Luke 19:2
“There was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector, and he was rich.”
What does Luke 19:2 mean?
Zacchaeus held one of the most despised jobs in his community. Tax collectors in Roman-occupied Israel were seen as traitors who enriched themselves by squeezing money from their own people, and the chief tax collector would have been especially resented. His wealth only deepened people's suspicion that he'd grown rich through corruption and exploitation. Yet Luke introduces him this way before telling us what happens next, inviting us to consider someone the world had already written off as irredeemable.