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 quit...