This icon I made for Audun and Lisbeth, a customs officers. It lights up their cabin in the mountains. The narrative is about Zacchaeus, the chief tax and toll collector in Jericho. His story is found in the Gospel of Luke (19:3).
Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem and passing through Jericho. Zacchaeus was short in stature and to be able to see Jesus through the crowd, he climbed a sycamore tree along the path. When Jesus came near, he looked up at the tree, addressed Zacchaeus by name, and told him to come down, for he intended to visit his house. The crowd was shocked that Jesus would sully himself by being a guest of a sinner /being tax collector for the Romans/. He was an example of Jesus‘s personal, earthly mission to bring salvation to the lost and corrupt.
The sycamore fig Zacchaeus had climbed is still alive in Jericho, the oldest town in the world. It is being taken care of by the Russian Patriarchate.
