Zachaeus

Morning sunrise gives bare and brown trees a colorful coat and a diamond pin.
The story of Zachaeus is one of the main reasons that Luke is my favorite Gospel (Luke 19:10.)  A short little man, bobbing up and down trying to see over the heads of those lined up to watch Jesus entering Jericho.  In frustration he shinnies up a tree in all of his fine clothes and scoots out on a limb so he can see Jesus when he passes under.  A despised man because he works for the Roman occupation of his native land.  No one is going to let him squeeze in front of them.  All of them would have made fun of him when he climbed the tree.
Jesus probably laughed, too, when he saw him, but Jesus wasn't making fun of him.  Jesus was loving him and thrilling him by offering to join him for a meal.  The unearned love of Jesus transforms this despised little cheat into an honest, generous man.  Jesus says to him, "This day salvation has happened in this house."
It is only the unearned love of Jesus that makes it possible for me to be good.