In the time of Jesus there were so many taxes

In the time of Jesus there were so many taxes .The romans had imposed a pole tax ,so that from the age of 16 to 65  for men and 14 to 65 for women,you paid a tax for simply being alive.There was a ground tax ,one tenth of all grain such as :rice,corn,wheat,and a twenty per cent  of wine  and oil went to Rome.There was purchase tax and even a tax on the wheels of carts and the       animals that pulled them.

Everyone hates paying taxes but this was especially so with the jews.They said only God is our king.Therefore that we should pay taxes to no man.To pay taxes to a hated enemy ( The Romans ) was even worse.The collecter of such taxes was a traitor ,and enemy of the people .Zacheus  was such a man .However Zacheus was a brave man on the day he saw Jesus .To have entered   amongst the crowd that day was to invite the danger of attack and injury.As a tax collector he   was a rich man ,as an outcast from his people he was surely a lonely and an uhappy man,who      desperatly wanted to see Jesus.Hearing of Jesus as a freind of tax collectors and sinners,         perhaps he hoped that Jesus would have a word for him as he had for Matthew.When the Lord   looked up at Zaccheus in the tree he looked at him and  saw him as no one else could.For thougheveryone was now staring at Zaccheus ,only Jesus was able to see his lonliness ,emptyness,and heartache,for why else would he invite himself to stay at his house.

Jesus can  foresee the possibility of what we can become .