Zacchaeus - Out On A Limb

Zacchaeus was wealthy. Some would say that he got his money by cheating people out of their taxes by overcharging them. But that is not what Luke says, nor Jesus nor Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus says "if" he had cheated anyone out of anything. Not that he did. Sometimes today we look at people who are wealthy and can wonder what illegal thing they did to get wealthy. Some people do it right. They work hard, they spend less than they make, they invest. It grows. I get the impression that Zacchaeus was like that. Honest and hard working - I know boring. It is more exciting to think that he cheated people. Because he was a tax collector and the Jews shunned him, it was easy to say he was a cheat.