Zaccheus

But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, "Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount (Luke 19:8)."

Luke ended Jesus' ministry (before his final week) in his Gospel writing with the story of a rich man who was able to buy his way into the kingdom.  The concept of buying his way in comes from Luke 16:9:  Here's the lesson: Use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends. Then, when your earthly possessions are gone, they (those friends)will welcome you to an eternal home.

Throughout the book of Luke, Jesus told us that the kingdom belonged to the poor and that the rich were have no part in it (Luke 6:20-26).  The parable of Lazarus and the rich man (Luke 16) illustrated this teaching.

Throughout the book of Luke, Jesus warned his followers about money, its deceitfulness, and its ability to rob us of the Word of God and His kingdom. 

In the book of Luke a rich young ruler could not enter the kingdom because he could not give away all that he had.  I have already stated that he could not give everything because his money was earned fairly and was acceptable in the good society.  The rich young ruler had a lot of money and that made him honorable in his society. 

On the other hand Zacchaeus had dirty money, taken brutily and dishonestly.  His money brought him dishonor among his people.  It was easier to let go of dirty money, because as it went, there was a feeling of dignity and honor that returned as that dirty money left.

I suppose it is very possible that being a little person in his society, Zaccheaus may have suffered a lot of criticism and bullying as he grew up; so he didn't have much social standing.  So when he grew up, he chose to make money by capitalizing on being cruel to others with a Roman big brother at his side. 

Zaccheaus was Luke's example that countered the rich man.  Zaccheaus was a rich man who gave extremely generously (more than half) and therefore bought his way into the kingdom of God, buying for himself friends who would welcome him into the kingdom.