--- title: Saying sorry and making amends: Zacchaeus pays back — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Saying sorry and making amends: Zacchaeus pays back», a lesson of the religion ethics course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: Saying sorry starts putting things right; making amends finishes it, by fixing, replacing or paying back what --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/90-saying-sorry-and-making-amends-zacchaeus-pays-back/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Religion ethics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/) / Saying sorry and making amends: Zaccha… # Saying sorry and making amends: Zacchaeus pays back Lesson 90 of the religion ethics course of Mova's primary school: 18 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/religion-ethics/90-saying-sorry-and-making-amends-zacchaeus-pays-back/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/90-saying-sorry-and-making-amends-zacchaeus-pays-back/0/) — Saying sorry starts putting things right; making amends finishes it, by fixing, replacing or paying back what you damaged. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/90-saying-sorry-and-making-amends-zacchaeus-pays-back/1/) — Zacchaeus, the chief tax collector of Jericho, climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see Jesus; after Jesus came to his house, he gave half his possessions to the poor and paid back four times anyone he had cheated (Luke 19:1-10). - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/90-saying-sorry-and-making-amends-zacchaeus-pays-back/2/) — A real apology names what you did, says sorry, shows you understand the hurt, offers to fix it and promises to change; "soz" in a text or a sorry muttered at your shoes is only the start. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/90-saying-sorry-and-making-amends-zacchaeus-pays-back/3/) — Christians believe God forgives completely, removing sins "as far as the east is from the west" (Psalm 103:12), but they also believe in putting things right with the people you hurt. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/90-saying-sorry-and-making-amends-zacchaeus-pays-back/4/) — Sorry also means trying to change, and the hurt person may need time before they can forgive, which is honest, not unkind. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/90-saying-sorry-and-making-amends-zacchaeus-pays-back/5/) — Zacchaeus gave half his possessions to the poor and paid back four times anyone he had cheated (Luke 19:1-10); the law asked only for the amount plus a fifth (Numbers 5:7). - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/90-saying-sorry-and-making-amends-zacchaeus-pays-back/6/) — "Rend your heart and not your garments" (Joel 2:13): in Bible times sad people tore (rent) their clothes to show sorrow, but God wants sorrow inside, not only words or torn clothes. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/90-saying-sorry-and-making-amends-zacchaeus-pays-back/7/) — An apology is a meeting, not a message: Jesus said to go and be reconciled first (Matthew 5:23-24). - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/90-saying-sorry-and-making-amends-zacchaeus-pays-back/8/) — A good apology names what you did, says sorry, shows you understand the hurt, offers to fix it and promises to change. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/90-saying-sorry-and-making-amends-zacchaeus-pays-back/9/) — Joseph's brothers sold him as a slave and fooled their father with Joseph's coat dipped in goat's blood (Genesis 37:31-33); years later, when they met him again in Egypt without knowing him, they said, "Surely we are being punished because of our brother" (Genesis 42:21). - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/90-saying-sorry-and-making-amends-zacchaeus-pays-back/10/) — Joseph forgave them: "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good" (Genesis 50:20). - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/90-saying-sorry-and-making-amends-zacchaeus-pays-back/11/) — Scripture asks for both: confess the wrong and make it good (Numbers 5:6-7); a new pen without a sorry is only half. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/90-saying-sorry-and-making-amends-zacchaeus-pays-back/12/) — The New Testament word for repentance, metanoia, means a change of mind and direction; a sorry repeated every day without change is not real. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/90-saying-sorry-and-making-amends-zacchaeus-pays-back/14/) — Catholics and Orthodox confess to a priest, who speaks God's forgiveness and must never tell anyone (the seal of confession); all Christians confess to God: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us" (1 John 1:9). - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/90-saying-sorry-and-making-amends-zacchaeus-pays-back/15/) — Restorative justice asks: who was hurt, what do they need, and whose job is it to put it right? - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/90-saying-sorry-and-making-amends-zacchaeus-pays-back/16/) — Christians are called to forgive as they are forgiven (Matthew 6:12; Colossians 3:13), but forgiveness can be a journey and does not mean pretending you are not hurt. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/90-saying-sorry-and-making-amends-zacchaeus-pays-back/17/) — Putting right an old wrong still matters, especially when someone else took the blame (Exodus 20:16; Luke 19:8). - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/90-saying-sorry-and-making-amends-zacchaeus-pays-back/18/) — Slang check: "soz" means sorry; "k" in a text means OK, often a cold OK; "wee" (Belfast, Scotland) means little; "sweet as" (New Zealand) means fine. - ← previous: [Owning up: the broken vase and the lost library book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/89-owning-up-the-broken-vase-and-the-lost-library-book/) - next →: [Owning up when it is hard](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/91-owning-up-when-it-is-hard/) - ↑ back to [Religion ethics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/)