Almsgiving and Restitution to Turn to Yahuwah and to Follow Yahushua

The King James Version (KJV) is mostly used in these lessons. Click here to access the KJV online.

Zacchaeus’s response is indeed a response of repentance considering John’s instructions (and ultimately Yahushua’s to the rich ruler). Zacchaeus pledges to give half of his possessions to the poor. John advises the crowds to give a tunic if one has two—so half of one’s possessions. Zacchaeus also pledges to repay any extortion four times over. John advises tax-collectors to stop collecting more tax than necessary. This pledge of repayment goes beyond John’s instructions. And in light of these pledges, Yahushua announces that “salvation has come to this house.” Yahushua has brokered the return of Zacchaeus who comes to salvation through his pledge to assist the poor and repay the victims of extortion. Indeed, Zacchaeus becomes a new disciple who has recognized his need for redemption, repentance, and purity, and he enacts almsgiving and restitution to turn to Yahuwah and to follow Christ. Zaccheaus’s story represents the culmination of one thread in the Gospel of Luke of how to find purity through repentance and almsgiving. In doing so, Zaccheaus models a disciple who, though sinful due to greed and extortion, now bears good fruit of repentance through concrete acts of almsgiving and restitution.⁶²

The stories in the Gospel of Luke, centered around almsgiving, wealth, and repentance build a case for understanding the importance of almsgiving as a practice for the Christian disciple. Almsgiving for the sinner becomes a way of repentance whereby the sinner turns to Yahuwah and away from his faith in his own wealth and possessions. In this turning to Yahuwah, the sinner places his faith in Yahuwah and repents for his sin-debt that he has accrued due to his misplaced concern for wealth and possessions. And subsequently, the sinner finds salvation in Christ and thereby accrues a heavenly treasure. The sinner who was once lost has been found: “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost” (Luke 19:10).