Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for the Bible Recap.

In Luke's account, Jesus hasn't yet entered Jerusalem for the Passover celebration,

so you'll just have to do a little time travel in your head to a few days ago.

He's on his way to Jerusalem, and he's passing through Jericho, which is about 10 miles to the

northeast. It's called the City of Palms, and when you pass it in the desert, it looks like an

oasis. It's also considered to be possibly the oldest city in the world. There's a big

crowd heading into Jerusalem for the holiday, and Jesus is just one of the many.

But a tax collector named Zachias is super curious about him and is hoping to catch a glimpse of him as he's passing through town.

What I love about this story is that Zacchaeus doesn't need anything tangible from Jesus.

He's not sick.

He's not demonized.

All seems to be well in his world.

In fact, he's one of the most wealthy,

powerful men in town. He's just deeply curious. It's easy to realize our need for God when we

have a tangible, real need, but for a wealthy businessman to be curious about Jesus is a different

thing altogether. He's so intrigued that he climbs a tree to see Jesus.

What do you think prompts a person like Zacchaeus to have curiosity like that?

Jesus looks up at him, calls him by his name, and is like,

I'm coming for dinner tonight.

I hope you have dried figs and chicken minis in the pantry somewhere.

While the very act of inviting himself to dinner anywhere

might shock some people, the locals are more shocked that he wants to eat with Zakias at all. He's a sinner.

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