Zacchaeus

Zacchaeus was a Jewish tax collector of Jericho. The New Testament of the Bible tells of his encounter with Jesus of Nazareth. The name is a Greek form of the Hebrew Zakkai, meaning " the righteous ".

New Testament story

According to Luke 19:1-10 Zacchaeus EU was a " chief tax collector " and " rich ". In contrast, he was " small in stature ": He climbed a sycamore - fig tree to observe the expected from a multitude entry of Jesus into the city can. Quite surprisingly, Jesus greeted him in passing with his name and then returns to Zacchaeus ' house one.

The witnesses from the crowd grumble about it: If a sinner he has returned. Due to the care of Jesus Zacchaeus changed his whole life and vows before God, to give half his possessions to the poor and looted Good to repay fourfold. Jesus responds with the promise of salvation for his family and affirms:

Former social background

This episode illustrates a basic feature of the preaching of Jesus, who just turned to the then despised in Israel groups. " Publicans " were used by the Romans to collect tribute and taxes from the Jewish population. They were hated as collaborators with the occupation and were socially isolated. They denied their own livelihood often by excessive demands and embezzlement, so a modest prosperity - at that time, however, far exceeded the average income and thus was regarded as wealth - to obtain. This in turn reinforced the rejection of the people who they found. Even in religious matters they were considered sinners who converted with robbery and aiding and abetting robbery the traditional Torah and passed on the people of God.

Theological Significance

Jesus unexpected turn towards this group of people can be seen as sign of his entire message of salvation and the goal of his mission apply. Some Pharisees rejected his feasts with " publicans and sinners " Strongly object. To you it should have said after the earlier Gospel of Mark: The no need of a physician, but the sick. I am not come to call sinners, not the righteous. He said on the one hand the present Pharisees for anyway "just", on the other hand, the rich for " weak".

He was as a penniless itinerant preacher from Galilee even to the poorest of the poor. On his arrival in Jericho, which was on the way to Jerusalem, he had probably already gained a reputation as a prophet of the kingdom of God and faith healer who gave him also in the southern kingdom of Judah was ahead. The retreat at Zacchaeus shows how Jesus the " sinner " cited: by breaking through their isolation and their guest as God gave them the present.

The conflict between rich and poor, the just, the Evangelist Luke emphasizes, is overcome by the unexpected encounter between the Messiah of the poor and the representative of the rich Jewish upper class, who lived from the exploitation of the poor fellow Jews: The rich are voluntarily be looted Good back. Then Jesus' promise of salvation takes him again in the people of God. Thus he fulfilled his mission to the " lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Mt 10,5 EU).

The text is one of the substances which have only delivers the Gospel of Luke ( the so-called special material ) and is - similar to the story of the " Prodigal Son " (Luke 15:11-32 EU) - a basic motif of Lukan theology dar. This was the author overheard at the same time the rich exhort his congregation to make also half of their property.

The theme of rich and poor plays elsewhere in Luke a big role. So he is in the song of Mary, in the first sermon of Jesus, in his Sermon on the Plain, in the Lazarus story, inter alia, social justice and revolution, which will bring the Messiah of Israel, not in the foreground. The Jerusalem church, he presents as community property in which everything belonged to all ( Acts 2:44 f EU): "They [ ... ] had everything in common. " This was followed by the early Christians Jesus' call to his followers to give up everything.

However, in the story of Zacchaeus the common property is already weakened to the " intra- municipal ownership compensation " (Wolfgang Stegemann ): The rich should not everything, but only half his possessions to give up when he became a Christian. However, as the Christians of the second generation retained the goal of overcoming the unjust conditions that divided whole people of God, and in the international mission in the Roman Empire.