Luke
Chapter 19
Jesus and Zacchaeus
Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through it.
A man named Zacchaeus lived there. He was a tax collector and a wealthy man.
He wanted to see what Jesus was like, but he was short and couldn’t see over the crowd.
So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree. From there, he could see Jesus as he passed by.
When Jesus reached that spot, he looked up and said to him:
“Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for I must stay at your house today.”
So Zacchaeus climbed down and welcomed him happily.
All the people who saw it began to grumble and said:
“He has gone as a guest to the house of a sinner.”
But Zaccheus spoke to Jesus:
“Half of what I own, Lord, I will give to the poor, and if I have cheated anyone, I will pay him back four times as much.”
Looking at him Jesus said:
“Salvation has come to this house today, for he is also a true son of Abraham.
The Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost.”
Jesus was now near Jerusalem, and the people with him thought that God’s reign was about to appear. As they listened to him, Jesus continued to tell them a parable.
He said:
“A man of noble birth went to a distant country to be crowned king, then planned to return home.
Before he left, he summoned ten of his servants and gave them ten pounds of silver. He told them, ‘Put this money to work until I get back.’
But his compatriots, who disliked him, sent a delegation after him with this message, ‘We do not want this man to be our king.’
He returned, however, appointed as king. Immediately, he called the servants he had given the money to, to see what profit each had made.
The first arrived and reported, ‘Sir, your pound of silver has earned ten more pounds of silver.’
The master replied:
‘Well done, my good servant! Since you have proved yourself faithful in a small matter, I can trust you to take charge of ten cities.’
The second reported:
‘Sir, your pound of silver earned five more pounds of silver.’
The master replied,:
‘And you, take charge of five cities!’
The third one entered and said:
‘Sir, here is your money, which I hid for safekeeping.
I was afraid of you, for you are a demanding person: you take what you did not lay down, and you reap what you did not sow.’
The master replied:
‘You worthless servant, I will judge you by your own words! So you knew I was an exacting person, taking up what I did not lay down and reaping what I did not sow?
Why, then, did you not put my money on loan, so that when I returned, I could have collected it with interest?’
Then the master said to those standing by:0
‘Take from him that pound and give it to the one with ten pounds.’
But they objected,:
‘Sir, he already has ten pounds!’
The master replied:
‘I tell you, everyone who has will be given more; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.
As for my enemies who did not want me to be their king, bring them in and execute them right here in front of me!’”
So Jesus spoke, then he went ahead of them on his way to Jerusalem.
When he approached Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples with these instructions:
“Go to the village opposite, and, as you enter it, you will find a colt tied up that no one has yet ridden. Untie it and bring it here.
And if anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying this colt?’ you should say, ‘The Master needs it.’”
So the two disciples went and found things exactly as Jesus had said.
As they were untying the colt, the owner asked them:
“Why are you untying the colt?”
And they answered:
“The Master needs it.”
So they brought it to Jesus, and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they mounted Jesus on it.
And as he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road.
As Jesus approached Jerusalem at the place where the road descends from the Mount of Olives, his entire crowd of disciples began to rejoice and praise God loudly for all the miracles they had witnessed.
They cried out:
“Blessed is he who comes as king in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest heavens.”
Some Pharisees in the crowd said to him:
“Master, rebuke your disciples!”
But Jesus responded:
“I tell you, if they were to remain silent, the stones would cry out.”
When Jesus came into view of the city, he wept over it
and said, “If only today you knew the ways of peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.
Yet days will come when your enemies surround you with barricades, shut you in, and press on you from every side.
And they will dash you to the ground, along with your children, and will not leave a stone upon another within you, because you did not recognize the time and the visitation of your God.”
Then Jesus entered the temple and began driving out the merchants.
And he said to them, “God says in the Scriptures, My house shall be a house of prayer, but you have turned it into a den of robbers!”
Jesus was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests and teachers of the law wanted to kill him and the elders of the Jews too,
but they couldn’t do anything because all the people were listening to him and hanging on his words.
Commentaries
Jesus and Zacchaeus.
Zacchaeus exemplifies someone who, knowing Jesus, not only willingly gives up material possessions but also allows his inner self to be transformed by grace to pursue justice, much to the dismay of those who perhaps thought he should atone for his sins in a different way. Such is divine grace!
Parable of the Entrusted Money.
Luke shares Jesus’ view on the Messiah’s role. While many of his countrymen believed that the Messiah would act entirely on divine authority, without human effort (11), at the gates of Jerusalem just before his triumphal entry, Luke uses this parable to show that Jesus, the Messiah, does not see it that way. For Jesus, every believer is involved in the Messiah’s mission and in establishing the kingdom of God, according to their abilities and gifts; we all must work toward fulfilling God’s plan.
Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem.
Jesus defies the messianic expectations of his countrymen by riding a humble donkey into Jerusalem; perhaps Luke references the prophecy of Zechariah, who predicted the coming of a humble and simple Messiah (Zec 9:9f). This praise of Jesus as king, along with comments about him and his activities in Jerusalem, will lead to his arrest, trial, and death sentence.
Lamentation Over Jerusalem.
The joy and celebration that fill the previous passage shift in these verses, where Jesus weeps and laments for Jerusalem. As a devout Jew, he surely loves the Holy City and recognizes that it has everything needed to fulfill God’s plan, but the reality is that the city has become a symbol of stubbornness and rejection of everything related to the divine will, and this will lead to its downfall: “not one stone will be left upon another” (44).
The Cleansing of the Temple.
Luke highlights several key points in this act of Jesus. 1. Jesus is not against the Temple; he acknowledges its importance to the Jews and reaffirms it as a “house of prayer” (Is 56:7). 2. By cleansing the Temple, Jesus shows how it had become corrupt, transforming from a religious symbol and place of encounter with God to a symbol of oppression and a den of thieves. 3. The authorities’ decision to eliminate Jesus becomes more evident, but they cannot do so because “all the people were hanging on his words” (48).