Story of Jesus, December 19th

Luke Chapter 19

Jesus entered Jericho and made his way through the town. There was a man there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.

When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.

All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”

And Zacchaeus stood 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.”

Jesus said to him, “Salvation has come to this home today, for this man has shown himself to be a true son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.”

While they were listening to this, he went on to tell them a story, because he was near Jerusalem and the people thought that the Kingdom of God was going to appear at once.

He said, “A man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then to return. Before he left, he called together ten of his servants and divided among them mina, or ten pounds of silver, saying, ‘Engage in business until I come back.’

But his people hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, ‘We do not want him to be our king.’

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.

The first one came and said, ‘Master, I invested your money and made ten times the original amount!’

‘Well done, my good servant,’ the king replied. ‘Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities.’

The second came and said, ‘Sir, your mina has earned five more.’

His master answered, ‘You take charge of five cities.’

But the third servant brought back only the original amount of money and said, ‘I was afraid of you, because you are a hard man to deal with, taking what isn’t yours and harvesting crops you didn’t plant.’

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? Why then didn’t you put my money on deposit, so that when I came back, I could have collected it with interest?’

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.’

‘Sir,’ they said, ‘he already has ten!’

‘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. 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.'”

After telling this story, Jesus went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. When he drew near to Bethpage and Bethany, at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two disciples, saying, “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. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ tell him, ‘The Lord needs it.’

Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, ‘Why are you untying the colt?’

They replied, ‘The Lord needs it.'”

They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road. When he came near the place where the road goes down to the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully praising God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:

“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”

“Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your followers for saying things like that!”

“I tell you,” he said, “if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”

As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, “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. Before long your enemies will build ramparts against your walls and encircle you and close in on you from every side. 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.”

Then Jesus entered the temple area and began driving out those who were selling animals for sacrifices. He said to them, “The Scriptures declare, ‘My house will be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of thieves.”

Every day he was teaching at the temple. But the chief priests, the teachers of the law, and the leaders among the people began planning how to kill him. Yet they could not find a way to do it, because all the people hung on every word he said.