Luke 19

Jesus is still in Jericho, he is passing through the town with a crowd following him. The chief tax collector for that area was a wealthy man named Zacchaeus; he wanted to see Jesus but could not see over the large crowd because he was short man. “So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, because Jesus was going to pass that way”.  As Jesus comes that way he looks Zacchaeus in the eye and says, “Zacchaeus, come down quickly, because I must stay at your house today”. Zacchaeus quickly comes down from his perch in the tree and joyfully welcomes Jesus.

Luke is very careful in his relaying this encounter and he places it here for our understanding. Notice that both the blind man and Zacchaeus were the outsiders; they were among the people considered to be hopeless sinners, permanently unclean, unforgivable. Contrast Zacchaeus to the Rich Young Ruler who was respected and considered to be righteous for his observation of the law, and for his position and wealth. Zacchaeus welcomed Jesus joyfully and offered up half of his wealth to the poor and to make restitution to those he cheated, while the Rich Young Ruler turned away from Jesus with sadness. We are reminded that “Not all rich people departed sadly from Jesus. Zacchaeus is an example of what is possible with God”.

“It was common knowledge that tax collectors were making themselves rich by gouging their fellow Jews. No wonder the people muttered when Jesus went home with the tax collector Zacchaeus. But despite the fact that Zacchaeus was both a cheater and a turncoat, Jesus loved him; and in response, this tax collector was converted. In every society, certain groups of people are considered “untouchable” because of their political views, their immoral behavior, or their lifestyle. We should not give in to social pressure to avoid these people. Jesus loves them, and they need to hear his Good News”. LIFE Application

Jesus answers the Pharisees complaints saying, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

“While the people were listening to these things, Jesus proceeded to tell a parable, because he was near to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately”. 

Notice that the crowd just witnessed Zacchaeus’ faith statement about giving half of his wealth to the poor and now Jesus tells the Parable of the Ten Minas, each of the ten slaves were given the same amount to put to good use while their master was away. I see a connection here, how are we to use the good gifts God gives us while we await the return of Christ.

Jesus begins this parable saying, “A nobleman went to a distant country to receive for himself a kingdom and then return. And he summoned ten of his slaves, gave them ten minas, and said to them, ‘Do business with these until I come back’”.

This would have been a common storyline to the crowd; Israel had a history of noblemen who went to distant countries to be later crowned as the ruler and a history of rebellion against those outsiders. (Herod the Great, Archelaus) But notice the purpose in this parable, Jesus has been preparing his disciples for his upcoming suffering and death; he is also clarifying the timing of God’s kingdom. Remember that Jesus told his disciples that there will a time where they will look for Jesus’ return; warning them not to be fooled that the kingdom will not come in secret but will be seen over all the world. Therefore this parable is used to instruct how the disciples and we should “Do business with these until I come back”.

When the nobleman returned as the King he called all of his servants to give an accounting of what they did with the master’s gift. The first servant doubled the master’s money and received his reward: “Well done, good slave! Because you have been faithful in a very small matter, you will have authority over ten cities”. The second servant was also rewarded for his faithfulness, but the third servant revealed his rebellion against the King saying, “Sir, here is your mina that I put away for safekeeping in a piece of cloth. For I was afraid of you, because you are a severe man. You withdraw what you did not deposit and reap what you did not sow”.

Jesus continues the parable declaring the punishment for the unfaithful servant: “Take the mina from him, and give it to the one who has ten”. Immediately the crowd complains about what they see as unfair, because the first servant already received his reward and in their opinion he didn’t need more.

Jesus responds to their grumbling with a harsh warning: “I tell you that everyone who has will be given more, but from the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. But as for these enemies of mine who did not want me to be their king, bring them here and slaughter them in front of me!” The ultimate judgment of the King’s enemies was final; to reject the king is to face certain judgment from him.

Jesus and his disciples continue on their journey to Jerusalem, they travel through Bethany to the Mount of Olives which is east of Jerusalem. Jesus instructs two of his disciples to retrieve a specific young donkey from a neighboring village and bring it to Jesus. If they ran into any resistance they were to simply say, “The Lord needs it.”  When they returned with the colt, they put their cloaks on the donkey and Jesus road the donkey all the way into Jerusalem to the Temple. Along the way the crowds were laying their cloaks on the road, waving palm branches and shouting “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” 

The Pharisees were disturbed by crowd’s honoring of Jesus, so they insisted that Jesus rebuke his disciples but Jesus responded, “I tell you, if they keep silent, the very stones will cry out!”

As they approach a high point along the route, Jesus stops and begins to weep over Jerusalem. Jesus says about Jerusalem, “If you had only known on this day, even you, the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.  For the days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and surround you and close in on you from every side.  They will demolish you —you and your children within your walls —and they will not leave within you one stone on top of another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.”

Jesus the King who brings peace is rejected by Israel, and he now predicted the events that would be fulfilled in the fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. If they had accepted Jesus as their Messiah; it would lead to peace and not the future destruction.

Jesus continues his ride up to the Temple Mount and enters the court of the Gentiles. “Then Jesus entered the temple courts and began to drive out those who were selling things there, saying to them, ‘It is written, ‘My house will be a house of prayer,’ but you have turned it into a den of robbers!’” The area of the temple appointed for the Gentiles to worship God had become a den of thieves rather than a place where prayer was possible. Jesus then put the temple to its proper use, teaching daily amid increasing opposition from the authorities and strong sympathy from the crowds.

This chapter ends with Jesus teaching daily in the temple courts, while the chief priests and the experts in the law and the prominent leaders among the people were seeking to assassinate him. But for now they could not find a way to eliminate Jesus because the crowd was listening to Jesus; “for all the people hung on his words”.

Luke 18

The first few verses of Luke 18, the Parable of the Persistent Widow, is the really the closing teaching from chapter 17. Remember that Jesus was teaching about the Kingdom of God, therefore people began to ask questions about where and when the kingdom would transpire. The common Jewish view at that time was that the Messiah’s coming would be accompanied by great cosmic signs. Jesus reveals to his disciples certain facts about the future: He said that a time would come when the disciples would long to see Him return, but they would not see it. He said that when the kingdom would come everyone would know it. It will not be a hidden kingdom. It will be a kingdom that the whole world will know. His appearing will be like the lightning. Finally, Jesus told the disciples He must suffer before the kingdom comes. Jesus concludes this topic with the Parable of the Persistent Widow.

Then Jesus told them a parable to show them they should always pray and not lose heart. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected people. There was also a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’  For a while he refused, but later on he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor have regard for people, yet because this widow keeps on bothering me, I will give her justice, or in the end she will wear me out by her unending pleas.’”

Notice that Luke states the purpose of this parable was for the disciples to understand that they should always pray and not lose heart. This woman was most likely bringing a financial case to the judge who refused to listen because he was waiting for a bribe; she was too poor to pay, and persistence was her only weapon.

Then the Master said, “Do you hear what that judge, corrupt as he is, is saying?  So what makes you think God won’t step in and work justice for his chosen people, who continue to cry out for help? Won’t he stick up for them? I assure you, he will. He will not drag his feet. But how much of that kind of persistent faith will the Son of Man find on the earth when he returns?” Luke 18:6-8, The Message

This widow was an example of how to pray, to be persistent, intentional and never give up because you don’t immediately get the response you want, then Jesus follows up with how not to pray with the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector.

“He told his next story to some who were complacently pleased with themselves over their moral performance and looked down their noses at the common people:  “Two men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax man. The Pharisee posed and prayed like this: ‘Oh, God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, crooks, adulterers, or, heaven forbid, like this tax man. I fast twice a week and tithe on all my income.’ “Meanwhile the tax man, slumped in the shadows, his face in his hands, not daring to look up, said, ‘God, give mercy. Forgive me, a sinner.’” Luke 18:9-13, The Message

The Pharisee starts out with thanks but as you can see it is really all about him, the prayer ended up being a list of his accomplishments, and he revealed himself to be self-righteous and self-centered. Jesus makes it very clear, that it was the Tax Collector who cried out to God, saying “God, be merciful to me, sinner that I am!” who was justified before the LORD. Jesus final statement was more counter-cultural teachings for his disciples, “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

How like the Pharisee is our culture that glorifies self-promotion, hero worship of the social media stars with their manufactured lifestyles and false identities. We have quickly adopted that the way to get ahead is to exalt yourself, to hide your faults and pretend to be something other than what your heart truly reveals.  Like us, I can imagine how stunned the disciples would have been to hear this counter cultural teaching.

“Now people were even bringing their babies to him for him to touch. But when the disciples saw it, they began to scold those who brought them. But Jesus called for the children, saying, ‘Let the little children come to me and do not try to stop them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will never enter it’.”

The connection between these two teachings is who did the disciples and the crowd considered “the least”; the tax collector was among the rejected, as were the sick and children were at the bottom as well. It appears that the disciples were trying to control the access to Jesus, keeping “the least” from approaching.

People brought babies to Jesus, hoping he might touch them. When the disciples saw it, they shooed them off.  Jesus called them back. “Let these children alone. Don’t get between them and me. These children are the kingdom’s pride and joy.  Mark this: Unless you accept God’s kingdom in the simplicity of a child, you’ll never get in.” Luke 18:15-17 The Message

Luke places Jesus’ encounter with the Rich Young Ruler right here in the narrative, notice the contrast between “the least” the widow, the tax collector, the children and “Now a certain leader asked Jesus”. This man was “an influential wealthy man or civic leader who may have been known for his piety”, he was not among the rejected or the least; he had both power and influence.

“Now a certain leader asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’”

“Jesus’ response, Why do you call me good? was designed to cause the ruler to stop and think for a moment about who Jesus really was. The following statement No one is good except God alone seems to point the man in the direction of Jesus’ essential nature and the demands which logically follow on the man for having said it”.

Jesus responds to the man’s questions by listing the commandments that pertain to our behavior with each other, which the man quickly claimed that he had faithfully obeyed his entire life. Notice that Jesus did not question him about the first four commands that deal with our relationship to God. Jesus tells the young man that he “lacked one thing” that he needed to sell all his possessions and give the money to the poor and then “come follow me”. The Rich Young Ruler turned away from Jesus sad and very distressed, Jesus revealed by his command, that even though the young man claimed a righteousness from his outward life, he revealed that he violated the 1^st commandment to have no other gods before the LORD. His wealth was his idol, as he turned away Jesus said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! In fact, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”

Notice the extreme contrast – like a large camel trying to fit through the eye of a sewing needle, it is that hard for a rich person to save themselves. I can understand the crowd’s exasperated reply, “Then who can be saved?” This man was the perfect example of what the Jewish people thought was righteous, the assumption that the rich are blessed because the wealth, their outward appearance meant that God approves of them, so if this pious man risk exclusion, who is left to be saved?

Jesus replied, “What is impossible for mere humans is possible for God.”

God makes the impossible possible. What the Law could not do, save us, it revealed how far we are from being righteous. Jesus-God did the impossible by becoming the perfect sacrifice for our sins. Although people cannot overcome their own sinful hearts by themselves, God can intervene to save those who will respond to his call.

Peter speaks up for the disciples saying, “Look, we have left everything we own to follow you!”

Then Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, there is no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of God’s kingdom who will not receive many times more in this age —and in the age to come, eternal life.”

Jesus reassures his disciples that their sacrifice will be rewarded both in this life and in eternal life. Then redirects their thinking to what lies ahead, “Look, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished”. Jesus previously spoke of his coming suffering, but now he gets specific. “For he will be handed over to the Gentiles; he will be mocked, mistreated, and spat on. They will flog him severely and kill him. Yet on the third day he will rise again.”

Jesus clearly stated the involvement of Gentiles in His trial and death. This was important because Luke did not want his readers to think that the Gentiles were guiltless in Jesus’ death. The whole world was guilty of the death of the Savior. But the disciples could not comprehend any of this. They still thought the kingdom would come almost immediately. So they did not know what He was talking about.

As the disciples come through Jericho, there is a blind man sitting by the road begging. He asks those walking by what was going on, they told him, “Jesus the Nazarene is passing by.”

“So he called out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”  And those who were in front scolded him to get him to be quiet, but he shouted even more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 

Jesus stops and asks for the man to be brought to him and asks the man what would he like for him to do? The blind beggar says, “Lord, let me see again”. Jesus simply says, “Receive your sight; your faith has healed you.”

There is great symbolic value is here in Luke’s account. The man was a beggar sitting by the side of the road, waiting for something to happen. He was blind and could do nothing to improve his condition. The Messiah came through his town (as He had walked through many towns). Immediately the blind man recognized Him as the Messiah, the One who could save him from his blindness. Spiritual outcasts, unable to help themselves, far more readily recognized the Messiah and asked for His help than did the Jewish religious leaders.

Remember this chapter began with the parable of the persistent widow; here this blind man is an example of that type of persistence in prayer.  The blind man showed persistence in calling out for help despite the people who tried to silence him, and Jesus responded to his faith.

Luke 17

Luke begins this chapter with Jesus issuing several warnings to his disciples:

Jesus said to his disciples, “Stumbling blocks are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come!  It would be better for him to have a millstone tied around his neck and be thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin”.

From Mark’s gospel we can understand the context of this warning. As the disciples were traveling with Jesus back to Capernaum they began to discuss and argue about who would have the most prominent position in the new kingdom that Jesus is inaugurating. It is at that point while the crowds were surrounding them again that Jesus took a small child in his arms said, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” Notice that Luke places this warning alongside other confrontations with their current thinking; remember the parable about jostling to get the best seat, the parable of the shrewd servant and of the rich man and Lazarus. Each of those parables contained a warning about how the disciples were to live faithfully.

Children were among the least at that time, like the poor and outsiders invited into the banquet (chap. 14) and the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (chap.16). Jesus is very pointed in his accusations, the Pharisees and the Teachers of the Law were commanded to be the good shepherds of Israel, but instead they were acting like false shepherds turning the children, the poor and the rejected away from God, “It would be better for him to have a millstone tied around his neck and be thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin”.

Jesus follows with another warning: “Watch yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him. If he repents, forgive him. Even if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times returns to you saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.” Notice again the context that Jesus is underscoring, the Pharisees were prone to judge people, write them off as permanently excluded from God’s kingdom, Jesus says not so. “You must forgive him. Forgiveness is to be readily given and not withheld. In a community that is to have restored relationships, grudges are not beneficial”. NET notes

To rebuke does not mean to point out every sin we see; it means to bring sin to a person’s attention with the purpose of restoring him or her to God and to fellow humans. When you feel you must rebuke another Christian for a sin, check your attitudes before you speak. Do you love that person? Are you willing to forgive? Unless rebuke is tied to forgiveness, it will not help the sinning person. LIFE Application

The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” So the Lord replied, “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this black mulberry tree, ‘Be pulled out by the roots and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you”. This way of living in the kingdom of God does require increased faith, we are called live contrary to the way “the world” lives, to be “the servant of all” and “to not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind”. This is a difficult truth, but we can know from this that even with faith as small as one of the smallest seeds we can do great things, including forgiving when it is very hard. “The Spirit of God gives us the power to do the work which God has planned for us”!

“Remember, obedience is not something extra we do; it is our duty. Jesus is not suggesting that our service is meaningless or useless, nor is he advocating doing away with rewards. He is attacking unwarranted self-esteem and spiritual pride”. LIFE Application

The disciples’ request was genuine; they wanted the faith necessary for such radical forgiveness. But Jesus didn’t directly answer their question because the amount of faith is not as important as its genuineness. What is faith? It is complete trust and loyalty to God that results in a willingness to do his will. Faith is not something we use to put on a show for others. It is complete and humble obedience to God’s will, readiness to do whatever he calls us to do. The amount of faith isn’t as important as the right kind of faith—faith in our all-powerful God. LIFE Application

Luke records that Jesus and his disciples are traveling through Galilee on their way to Jerusalem, when a group of ten lepers stand far off and shout out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” Leprosy covered many skin disorders that would cause the sufferer to be ostracized at a distance until cured, they would need to be examined by a priest and declared both physically and spiritually clean before they could rejoin their families.

When he saw them Jesus said, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went along, they were cleansed. The ten obediently follow Jesus’ command, but one of the lepers when he saw that he was healed, turned back to Jesus, fell at his feet and worshiped God in thanksgiving. Luke adds the insight that this man was a Samaritan; he was one of the rejected of Israel, doubly rejected as unclean, as a heretic and half-breed. Then Jesus said, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to turn back and give praise to God except this foreigner?”

“The lack of gratitude by the other nine was typical of the rejection of His ministry by the Jewish nation. He alone had the power to cleanse the nation and make it ceremonially clean. However, the nation did not respond properly to Him. The nation accepted the things that Jesus could do (such as heal them and feed them), but it did not want to accept Him as Messiah. However, those outside the nation (such as this Samaritan leper—a person doubly repulsive to the Jews) were responding”. Bible Knowledge Commentary

Now at one point the Pharisees asked Jesus when the kingdom of God was coming, so he answered, “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is in your midst.”

Jesus has been teaching about the Kingdom of God, so it seems quite logical to ask these questions about when and where this was to occurred. The Jewish view at that time was that the Messiah’s coming would be accompanied by great cosmic signs in the universe. We have also seen that many people kept asking for ever increasing “signs and wonders”, then they would acknowledge that Jesus is the Messiah. Jesus says, “The kingdom of God is in your midst”, this is present tense in the Greek. In contrast to waiting and looking for the kingdom, it is now available. Jesus’ point was that He was standing right in their midst. All they needed to do was acknowledge that He is indeed the Messiah who could bring in the kingdom—and then the kingdom would come.

Jesus continues his instruction to his disciples including certain facts about the future:

1. He said that a time would come when the disciples would long to see Him return, but they would not see it.

2. He said that when the kingdom would come everyone would know it. It will not be a hidden kingdom. It will be a kingdom that the whole world will know. His appearing will be like the lightning.

3. Jesus told the disciples He must suffer before the kingdom comes.

Jesus reminds them of familiar Bible stories of what it will be like, “Just as it was in the days of Noah, so too it will be in the days of the Son of Man”. The disciples would have understood this, the people of Noah’s day rejected God’s message through Noah right up until the moment the flood came and swept them away. “Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot”, who rejected God and reveled in their sin right up until a cosmic explosion destroyed them all. “It will be the same on the day the Son of Man is revealed”, then Jesus warns the disciples to “Remember Lot’s wife!” who turned and looked back and longed to be back in Sodom. The warning is clear “The world is being judged, and the person who delays or turns back will be destroyed”.

Trying to take all this in, the disciples said, “Master, where?”  He told them, “Watch for the circling of the vultures. They’ll spot the corpse first. The action will begin around my dead body.” Luke 17:37, The Message