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Zacchaeus (sometimes spelled Zaccheus; , ; , "pure, innocent") is a character in the Gospel of Luke, a chief publican at Jericho. His story includes his faith in climbing a Ficus sycomorus to see Jesus and also his generosity in giving away half of all he possessed.
Tax collectors were despised as traitors (working for the Roman Empire, not for their Jewish community), and as being corruption.
Because the lucrative production and export of balsam was centered in Jericho, such a position would have brought both importance and wealth.Morris, Leon. Luke: An Introduction and Commentary. Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1988. p. 297. In the account, he arrived before the crowd who were later to meet with Jesus, who was passing through Jericho on his way to Jerusalem. He was short in stature and so was unable to see Jesus through the crowd (Luke 19:3). Zacchaeus then ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree along Jesus's path. When Jesus reached the spot he looked up at the sycamore tree (actually a sycamore-fig Ficus sycomorus), addressed Zacchaeus by name, and told him to come down, for he intended to visit his house. The crowd was shocked that Jesus, a religious teacher/prophet, would sully himself by being a guest of a sinner.
Clement of Alexandria refers once to Zacchaeus in a way which could be read as suggesting that some identified him with apostle Matthew or Saint Matthias. Stromata Book 4 Ch 6 The New Advent Translation says "It is said, therefore, that Zaccheus, or, according to some, Matthew, the chief of the publicans, on hearing that the Lord had deigned to come to him, said, Lord, and if I have taken anything by false accusation, I restore him fourfold;" but the Greek has 4.6.35.2 Ζακχαῖον τοίνυν, οἳ δὲ Ματθίαν φασίν, ἀρχιτελώνην, ἀκηκοότα τοῦ κυρίου καταξιώσαντος πρὸς αὐτὸν γενέσθαι, ἰδοὺ τὰ ἡμίση τῶν ὑπαρχόντων μου δίδωμι ἐλεημοσύνην φάναι, κύριε, καὶ εἴ τινός τι ἐσυκοφάντησα, τετραπλοῦν ἀποδίδωμι. ἐφ' οὗ καὶ ὁ σωτὴρ εἶπεν· can just about be read as "by some said to be Matthias") However, Luke indicates that Matthias was with Jesus in the beginning since the baptism of John (). Because John preached the giving away of one's excess possessions in Luke 3:7–14, this could explain the generosity of Little Zacchaeus. John also told us that later, many of Jesus' disciples turned back and no longer followed him (). The later Apostolic Constitutions identify "Zacchaeus the Publican" as the first bishop of Caesarea (7.46).
Medieval legend identified Zacchaeus with Saint Amadour, and held him to be the founder of the French sanctuary, Rocamadour.
In Western Christianity, the gospel pericope concerning Zacchaeus is the reading for a Dedication of a Church or its anniversary. In Southern Bavaria, a red banner with a white cross may be flown outside a Church on its Kirchweih, which is consequently called the Zacchaeus flag.
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