What does Luke 19:8 mean?
Later, the apostle Paul will write, "God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance" (Romans 2:4). This certainly seems to be the case with Jesus and tax collectors. Since the beginning of His ministry, Jesus has shown kindness and grace to tax collectors, who were hated in that era. Enough of these men have responded with humble repentance that Jesus made a parable comparing them to the self-righteous Pharisees (Luke 5:27–32; 18:9–14).Zacchaeus is a tax collector who takes money from other Jews for himself and the Roman government. He works for the Gentile occupiers and uses their authority to get rich off the money of his fellow Jews. His association with the Romans has made him unclean ceremonially and socially, and the crowd can't figure out why Jesus wants anything to do with him (Luke 19:1–7).
We don't know what kind of conversation Jesus and Zacchaeus had before this point, but it was powerful. Zacchaeus wholeheartedly repents of his sin. He not only offers to pay people back, but he also adds a fee equivalent to the strongest penalty found in the Mosaic law, one reserved for someone who stole an animal and didn't return it either because he sold the animal or it died (Exodus 22:1). And he promises to give half his possessions to the poor.
Zacchaeus is the foil for the rich young ruler who longed for eternal life but not at the expense of his worldly comfort (Luke 18:18–23). And he is a spiritual cousin to the blind beggar whose desire to meet Jesus resulted in life-changing sight (Luke 18:35–43).
Jesus is days from His experience on the cross. But even with such a short time to live, He seeks and saves the lost (Luke 19:10).
