Can someone really change?
Zacchaeus, a rich chief tax collector nobody likes, is too short to see Jesus over the crowd, so he climbs a sycamore tree. Jesus stops, calls him by name and invites himself to dinner. The crowd grumbles, and Zacchaeus stands up and promises to give half his money to the poor and pay back four times anyone he cheated.
Zacchaeus, a rich chief tax collector nobody likes, is too short to see Jesus over the crowd, so he climbs a sycamore tree. Jesus stops, calls him by name and invites himself to dinner. The crowd grumbles, and Zacchaeus stands up and promises to give half his money to the poor and pay back four times anyone he cheated.
Kids play Zacchaeus, someone in the grumbling crowd, and someone he cheated, make 5 choices, and stop twice to look through different ways of knowing, including what labels like “sinner” can and can’t tell us.
Ages 4–9
Jesus says why: “The Son of Man came to seek and save the lost.” Being chosen first is what changed Zacchaeus.
Luke 19:1–10. Zacchaeus is a chief tax collector in Jericho, rich from overcharging his neighbors, and short enough that he climbs a sycamore tree to see Jesus pass. Jesus stops, calls him by name and invites himself to dinner. The crowd grumbles. Zacchaeus stands up and gives half his wealth to the poor and pays back four times what he cheated. Jesus says, “Today salvation has come to this house.”