Luke · chapter 19 of 24
Updated on
Luke 19 shows Jesus arriving in Jericho, where he saves Zacchaeus, a chief tax collector, because he came to seek and save the lost. He tells the parable of the minas about faithfulness while he is away. He enters Jerusalem acclaimed as king, weeps over the city that did not recognize his visit and drives the sellers out of the temple.
Luke 19 is the threshold of Jesus' final week. After a long journey from Galilee, he reaches Jericho and Jerusalem. It contains an encounter of unexpected salvation, a parable about waiting for his kingdom and the entry into the city where he will be rejected, amid praise and tears.
Jesus passes through Jericho, where Zacchaeus lives, a chief tax collector and a rich man. Zacchaeus, short in stature, climbs a sycamore tree to see him. Jesus stops, calls him by name and says he must stay at his house today. Zacchaeus welcomes him with joy, while the people grumble that he has gone to be the guest of a sinner. Zacchaeus promises to give half of his possessions to the poor and to pay back four times anyone he has defrauded. Jesus declares that salvation has come to that house today, because the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.
Because they were near Jerusalem and the people thought the kingdom would appear at once, Jesus tells the parable of the minas. A nobleman goes to a far country to receive a kingdom and leaves ten minas with ten servants to trade with until he returns. His citizens hate him. When he comes back as king, he rewards the servants who multiplied what they received with authority over cities, but takes the mina from the one who kept it wrapped in a cloth out of fear, and orders that the enemies who did not want him to reign be killed before him.
Jesus moves on toward Jerusalem. Near Bethphage and Bethany, on the Mount of Olives, he sends for a colt on which no one has ever sat. The disciples lay their cloaks on it and the people spread theirs on the road. The crowd praises God for the miracles and proclaims blessed the king who comes in the Lord's name. Some Pharisees ask him to rebuke them, and Jesus says that if they were silent, the stones would cry out. Seeing the city, Jesus weeps and says it did not know the time of its visitation; days of destruction will come. He enters the temple and drives out the sellers, saying they have made it a den of robbers. Every day he teaches there, while the chief priests and scribes seek to kill him but cannot find a way, because the people hang on his words.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Jesus stops under the sycamore, looks up and calls Zacchaeus by name, saying he must stay at his house today. Jesus takes the initiative and draws near precisely to the one everyone despised.
Zacchaeus announces that he will give half his possessions to the poor and repay fourfold anything he has taken wrongly. His repentance is concrete and shows in his money and relationships.
Jesus sums up his mission by saying the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. It is the key to the Gospel and the answer to those who grumbled.
Seeing Jerusalem, Jesus weeps because the city does not recognize what makes for peace. The king who enters in triumph shows the heart of a God who grieves over those who reject him.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: He ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree, because he was short. — Luke 19:3-4
Answer: To give half his possessions to the poor and repay fourfold anything he had defrauded. — Luke 19:8
Answer: Ten minas to ten servants, to do business until he returned. — Luke 19:13
Answer: He kept it laid away in a cloth because he feared his master. — Luke 19:20-21
Answer: That if they were silent, the stones would cry out. — Luke 19:39-40
Answer: That his house would be a house of prayer, but they had made it a den of robbers. — Luke 19:45-46
Zacchaeus reminds us that no one is too far for Jesus to seek. In a class you can talk about how we sometimes judge those we consider unworthy while Jesus is already calling them by name. His repentance teaches that meeting Christ changes the books, the habits and the relationships.
The parable of the minas asks what we do with what God has entrusted to us while he awaits his return. Fear paralyzed the third servant; faith invests. Think of a gift, time or resource you have set aside and one step to put it to work for the kingdom. And Jesus' tears over Jerusalem remind us that his heart seeks even those who reject him.
Luke 19 ends with Jesus teaching every day in the temple while his adversaries look for a way to destroy him. In Luke 20 the authorities challenge him over his authority, taxes and the resurrection.
They worked for the Roman government and often collected more than was due in order to enrich themselves. They were considered traitors and public sinners. That Jesus stayed with Zacchaeus was a scandal, and his declaration that salvation came to that house shows the breadth of his grace.
The law of Moses required restitution beyond what was stolen in some cases, and fourfold was the restitution for certain thefts. Zacchaeus goes beyond the general rule and shows by deeds that his change is real. The text does not say it was a condition of salvation but its fruit.
It is similar to the talents of Matthew 25 but with differences: in Luke each servant receives the same and the opposition of the citizens is added. The shared message is that whoever awaits the king must serve faithfully, and that neglect out of fear has consequences.