Zacchaeus the Tax Collector
Luke 19Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through it. There was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector, and he was wealthy. He was trying to see who Jesus was, but couldn’t because of the crowd, since he was a short man. He ran ahead and climbed up a sycamore tree to see Jesus, since he was about to pass that way. When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for today it is necessary for me to stay at your house.” He hurried, came down, and welcomed him joyfully. When the people saw this, they all began to complain, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.”
Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Look, I will give half of my possessions to the poor, Lord! And if I have cheated anyone out of anything, I will pay back four times as much.”
Jesus said to him, “Today, salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Humanity has come to seek and save the lost.”
The Parable of the Ten Minas
While the people were listening to these things, Jesus proceeded to tell a parable, because he was near Jerusalem, and they thought the Empire of God would be revealed immediately. Therefore he said, “A man of noble birth went into a far country to receive an empire for himself and then to return. He called ten servants of his and gave them ten mina coins,+19:13 10 minas was about 3 years worth of wages. and told them, ‘Y’all are to do business with this until I come back.’ But his subjects hated him, and sent an envoy after him to say, ‘We don’t want this man to be king over us.’
“When he received the empire and returned, he summoned the servants to whom he had given the money, in order to find out what they had gained in business. The first came forward and said, ‘Sir, your mina has earned ten more minas.’
“The king said to him, ‘Well done, good servant! Because you have been faithful with very little, you will have authority over ten cities.’
“The second came and said, ‘Sir, your mina has made five minas.’
“So the king said to him, ‘And you are to be over five cities.’
Then another came and said, ‘Sir, look, here is your mina which I kept safe in a handkerchief, because I was afraid you, since you are an exacting man. You withdraw what you didn’t deposit, and reap what you didn’t sow.’
“The king said to him, ‘I will judge you by the words from your own mouth, you wicked servant! You knew that I am an exacting man, withdrawing what I didn’t deposit and reaping that which I didn’t sow. Then why didn’t you put my money in the bank, so that when I returned, I might could have collected it with interest?’ Then he said to those standing nearby, ‘Y’all take the mina away from him and give it to him who has the ten minas.’
“They said to him, ‘Sir, he has ten minas!’
‘For I tell y’all that to everyone who has, more will be given, but from those who do not have, even what they have will be taken away. But those enemies of mine who didn’t want me to be king over them—y’all bring them and kill them in front of me.’”
The Humble King Enters His City
After he said these things, Jesus went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.
When he came near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the placed called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, saying, “Y’all go to the village ahead of you. Near the entrance, y’all will find a colt tied, which no human has ever sat upon. Untie it and y’all bring it here. If anyone asks y’all, ‘Why are y’all untying it?’ say this: ‘The Lord needs it.’”
Those who were sent ahead went and found things just as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are y’all untying the colt?” They said, “The Lord needs it.” Then they brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt, and had Jesus sat on it. As he was going along, they spread their garments on the road.
As he approached the path down to the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord [YHWH]! +Psa 118:26 Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”
He answered, “I am telling y’all, if they keep silent, the stones will cry out.”
As he approached Jerusalem, he saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If you, even you, had known on this day the things which would bring your peace! But now, they have been hidden from your eyes. For the days will come on you when your enemies will build a barricade around you, surround you, and close in on you in from every side. They will throw you and your children to the ground, and they will not leave one stone on another within your borders, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”
Jesus Cleanses His Temple
When Jesus entered the temple, he began to drive out those who were selling, saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house will be a house of prayer,’+Isa 56:7 but y’all have made it a ‘den of robbers’!”+Jer 7:11
He was teaching daily in the temple, but the chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people were trying to destroy him. They couldn’t find a way to do it, because all the people were hanging on him, listening.