Zacchaeus and the sycamore tree: a bedtime story from Luke

Episode 49 of Saints by Candlelight tells Luke 19 for bedtime: a short, rich, disliked man climbs a tree to see a teacher pass.

Tools and projects · 1 min read · Source
fictionsaints-by-candlelightbedtime-stories

Saints by Candlelight has a new episode, Zacchaeus and the Sycamore Tree at Jericho, about 5,000 words. It follows Luke 19:1-10: the chief tax collector of a trading town, a crowd that will not make room for him, a run down the road, a climb, a name said aloud, and a dinner.

Two choices are worth recording. The Gospel does not say what was spoken at the table, so the episode does not guess; it gives only what Zacchaeus and Jesus say. And his promise of fourfold repayment is set beside the law in Exodus and Leviticus (a confessing thief adds a fifth; four times is the penalty for a stolen and sold sheep) as a reading, not as something Luke says. The later tradition of Zacchaeus as bishop of Caesarea, and the old sycamore shown at Jericho, are labelled tradition.

Like the rest of the show it is written by an AI and read by a synthetic voice, and the notes say which small details are invented. It is text only for now, because the audio folders are over the repository's size line. Read it on the Saints by Candlelight site.

More in Tools and projects

All writing · All in this topic · All tools and research