Luke 19
Luke 19:1-48 (NLT)
1 Jesus entered Jericho and made his way through the town.
2 There was a man there named Zacchaeus. He was the chief tax collector in the region, and he had become very rich.
3 He tried to get a look at Jesus, but he was too short to see over the crowd.
4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree beside the road, for Jesus was going to pass that way.
5 When Jesus came by, he looked up at Zacchaeus and called him by name. “Zacchaeus!” he said. “Quick, come down! I must be a guest in your home today.”
6 Zacchaeus quickly climbed down and took Jesus to his house in great excitement and joy.
7 But the people were displeased. “He has gone to be the guest of a notorious sinner,” they grumbled.
8 Meanwhile, Zacchaeus stood before the Lord and said, “I will give half my wealth to the poor, Lord, and if I have cheated people on their taxes, I will give them back four times as much!”
9 Jesus responded, “Salvation has come to this home today, for this man has shown himself to be a true son of Abraham.
10 For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.”
11 The crowd was listening to everything Jesus said. And because he was nearing Jerusalem, he told them a story to correct the impression that the Kingdom of God would begin right away.
12 He said, “A nobleman was called away to a distant empire to be crowned king and then return.
13 Before he left, he called together ten of his servants and divided among them ten pounds of silver, saying, ‘Invest this for me while I am gone.’
14 But his people hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, ‘We do not want him to be our king.’
15 “After he was crowned king, he returned and called in the servants to whom he had given the money. He wanted to find out what their profits were.
16 The first servant reported, ‘Master, I invested your money and made ten times the original amount!’
17 “‘Well done!’ the king exclaimed. ‘You are a good servant. You have been faithful with the little I entrusted to you, so you will be governor of ten cities as your reward.’
18 “The next servant reported, ‘Master, I invested your money and made five times the original amount.’
19 “‘Well done!’ the king said. ‘You will be governor over five cities.’
20 “But the third servant brought back only the original amount of money and said, ‘Master, I hid your money and kept it safe.
21 I was afraid because you are a hard man to deal with, taking what isn’t yours and harvesting crops you didn’t plant.’
22 “‘You wicked servant!’ the king roared. ‘Your own words condemn you. If you knew that I’m a hard man who takes what isn’t mine and harvests crops I didn’t plant,
23 why didn’t you deposit my money in the bank? At least I could have gotten some interest on it.’
24 “Then, turning to the others standing nearby, the king ordered, ‘Take the money from this servant, and give it to the one who has ten pounds.’
25 “‘But, master,’ they said, ‘he already has ten pounds!’
26 “‘Yes,’ the king replied, ‘and to those who use well what they are given, even more will be given. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away.
27 And as for these enemies of mine who didn’t want me to be their king—bring them in and execute them right here in front of me.’”
28 After telling this story, Jesus went on toward Jerusalem, walking ahead of his disciples.
29 As he came to the towns of Bethphage and Bethany on the Mount of Olives, he sent two disciples ahead.
30 “Go into that village over there,” he told them. “As you enter it, you will see a young donkey tied there that no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here.
31 If anyone asks, ‘Why are you untying that colt?’ just say, ‘The Lord needs it.’”
32 So they went and found the colt, just as Jesus had said.
33 And sure enough, as they were untying it, the owners asked them, “Why are you untying that colt?”
34 And the disciples simply replied, “The Lord needs it.”
35 So they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their garments over it for him to ride on.
36 As he rode along, the crowds spread out their garments on the road ahead of him.
37 When he reached the place where the road started down the Mount of Olives, all of his followers began to shout and sing as they walked along, praising God for all the wonderful miracles they had seen.
38 “Blessings on the King who comes in the name of the LORD! Peace in heaven, and glory in highest heaven!”
39 But some of the Pharisees among the crowd said, “Teacher, rebuke your followers for saying things like that!”
40 He replied, “If they kept quiet, the stones along the road would burst into cheers!”
41 But as he came closer to Jerusalem and saw the city ahead, he began to weep.
42 “How I wish today that you of all people would understand the way to peace. But now it is too late, and peace is hidden from your eyes.
43 Before long your enemies will build ramparts against your walls and encircle you and close in on you from every side.
44 They will crush you into the ground, and your children with you. Your enemies will not leave a single stone in place, because you did not recognize it when God visited you.”
45 Then Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out the people selling animals for sacrifices.
46 He said to them, “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be a house of prayer,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves.”
47 After that, he taught daily in the Temple, but the leading priests, the teachers of religious law, and the other leaders of the people began planning how to kill him.
48 But they could think of nothing, because all the people hung on every word he said.
Four encounters in these waning days before Jesus’ death:
Eating with Zacchaeus, the parable of the servants with the silver, the parade on the donkey, and the turning of the temple tables. It would seem that all are disconnected, unrelated, and even insignificant, but of all the other things that Jesus did during this period, these were intentionally recorded in this way at the Spirit’s inspiration for our review and betterment.
Zacchaeus: While under continual observance and criticism of leadership He had honored and gleaned from throughout His life, He specifically chose someone He surely knew would exacerbate their annoyance and frustration with Him. He was demonstrating the ultimate purpose for His coming – to embrace and bring salvation to everyone, especially those the religious elites would deem reprehensible and not to be touched. In fulfilling His purpose in this way, spending a whole portion of His day with those they would never give a nod to, Jesus was also driving them to fulfill their purpose.
Nearing Jerusalem, where His heavenly kingdom would soon be established, Jesus tells of this in a story describing His own venturing to a land to be made King, but with the resistance of a home delegation. Participation in this kingdom would require activation of gifts received in a way that would benefit this new kingdom without consideration of self, as a servant. Again, in fulfilling His own purpose of proclaiming the Truth, He was also prodding those who would be clear players in His completed purpose.
In the short-lived celebration of Him, as this arriving King, Jesus was submitting to His Father’s presentation of a royalty not dictated by earthly norms. The shouts and cheers of Jesus as the One coming in the Name of the Lord, in serving this Godly purpose, also further stoked fires of resentment and religious offense that would require His supposed elimination.
From this celebration, Jesus went directly to the temple, apparently unaffected by the accolades, and commenced to let out a righteous indignation against practices totally accepted by those who had been positioned to care for the house of the Lord. This was surely something that had been a long time in coming as He had seen this taking place for quite some time. In this timing, though, was an obvious tantalizing of the religious leadership in its establishment vs what Jesus declared to really be His Father’s, He was fulfilling prophecy and some personally offloading, but He, again, was establishing Himself as the Son of God, caring for something that rendered all their efforts to be meaningless and superceded in Him.
On the mounting clarification that there was only one end to all this, the religious leaders began to give voice and plans to carry out the extermination of this Menace – exactly their required purpose. They thought it was their own righteousness that was driving them against this Upendier of their lives, but they were actually simply moving as He prodded and manipulated them.
There is always a greater purpose in motion in the things we might consider to be insignificant and unrelated. But for reasons beyond our awareness, He is turning all things for His good, even when apparently stirring up those that just might be fulfilng His purpose over theirs.