Summary
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In December 2001, Daniel Van Ness preached a sermon at Wesley Church in Perth, Australia. The text was Luke 19:1-10, in which is recounted the encounter between Jesus and Zacchaeus, a Jewish tax collector in Israel for the Romans. As a tax collector, Zacchaeus was almost certainly corrupt and despised by his own people as a collaborator with the Roman occupiers. Yet Jesus befriended Zacchaeus and enabled him to repent and to change xe2x80x93 a transformation that led to Zacchaeusxe2x80x99 paying restitution and to restoration of community peace. Van Ness then describes Prison Fellowship Internationalxe2x80x99s Sycamore Tree Project. It is a project based on this New Testament story. In this project xe2x80x93 which involves a prepared curriculum that reviews biblical teaching on crime, confession, repentance, forgiveness, restitution, and reconciliation xe2x80x93 offenders meet and listen to victims of crime to understand the effects of crime.
Link: www.restorativejustice.org/resources/docs/vanness2
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