he was rich or not, but what he did with his riches. Christ did not request that he give the rest of his income away to become poor. Nor did he ask him to find a better job that did not have the taint of sin. Likewise, he did not ask Zachaeus, like the other tax-collector, Matthew, to come and follow him as an apostle. We are mindful here of the parable of the talents in which the only one reprimanded was the man with one talent who did not invest it to produce more wealth.

Read the article “Will the Poor Really Always Be With Us?” on crisismagazine.com.