Zacchaeus

In the city of Jericho there lived a man who was a tax collector. His name was Zacchaeus.

Luke 19:1 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 being a short man he could not, because of 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 what was lost."

The people didn’t like tax collectors. Many tax collectors cheated the people and they often got more taxes than they were supposed to get.

Many tax collectors in this time would keep the extra money for themselves. Zacchaeus wasn’t just any tax collector, he was the head of the tax collectors and Zacchaeus had a lot of money.

One day, Jesus came to Jericho and a large crowd came out to see him. Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus but he was a short man and couldn’t see over the crowd. Zacchaeus ran ahead of the crowd and climbed up in a Sycamore-fig tree and waited for Jesus to come by the tree.

This coloring page is also available in the printable graphic worksheet above.

When Jesus came by the tree he stopped and looked up in the tree and told Zacchaeus to come down from the tree. He told Zacchaeus that he was going to go to his house that day.

This coloring page is also available in the printable graphic worksheet above.

Zacchaeus came right down out of the tree. All the people saw this and began to complain. They said that Zacchaeus was a sinner.

But Zacchaeus said he would give half of all he owned to the poor and if he had cheated anyone he would give them four times what he had taken. Jesus told Zacchaeus that that salvation had come to him today. Jesus said that He came to seek and save what was lost. Then Jesus went home with Zacchaeus.