Zacchaeus’ short defence has usually been taken as an expression of a conversion he has just undergone, a statement of intent to amend his sinful ways and adopt in the future a new pattern of life. The problem with this is that in the Greek text the verb is in the present, not the future. Zacchaeus does not say, ‘… I will give to the poor and, …, I will restore‘, but ‘I give …., I restore’. He seems to be stating present policy. Maybe he is not such a bad tax collector after all. Maybe he is not the one who has to undergo conversion – or at least not the only one.