Forever Changed (Revised): A Journey in Jericho

Forever Changed is Book of the Year Finalist with Foreword Magazine. Just why would a nice Jewish boy grow up to be a despised tax collector in first century Jericho? Then you must ask yourself, why would Zacchaeus go out on a limb to see the latest in a long line of would-be Messiahs? It's easy to forget that personalities of ancient times had real lives. Joys, disappointments, growing pains, short comings, maybe just a bad day. There is so much more to see when one digs beneath the obvious and finds, the world has changed in two thousand years but life is much the same. Zacchaeus did have a life but a life full of surprise he could have lived without. He was six when his dad announced, Zacchaeus, your mother is dead. A short boy, picked on by his peers, now motherless and without a refuge. Until he becomes enchanted with his religion. A new sanctuary. He considers a rabbinical career but happens on his mentor with one of the many town harlots. His dreams are shattered, his hopes vanish and his faith, well that too has disappeared. He joins his father in the tax collecting business, becomes set for life and the big man in town. When his father dies, Zacchaeus inherits the worst of tax routes. A blind man, a woman with an issue of blood, a demoniac and a widow about to bury her only son. They don't have his tax money and beg off for thirty days. Zacchaeus is in trouble. His collections are due. He returns to his route, but now Yeshua has passed by. Zac is amazed. They have his taxes and their lives are changed. He rushes to town to see this Yeshua but the crowds are too big. He can't get to Yeshua. He can't even see him. I know what I'll do. I'll run to the center of town and wait for Yeshua to pass by. He did. Yeshua did not pass by. He stopped right under Zacchaeus. Come down, I'm coming to your house today. A holy man in a sinner's house. Zac throws a party and invites the whole town. He knows something has changed and that something is him.