Luke 19:1-48
Zacchaeus the Tax Collector
1 Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy.3 He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.
5 When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.
7 All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a ‘sinner.’”
8 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.”
9 Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”
11 While they were listening to this, he went on to tell them a parable, because he was near Jerusalem and the people thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear at once. 12 He said: “A man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then to return.13 So he called ten of his servants and gave them ten minas. ‘Put this money to work,’ he said, ‘until I come back.’
14 “But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, ‘We don’t want this man to be our king.’
15 “He was made king, however, and returned home. Then he sent for the servants to whom he had given the money, in order to find out what they had gained with it.
16 “The first one came and said, ‘Sir, your mina has earned ten more.’
17 “‘Well done, my good servant!’ his master replied. ‘Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities.’
18 “The second came and said, ‘Sir, your mina has earned five more.’
19 “His master answered, ‘You take charge of five cities.’
20 “Then another servant came and said, ‘Sir, here is your mina; I have kept it laid away in a piece of cloth. 21 I was afraid of you, because you are a hard man. You take out what you did not put in and reap what you did not sow.’
22 “His master replied, ‘I will judge you by your own words, you wicked servant! You knew, did you, that I am a hard man, taking out what I did not put in, and reaping what I did not sow? 23 Why then didn’t you put my money on deposit, so that when I came back, I could have collected it with interest?’
24 “Then he said to those standing by, ‘Take his mina away from him and give it to the one who has ten minas.’
25 “‘Sir,’ they said, ‘he already has ten!’
26 “He replied, ‘I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but as for the one who has nothing, even what he has will be taken away.27 But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them—bring them here and kill them in front of me.’”
28 After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. 29 As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, 30 “Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ tell him, ‘The Lord needs it.’”
32 Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. 33 As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?”
34 They replied, “The Lord needs it.”
35 They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. 36 As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road.
37 When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:
38 “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”
40 “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”
41 As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it 42 and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. 43 The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. 44 They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”
45 Then he entered the temple area and began driving out those who were selling. 46 “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be a house of prayer’; but you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’”
47 Every day he was teaching at the temple. But the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the leaders among the people were trying to kill him. 48 Yet they could not find any way to do it, because all the people hung on his words.
Matthew 11:25-30
Rest for the Weary
25 At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. 26 Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.
27 “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
When I read St. Luke's chapter nineteen, I see a contrast in belief and in faith...Zacchaeus, who is a tax collector, the Twelve disciples (maybe just eleven, since Judas is about to betray Him), and the owner of the colt are firm believers and have faith in Jesus...Somehow and for some reason, even the owner of the colt did not question the authority given to Jesus..The crowd welcomed Him and His Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem...A huge crowd followed Him into town...Many people spread their cloaks and coats on the road as Jesus came in on this small burrow colt...Throwing their cloaks showed a great respect and honor for Jesus...These people, for some reason, had listened to Him speak -they heard Him and had faith...They had given Him an authority beyond that of a regular man...They knew their was something about Him that was quite different...The crowd maybe sensed something was going to happen, and Jesus was the One to make it happen...
Maybe the crowd was expecting Jesus to take over as King, and a new Kingdom would soon be taking place...But Jesus Kingdom is Spiritual and not one of this earth...He would not be defeating the Romans and destroying them...Instead, He give all those listening that Jerusalem would be destroyed at a later date...And that does come to fruition in 66 a.d. when some of the Jewish people revolt against the Romans rule, and the city of Jerusalem is destroyed....His Kingdom is not of this world, but of Another World...The large crowd probably would not understand this, but something big would soon be taking place...
Jesus has spent a large portion of His day, at the house of a sinning tax collector...A sinner, who has now repented...Now, Jesus is headed for Jerusalem on a colt, close to and listening to the large crowd...Jesus in the middle of this crowd starts a parable...The crowd sensing that a big event is about to happen, and Jesus is teaching in His parable style again...In the parable, Jesus is the Man of noble birth...Jesus was about to leave the earth, but He will return a second time, in His Second Coming...Some interpret the minas as our spiritual growth and how we precede through life as with first our small faith and over time grow to a more mature faith...The man, in the parable, who increased his faith ten minas has a very mature relationship with God and a strong faith...Similar things can be said of the man who increased his faith five minas...He had tried had to keep the faith and keep it growing...He too was rewarded in the parable...But there was one man in the parable whose faith was the same both before and after the return of the Man of Noble Birth...His faith somehow had gotten lost...He did not spend time or energy increasing his faith...It had not grown in his life...Jesus in the parable, explains that this was wasted time for the third man...Whoever takes the time to study the word of God, and tries his best to go and learn at church and have a relationship with God, and follows His commands -will be given more faith...
Faith can grow if one follows the teachings and the authority of Jesus...Even in his absence, we are to grow our faith...
On the other side of this contrast are the people who question why Jesus would go to home of a sinning tax collector ...These people do not have faith in Jesus...The Pharisees in the crowd, want Jesus to be more quiet and take a back seat...The Pharisees want Jesus to rebuke His disciples...The chief priests, the teachers of the law, and the leaders were even trying to kill Him...The Jewish Leaders felt He had no authority to ride into town on a colt and get a red carpet type treatment...These Leaders failed to see He was...He had been at His ministry going on three years now and the faith of the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the chief priests, the teachers of the law, and the leaders of the people had not grown...They had not learned...They are the very ones who had the titles, the extensive educations, the ones with the ability to read and write, the ordained and the famous were the ones who did not recognize God's authority...
Sometimes wealth, titles, education, being popular or famous can keep us from the LORD...We can be very wise and very learned and miss Him...These things could become obstacles to us...We have to be on guard and keep watch on our pride and other things to keep close to the LORD...
Zacchaeus was wealthy and an unpopular tax collector who had sinned...But now he had promised to give half of his possessions and minas to the poor...He promised to repay anyone he had cheated, four times the amount of anyone he had done wrong...Zacchaeus, who was a distant son of Abraham, had now repented...He had a real change in his heart...He believed and had faith in the Son of the Blessed One, the One of Noble Birth...He believed that God had given Jesus the authority that He had...God gives everybody (the rich, the smart, the famous, the poor, the desolate) minas...It is up to us, how we use them...