As Jesus entered and passed through Jericho, there was a rich man named Zacchaeus, who was the chief tax collector. And he wanted to see Jesus, wanting to know who he was, but he couldn’t see through the crowd since he was a short person. So, he went to the road on which Jesus would arrive before he got there and climbed up in a sycamore tree to see him.

And when Jesus came by, he looked up and saw him, and said to him, “Zacchaeus, get down quickly, for I need to stay with you today.”

Quickly, he climbed down and took him home with him, joyfully. When the crowd saw it, they all murmured to each other, saying, “He has gone to be the guest of a man that is a sinner.”

And Zacchaeus stood, and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, half of all I have I, here and now, give to the poor.  And if I have cheated anyone by false demands, I will pay him back four times.”

And Jesus said to him, “Today, salvation has come to this house, because this man is also a son of Abraham. For the Son of man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

Because he was enroute to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God was about to come into being, he gave them this parable. He said, “A certain nobleman left for a distant country to receive a kingdom for himself and then return. He gathered his ten servants, and entrusted them with ten minas, a quarter-year’s assets. He said to them, “Occupy until I return.”

But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, “We will not have this man to reign over us.”

And it came to pass, that after he received his kingdom and returned, he called together the servants to whom he had given the money, so he would know how much each one had gained by trading his assets.

The first one came and said, “Lord, your mina has grown to ten.”

And he said to him, “Well done, you good servant. Because you have been faithful in a very little, receive rule over ten cities.”

And the second one came and said, “Lord, your mina has grown to five.”

And he said the same to him, saying, “Rule over five cities.”

And another came, saying, “Lord, look, here is your mina. I have kept it put away in a napkin, because I was afraid, knowing you are a stern man. You pick up what you didn’t lay down, and reap where you didn’t sow.”

And he said to him, “I will judge you by what you’ve just said, you wicked servant. You know that I am a stern man, picking up what I did not lay down, and reaping what I did not sow. Why, then, didn’t you just put my money in the bank, so when I returned, I would at least gain interest on my money?

Then he said to those standing by, “Take his mina and give it to the one who has ten.”

But they objected and said to him, “Lord, he already has ten.”

“But I say to you, that to everyone who has, it shall be given; and from him without, even what he has shall be taken away from him. But those enemies, who rejected my rule over them, bring them here and kill them before me.”

And after the time of teaching, he continued to go, climbing up to Jerusalem.