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Zacchaeus


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Zacchaeus was a tax collector. In fact, he was chief tax collector and a wealthy man.

Tax collectors were hated because they sometimes cheated people by collecting more than they should. They gave part of the money to the government and kept the rest for themselves.

When the tax collectors asked John the Baptist what they should do, he told them to not collect more than they were required to.

Many times in the Bible they are grouped with sinners, pagans, and immoral people. However, Jesus portrayed many of them as teachable and ready to repent. The parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector shows the contrast in their attitudes. The Pharisee was proud of his goodness, but the tax collector was humble and asked for forgiveness. You can read this parable in Luke 18:10-14.

Zacchaeus was such a man. He wanted to see Jesus, but he was not very tall. All his life he had trouble seeing over the heads and shoulders of people in crowds. He had an idea. He would run ahead of the crowd and climb up in the sycamore fig tree that was beside the path where Jesus would walk.

His short legs carried him to the spot, and he climbed the tree. What an excellent place! We could say he had a "front row seat".

When Jesus got to the tree, he looked up at Zacchaeus. He told him to come down, immediately. He wanted to go to Zacchaeus' house! Zacchaeus was so excited. He climbed down and welcomed Jesus.

People began to criticize Jesus because he was going to the house of a "sinner", but Zacchaeus was a repentant sinner. He was sorry for the bad things he had done. He told the Lord that he would give half of his possessions to the poor, and if he had cheated anybody out of anything, he would give back four times that amount.

Jesus was pleased with this little man's excellent attitude of heart. He said, "Today salvation has come to this house."

Read the story in Spanish Zaqueo

Read the story in Amharic Amharic Story Link

What does this story
mean to me?

Zacchaeus was a little man with a big problem. He wanted to see Jesus, but because he was so short, he couldn't see over the people in front of him. But he didn't just give up and go home. No, he looked for a way to solve his problem.

When you face a problem, don't be quick to give up. Try to think of all the ways you can solve that problem. Some of your ideas might not work at all, but keep trying to find one that will work.

You can read about Zacchaeus in the Bible in
Luke 19:1-10

Memory Verse

The Son of Man has come to seek and save that which was lost. Luke 19:10 (NKJV)

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Song of Zacchaeus

Memory Puzzle Zacchaeus

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Research Links

English Bible Activities Select story #216 in the list for activities to accompany this Bible story.

Spanish Bible Activities Select story #216 in the list for activities to accompany this Bible story.

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Graphic courtesy of The Bread Site public domain clipart collection

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2015-06-24
This is a wonderful site. Thank you for building it. I have not seen so much Bible teaching material on any site before.
Susan
2015-03-15
You’ll find Grandma’s version of the Zacchaeus song at:
http://www.mygrandmatime.com/3019-2/visit-with-grandma/sing-with-gra ndma/zacchaeus/
ShirleyGrandma
2013-03-13
Thank so much for making this website. It's really helpful for the parents and teachers to have ideas and visual materials to teach the kids. It's also interesting for kids to learn Bible from this website.

One thing I concern is that the Slide Show doesn't work and not able to save to desktop.

No, you cannot save the slideshows because they are flash presentations and are made with copyrighted pictures.
You can order a DVD of the 100 Bible Slideshows here: http://gospelservices.com/product26.shtml for $39.99 + shipping. If you live outside the United States, postage is considerably higher.

2012-09-27
THANK YOU. IT WILL BE USEFUL TO ME IN NEXT SUNDAY WORSHIP IN OUR CHURCH.

NICOLSON - PASTOR 9394220628
B. NICOLSON
2011-06-28
This site has truely been a blessing to me I teach summer camp and the lessons have made my task so much easier and exciting for the kids to learn about the bible. Thank You for your gifted talents to produce a web page for God's people.
kim
2011-03-17
I am truely grateful for this life changing site. I use it to teach my children about christ. I believe that one day they would give their life to Christ because of the truth found in these lessons. I have recommended this site to my friend as well. Please continue to preach Christ to the lost generation. May God provide for all your needs. Abby
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