And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:9).

Zaccheus was no ordinary tax collector. He was a chief tax collector. He was hired by Rome to collect taxes from the Jews. On this count alone, he was despised by the Jews. This is why tax collectors are often mentioned alongside sinners and unclean Gentiles. But on top of this, as a chief tax collector, he likely had other tax collectors under his authority. Thus, if tax collectors were considered "sinners" by the Jews, he would be considered the "chief sinner". 

Zaccheus had another minus among the Jews. He was rich. As if it was not enough that he collected taxes for the Romans, he also enriched himself in the process, which suggests that he cheated his own people. He even admits to as much later when he says, "If I have defrauded anyone of anything..." (Luke 19:8).

What is remarkable is that Jesus takes special notice of Zaccheus, who, because he was a short man, had climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus through the crowds. When Jesus tells Zaccheus that he is planning on staying at his house, Zaccheus is ecstatic. Jesus was a celebrity, and at this point, acclaimed as a prophet, with suggestions that He might be the Prophet, the Messiah to come. 

It is interesting that "all" of the people grumbled that Jesus was going to stay with "a man who is a sinner". If Jesus was widely known as a man of God, Zaccheus was widely known as well, but as a sinner. 

Remarkably, without any prompting from Jesus, Zaccheus tells Jesus that he will give half of everything he possessed to the poor and return four times as much to anyone he had defrauded. This was quite the opposite reaction to the rich young man, who Jesus prompted to sell his wealth, give to the poor and follow Him. That young man turned away from Jesus, choosing to trust in his riches more than in Christ. 

But by his actions Zaccheus was expressing his trust in Jesus, for to surrender his wealth in this way could only mean that he saw knowing Jesus was of greater worth than this. Paul had a similar moment of perspective:

But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ (Philippians 3:7-8).

Therefore, Jesus says of Zaccheus:

Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham (Luke 19:9).

Abraham demonstrated his faith by his works. Likewise, Zaccheus demonstrated his faith by his actions. Thus, Zaccheus too was a son of Abraham because he shared Abraham's kind of faith. I believe this is what James had in mind when he wrote,

Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did (James 2:21-22).

Friends, we are saved by faith and not by works; however, what we learn from the example of Zaccheus and Abraham is that the faith that saves is the faith that works. The nature of faith that works is described by Peter in this way:

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins. Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1:5-11).

We confirm our sovereign election to salvation by God through the good works that we do. When we do not have good works, the genuineness of our faith is appropriately called in question. For the faith that God gives us, which is the faith that saves us, is a faith that transforms us  "into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit" (2 Corinthians 3:18).

Friends, we have been saved, not to simply sit on our spiritual duffs, but to do good works (cf. Ephesians 2:8-10). If we are not actively pursuing holiness and good works, Peter says that we are "nearsighed and blind." But if we eagerly pursue these things, then we have this amazing promise: "You will never stumble, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 2:10-11).

Therefore, friends, like Zaccheus, let us make it our ambition to have a faith that works, or perhaps more pointedly, to work out our salvation (cf. Philippians 2:12-13).

Luke 19

11 As they heard these things, he proceeded to tell a parable, because he was near to Jerusalem, and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately.

26 'I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 27 But as for these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slaughter them before me.'

He didn't explicitly tell them how the kingdom will come. He basically says it will not happen like they thought. It could have though, if they had faith. But since they had not received what was given (since the Jews did not possess what was given) what they do have will be given to others, even to people like-of-the-street.

He even warns that they will be his enemies for not accepting his authority. Remember he said "if they are not against us they are for us," he also seems to take the stance if you are against him you are his enemy and will be treated as such:

41 And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, 42 saying, "Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. 43 For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side 44 and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation

"because they didn't know that they were being visited;" they did not have faith in the prophet's message, they did not have faith in the prophet of prophets, now when they are visited by the one who would satisfy all their wishes, they didn't know it.

They didn't examine the evidence and give a proper verdict. This evidence was in their possession (the writings of the prophets and the current revelation of God); this was not received, so it will be given to others - the gentiles (pulling from other verses, to make the point).

Jesus redeems a tax collector.

(Luke 19:1-9)

"Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today." So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. All the people saw this and began to mutter, "He has gone to be the guest of a sinner." But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, "Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount." Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost."

This is another example of a lost person desperately seeking redemption - Zacchaeus has likely led a life of corruption, making dishonest gains through over collecting taxes. The weight of a lifetime of guilty pursuits has led Zacchaues to pursue of Christ, as he runs to perch himself in a tree - in hopes of recognition by Jesus. Jesus acknowledges his effort and indicates that he must stay at Zacchaeus' house. Zacchaeus wishes to make amends by returning ill gained monies - he repents from his ways.

Much of Jesus ministry is to the social outcasts including crooked tax collectors, Jesus seems to have compassion on them. While the Pharisees who while self-righteous and prideful are harshly spoke of by Christ. The message Jesus wants to convey is that Kingdom of heaven welcomes the truly contrite and repentant - despite their past transgressions. While those who seem pious and outwardly faithful, but inwardly remain prideful and unrepentant, are not worthy of Gods grace.