Who was Zacchaeus? I don’t recall such a name in Liam Neeson’s Honest Thief movie

He didn’t feature in the movie

Ok, who was he?

A very wealthy man.

Ok.

He became wealthy by preying on others

How many wealthy people do you know who do not do the same?

Don’t be presumptuous. Anyway, his actions created the perfect conditions necessary for many honest thieves to emerge

What happened?

After amassing a huge reserve of wealth, he lost it

What did he lose?

The pleasure of being wealthy. The more wealthy he became the less happy he was until he met someone

Who?

Jesus

Oh, is that where this is going?

If we knew the way, should we not take it? That’s up to you. It’s your personal decision. You’re saying our decisions have consequences

Always. But tell me, what did Zacchaeus do to discourage an honest thief situation?

He offered to restitute part of his wealth. He offered to give away half of his wealth to the poor and a four-fold return to everyone he cheated over the years

Mm!

What do you mean by Mm? Thought you were going to commend him for dousing a potential honest thief situation

Ok. But he created the situation in the first place. Should he be commended for doing something that was not necessary from the beginning? Anyway, let it be on record that I commend him for doing that but did he remain in his line of work after this moment?

I don’t know, why?

I don’t know. I was just thinking about the story and the present times we live in. Can you picture any of the very wealthy persons you know? What do you think will happen if any of them decide to do like Zacchaeus?

I don’t know

Think my friend

Ok. Are you saying there will be a vacuum?

Do you think there would be?

Nature abhors vacuum

You’re not saying we will always have the honest thief situation with us?

Is that what you think?

Didn’t you say nature abhors vacuum? If I understand you, Zacchaeus probably left his line of work but another ambitious fellow, one who always admired his riches, his reach, influence and power, would have jumped at the opportunity to become the new lord. Or what do you think?