Day 21: Luke 19-21. From Jericho to Jerusalem

Before Jesus rides into Jerusalem to begin Holy Week, he goes through Jericho, where he meets a short tax collector named Zaccheaus, who is not only short, but universally disliked by everyone else in town (probably because of what he does for a living).  Zacchaeus wants to see Jesus so badly that he climbs a tree, and Jesus surprises everyone by inviting himself over to Zacchaeus' house for dinner.  I mean, really!  Why couldn't Jesus have gone to the house of one of the deserving people!

I recently read a commentary that posited that perhaps Zacchaeus the hated tax collector was secretly already a God-fearer and a disciple -- that Jesus knew this even though his neighbors did not. I am not sure what this does to the end of the story, which seems like a sudden change of heart, when Zacchaeus responds to Jesus' invitation by offering to give half of his possessions to the poor, and offering to repay anyone he has cheated four times.  He must not consider money quite as important as he once did.  Or perhaps he thinks that now he is rich, but in a different way.

The following parable (which is similar to Matthew's Parable of the Talents) also deals with money.  Where Zacchaeus distributes his money to the poor (redistribution of wealth), the parable ends by stating that 'everyone who has will be given more, but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away."  This is a scripture verse I've had a problem with since hearing Billie Holiday's rendition of "God Bless the Child."  It seems to fly in the face of the extravagant gift-giving God that I encounter in other portions of scripture.  I'm doing a little background study, and I'll get back to you.  In the meantime, anyone who has an idea about this verse, let me know.

Jesus enters Jerusalem then, to cheering crowds and grumbling Pharisees.  He weeps over Jerusalem, and then clears the temple.  The house of prayer has become (in my translation) a house for crooks.

In Jerusalem, Jesus gets rid into controversies, with Pharisees, Saducees and other legal experts.  We have heard this before, and how he figures out how to answer every question, and confounds them all.  He also tells the story of the tenant farmers who reject the owners of the vineyard as well as all of the messengers he had sent before.

The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.  Jesus quotes Psalm 118.  It is a fitting entry to the next few days.

Then there's a little story at the beginning of Luke 21 -- the widow and her two coins.  We often use her as an example of good stewardship, because she gave all she had.  But she's not an example of good stewardship.  She's a victim of the corrupt temple system (at the time); she's taken advantage of by unscrupulous religious leaders who use her offerings to build up the temple (which is just going to be destroyed anyway).

And, she's also a picture of Jesus, who gave up everything to set us free from the power of sin and death.

Because He is always Near.  Keep alert.  Keep Awake.

This chapter immediately proceeds the beginning of the passion story, starting with Jesus celebrating the passover with his disciples.  Before that, Jesus warns the disciples that they need to always keep alert, because the end will come like a thief in the night, and they need to be ready always.  There are signs everywhere of his presence -- in the stars and the changing of the season, in the fig tree, in the widow and her two coins.

The end is always near.  And He is always near.


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