Up a Tree

Sometimes you need to go to extremes to get noticed.

He entered Jericho and was passing through it. A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today." So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. All who saw it began to grumble and said, "He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner." Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, "Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much." Then Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost."  - Luke 19:1-10

Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector, a sinner, but he couldn't have been all bad, could he?

He said he will give away half his wealth to the poor. You would think that if he cheated anyone, that would account for it, but wait.

He also will pay back fourfold anyone he defrauded.

If he cheated everyone, he would not have enough money to do that.

So, he couldn't have been all bad, right?

For me, this is like one of those math problems you get on a final exam. I feel I have to solve it. How much could he have made honestly to cover what he needs to pay back?

Or, how dishonest could he have been?

If he gives away half his money, and offers four times what he acquired by fraud, then the most he could have defrauded people was one eight or twelve and a half percent of his wealth, right?

 That's not so bad, is it?

More to come...