Jesus went on into Jericho and was passing through. There was a chief tax collector there, named Zacchaeus, who was rich. He was trying to see Who Jesus was, but he was a little man and could not see Jesus because of the crowd. So he ran ahead of the crowd and climbed a sycamore tree to see Jesus, Who would be going that way. When Jesus came to that place, He looked up and said to Zacchaeus, "Hurry down, Zacchaeus, because I must stay in your house today."

   Zacchaeus hurried down and welcomed Him with great joy. All the people who saw it started grumbling, "This man has gone as a guest to the home of a sinner!" Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, "Listen, Sir! I will give half my belongings to the poor; and if I have cheated anyone, I will pay him back four times as much."

   Jesus said to him, "Salvation has come to this house today; this man, also, is a descendant of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost."

   Jesus also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves and were confident that they were righteous [that is, that they were upright and in right standing with God], and scorned and made nothing of all the rest of men: "Two men went up into the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee took his stand ostentatiously, and began to pray thus before and with himself; 'God, I thank You that I am not as the rest of men, extortioners, (robbers), swindlers - unrighteous in heart and life - adulterers, or even like this tax collector here. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I gain.'

   "But the tax collector, [merely] standing at a distance, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven; but, kept striking his breast, saying, 'O God, be favorable (be gracious, be merciful) to me, the especially wicked sinner that I am!'

   "I tell you, this man went down to his home justified - forgiven and made upright and in right standing with God - rather than the other man; for every one who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted."

Taken from Luke 19, 18, Today's English Version, The New American Standard and
The Amplified Bible. For free Lifescope book, write to Box 1575, Carlsbad, NM 88221.
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