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| Chapter 19 |
| Bible Text | Notes and Thoughts |
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1 ¶ And Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. 2 And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus who was the chief among the publicans, and he was rich. 3 And he sought to see Jesus, who He was, but could not for the press of the crowd, because he was short in stature. 4 And he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Him, for He was to pass that way. 5 And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and saw him, and said unto him, "Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must abide at thy house." 6 And he made haste and came down, and received Him joyfully. 7 And when they saw it, they all murmured, saying that He had gone to be the guest of a man who was a sinner. 8 And Zacchaeus stood and said unto the Lord, "Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation, I restore to him fourfold." 9 And Jesus said unto him, "This day is salvation come to this house, in that he also is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost." 11 ¶ And as they heard these things, He added and spoke a parable, because He was nigh to Jerusalem and because they thought that the Kingdom of God should immediately appear. 12 He said therefore, "A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. 13 And he called his ten servants and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, ’Possess it till I come.’ 14 But his citizens hated him and sent a message after him, saying, ‘We will not have this man to reign over us.’ 15 And it came to pass that when he had returned, having received the kingdom, then he commanded these servants to be called unto him, to whom he had given the money, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading. 16 Then came the first, saying, ‘Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds.’ 17 And he said unto him, ‘Well done, thou good servant; because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities.’ 18 And the second came, saying, ‘Lord, thy pound hath gained five pounds.’ 19 And he said likewise to him, ‘Be thou also over five cities.’ 20 And another came, saying, ‘Lord, behold, here is thy pound, which I have kept laid away in a napkin. 21 For I feared thee, because thou art an austere man: thou takest up what thou layest not down, and reapest what thou did not sow.’ 22 And he said unto him, ‘Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that I was an austere man, taking up what I laid not down and reaping what I did not sow. 23 Why then gavest not thou my money unto the bank, that at my coming I might have required mine own with interest?’ 24 And he said unto them that stood by, ‘Take from him the pound and give it to him that hath ten pounds.’ 25 (And they said unto him, ‘Lord, he hath ten pounds!’) 26 ’For I say unto you, that unto every one that hath shall be given; and from him that hath not, even that which he hath shall be taken away from him. 27 But those mine enemies, who would not that I should reign over them, bring them hither and slay them before me.’" 28 ¶ And when Jesus had thus spoken, He went ahead, ascending up to Jerusalem. 29 And it came to pass, when He had come nigh to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount called the Mount of Olives, He sent two of His disciples, 30 saying, "Go ye into the village opposite you, in which at your entering ye shall find a colt tied, whereon yet never man sat. Loose him and bring him hither. 31 And if any man ask you, ‘Why do ye loose him?’ thus shall ye say unto him, ’Because the Lord hath need of him.’" 32 And those who were sent went their way and found even as He had said unto them. 33 And as they were loosing the colt, the owners thereof said unto them, "Why loose ye the colt?" 34 And they said, "The Lord hath need of him." 35 And they brought him to Jesus, and they cast their garments upon the colt, and they set Jesus thereon. 36 And as He went, they spread their clothes along the way. 37 And when He had come nigh, even now at the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, 38 saying, "Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!" 39 And some of the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto Him, "Master, rebuke thy disciples." 40 And He answered and said unto them, "I tell you that if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out." 41 ¶ And when He had come near, He beheld the city and wept over it, 42 saying, "If thou had known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which must be for thy peace! But now they are hid from thine eyes. 43 For the days shall come upon thee that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee around, and keep thee in on every side. 44 And they shall lay thee even with the ground and thy children within thee; and they shalt not leave in thee one stone upon another, because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation." 45 And He went into the temple and began to cast out those who sold therein and those who bought, 46 saying unto them, "It is written, ’My house is the house of prayer,’ but ye have made it a den of thieves." 47 And He taught daily in the temple. But the chief priests and the scribes and the chief of the people sought to destroy Him; 48 and they could not find what they might do, for all the people were very attentive to hear Him. |
v1-10 Jesus meets Zacchaeus. As you examine this situation, remember that Jesus never came this way again. Jesus is able to find those who seek or need Him. The tax collectors were appointed by the Romans, they never normally received a wage for the work but were allowed to collect their wage by increasing the tax demands from the people. Zacchaeus, who appears to be the chief tax collector in the area, was one of these people, he seems to have a great interest in meeting Jesus. Jericho was an important commercial city, due to the warm climate in that area it was popular with the rich and travellers, a good place to collect the tax duty. Zacchaeus was a small man, unable to see Jesus because of the crowd decided to climb a sycamore tree, in Palestine a common, large tree, easily climbed. With the crowd around Jesus, what makes Jesus look up into the tree and call for Zacchaeus to come down, it must have been a little embarrassing for Zacchaeus to be seen by the crowd, the Tax man up a tree, but they also had problems in understanding why Jesus wanted to eat with the hated tax people. Zacchaeus was all part of God’s plan. v8 As a result of the time with Jesus, Zacchaeus makes this promise. This promised showed the people that the presence of Jesus with Zacchaeus was of great benefit to them. Giving was a very new experience to Zacchaeus, like most tax collectors all he did was take. The Greek words used by Luke suggested that the promise made by Zacchaeus "if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation," was really "Since I have .....". Under the Jewish Law any money stolen by false acts was to be returned plus 20 percent interest (a fifth), "all that about which he hath sworn falsely; he shall even restore it in the principal, and shall add the fifth part more thereto, and give it unto him to whom it appertained, in the day of his trespass offering." Leviticus 6:5; Numbers 5:7, however, Zacchaeus put a much larger penalty upon himself, one normally considered as robbery, "If a man shall steal an ox, or a sheep, and kill it, or sell it; he shall restore five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep." Exodus 22:1. v9 God had given the Covenant to Abraham, Zacchaeus had received salvation by faith, not because of being born a Jew. v10 This gives the complete message of the Gospel, Jesus came to seek and save the lost. v11 The Jews and disciples thought that when the Messiah came the Kingdom of God would appear at the same time. Despite Jesus giving a warning of His coming death on the cross the disciples were still expecting it to happen, so Jesus gives this parable. v11-27 The ten pounds. Compare Luke 17:21; Acts 1:6-8. This parable is not the same as Matt 25:14-30 - the giving of Talents, though there are similarities. The ‘Nobleman’ leaves the area to be given another kingdom, it may have been based on Herod’s son Archelaus, who had recently gone to Rome to get the title of his father, Herod the Great. In the parable the nobleman gives a pound equally to each of his ten servants, ’Possess" or use them in business until I return. The servants were expected to use the gift and then explain their use on return of the master. v14 The people hated the master and sent message, ’We will not have this man to reign over us.’ v15 On the return of the master the servants are called to him, to show how they were able to handle the gift and responsibility. v16-19 The first servant had managed to grow his money to ten pounds, the master puts him in charge of ten cities because of his faith. The next has produced only five pounds, he’s not told off for the lower result, instead just given authority, equal to his ability, over five cities. v20-23 We assume that each of the other servants also produces an increase, until one comes along who has not used the money, just hidden it. The servant felt that he was honest because he was able to return the money with no loss, but the master considered him wicked as he had not even tried to make anything of the gift. He had not even put the money into a bank and earned interest at least. v24-26 This may seem unfair taking the money from this servant, but the money had already lost value, wasted as far as the master was concerned. Equally, misuse or not even using the gifts God has given the believer is wrong and must expect some sort of punishment. v27 The master now considers those of the people who had rejected him. Judgement of the world and the rejection of the Messiah, the believers failure to work for the master are all part of this parable. v28-44 Entry into Jerusalem. v28 Jesus is now walking ahead of the disciples. They may be following very unwilling because they knew that the religious leaders were out to get Jesus, John 11:47ff. v29-40 Bethany is to the South East of the Mount of Olives, Bethphage was nearby but does not exist today. As they approach the two villages Jesus instructs two disciples to enter the village where they will find a colt tied with his donkey mother, a colt is a young male animal, usually untrained. Matt 21:2 told us that the animal was a donkey, a common animal used by the poor for carrying. A horse would only be used by the wealthy or the army. The use of a donkey therefore shows that He is peaceful and humble, of the poor people. v31-34 We do not know if Jesus had made some previous arrangement with the owners or they felt the power of God, they released the animals to the disciples. As we are approaching the Passover feast there would have been many people on the road to Jerusalem as well as Jesus and the disciples. v35,36 The crowd would have witnessed the healing of blind Bartimaeus near Jericho. They were therefore expecting Jesus to claim the Messianic title during the Passover. We now see a public demonstration of the crowds belief in Jesus. v37 The crowds enthusiasm and excitement increases as they came into sight of Jerusalem. v38 This comes from Psalm 118:25,26 and was often sung by Pilgrims approaching Jerusalem. v39,40 Amongst the crowd were Pharisees who told Jesus to stop the crowd, not just the twelve disciples. Christ claims that His position must be acknowledged, "the stones would immediately cry out at their silence." The Pharisees knew what He was claiming, the coming rejection was not therefore done without them knowing His claim. v41-44 Jesus weeps over Jerusalem. If you stand on the top of the Mount of Olives it is possible to see most of Jerusalem, Jesus looks out across the valley, He knows of the future suffering of the people and what will happen to the city, the rebellion, the Roman siege and final capture of the city of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 by Titus. The temple would be destroyed and most of the buildings knocked down. Very little of the Jerusalem of the time of Jesus exists today. v45-48 The cleansing of the Temple. Matt 21:12-16; Mark 11:15-18. See also John 2:13-17. It would be very difficult for the people travelling to Jerusalem for the Passover to bring suitable animal sacrifices, so the priests had allowed an area of the temple to be used to purchase these. In addition they would need coins suitable for the temple tax, many of the pilgrims could have come from outside the country and need money changed. This activity had grown into a very commercial business controlled by the priests. Jesus demands that His Father’s House be only used for worship and throws out the merchants, this would have caused a lose of income for the Temple priests. v47,48 The religious leaders wanted to destroy Jesus but were scared because the people were listening to what He was teaching each day in the Temple. |
Easy English Translation
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