| ZACCHAEUS |
| Did you ever know anyone that no one liked? Maybe sometimes you feel like no one likes you. Well, no one liked Zacchaeus. When his friends in school found out he was smarter than they were, they quit being friends with him. He made them look dumb. When he got grown, he was shorter than everyone else too. People made fun of him, and no one wanted to be seen with him. Zacchaeus tried to get a job as a banker or merchant. But no one would hire him because he was so smart and they were afraid he would get their job from them. Foreign Romans who ruled his country needed someone to collect taxes. People hated tax collectors. But nobody liked Zacchaeus anyway, so he became a tax collector. One day he met Matthew. Matthew was a tax collector way up north at the other end of the country. They became good friends. Later Matthew became an apostle to Jesus. When Jesus turned water to wine, Zacchaeus wanted to learn how so he could make money selling this wine that cost him nothing. Matthew told him the power of miracles was not for sale. Whenever Matthew went to Jerusalem for one of the three main religious gatherings at the Temple, Matthew would visit his friend Zacchaeus. Matthew told Zacchaeus he quit his job as a tax collector so he could help Jesus teach people about God's love. But ?Zacchaeus kept working and got richer and richer. Matthew also told him that Jesus said we should give part of our pay to poor people. Then God would multiply that money in heaven for us when we get there. This sounded strange. Finally Jesus went to Jericho where Zacchaeus was living. Of course Matthew was with him. There was a big parade in town welcoming the future king ~ Jesus. Zacchaeus could not see Jesus over the crowd, so he climbed a tree. Just then Jesus passed by, looked up into the tree, and told Zacchaeus he would like to go home with him. Jesus was not a mamby-pamby like Zacchaeus thought he would be. Zacchaeus wanted to make Jesus happy, so he decided to give most of his money away to help the poor. Do you sometimes feel as though no one likes you? Jesus will always like you no matter what. Forever and ever he will like you. He wants to be your forever friend. |