Excerpt from chapter 3

 

 

Our story centers around Zacchaeus, and like the woman at the well, he meets Jared instead of Jesus.

 

 

Jared entered Jericho and was passing through. His notoriety had preceded him, and many gathered on the streets to see him enter the town. So many people, in fact, that the streets were crowded. A man named Zacchaeus, a chief tax collector, was there. He had heard about Jared and wanted to see him, but because he was short, he couldn’t see over the crowd. He dared not ask people to let him see because he knew he was despised by everyone. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore fig tree to get a good view of Jared.

 

When Jared saw him up in the tree, he waved to Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus climbed down and approached Jared in the street in front of everyone. As he neared Jared, Jared overheard people saying, “What is the chief tax collector doing here?” Zacchaeus tuned this out as he always did, but when Jared heard this, he frowned and took a step back away from Zacchaeus. He had not known who Zacchaeus was before he waved at him. But Zacchaeus continued toward Jared and held out his hand. Jared quickly shook it and started looking around at everyone else.

 

Zacchaeus was nervous and knew everyone was staring at him but felt that if Jared was willing to shake his hand, then maybe he would be willing to have dinner with him. He wanted to invite Jared to his house, but he was also apprehensive. He felt that it might be okay since Jared did shake his hand.

 

Zacchaeus asked, “I was, um, wondering if, maybe, um, if, uh, if you would like to have dinner with me.”

 

Jared glanced over at the crowd that could overhear the conversation. He saw one person shaking their head in disbelief, heard someone gasp, and heard others saying, “I can’t believe the gall,” “Can you believe he would invite Jared to dinner?” and “Who does he think he is?” Jared turned back to Zacchaeus and responded, “Thanks, but I’m kind of busy today. I’ll be speaking tonight and hope you can make it.”

 

Jared then stepped to the side and started to move away from Zacchaeus when he blurted out, “Do you have a place to stay? You could stay with me.”

 

Jared turned and said, “You’re the chief tax collector, right?” Without waiting for an answer, Jared continued moving and looked back over his shoulder and said, “I don’t think it would be a good idea for me to stay with you, but make sure you come tonight. My message is on love and acceptance and always gets a large turnout.”

 

Jared looked at someone in his entourage and tilted his head toward Zacchaeus. The large man stepped over, took Zacchaeus by the arm, and walked him away from Jared. Jared then turned back to the crowd, put on a large smile, and continued to wave and walk down the street. As they were walking, he said to someone else in his entourage, “I’m hungry, can you find a place to eat and also a place for us to sleep tonight?”