Surprised but happy, Zacchaeus scrambled down the tree and led Jesus to his house. The other people also were surprised, but not so happy. They muttered to themselves, as many people had done before. They said,
"He's gone to be the guest of that miserable, cheating traitor of a taxgatherer!"
But Zacchaeus became a changed man that day. He said to Jesus:
"I am going to give half my money to the poor. And if I have cheated anybody I shall give back four times as much as I took."
Then Jesus was glad that he had called Zacchaeus down from the tree.
"You have been saved from your sins today, Zacchaeus," he said.
Jesus was glad that he had found at least one rich man who did not love his money more than he loved God. Zacchaeus had not been a good man. He was not like the rich young man who had kept all God's commandments since he was a boy. But when he heard Jesus speak to him, he knew that he had been in the wrong. He was ready to do what he could to show that he knew how he had sinned.
"This is what I came for," Jesus said, "to look for sinners like this man and to save them."
When Jesus got to Jerusalem, it was going to cost him a great deal to help men find a new life. But whatever it might cost him, it would be worth the price.