Luke 19

Chapter nineteen contains two final events before Jesus’ Triumphal Entry, and both are unique to Luke. The first is the famous story of Zacchaeus. Although he was a hated tax collector, he was interested in seeing and hearing Jesus. When Jesus came to Jericho, he invited himself to Zacchaeus’ house. Even before they reached the house, Zacchaeus had a change of heart about the money he had stolen over the years and promised to repay it multiple times over. Jesus said that Zacchaeus had received salvation, because his faith was shown in his actions.

Immediately afterward, Jesus told a parable to the crowd. Luke noted that “they thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately” (vs. 11). This is one of a few subtle hints in Scripture that Jesus’ return would not necessarily be soon. The parable of the ten minas is similar to other parables that Jesus told, but it has some differences as well. Jesus was the nobleman who came to receive a kingdom but was rejected (vs. 14). While he was gone, he expected his followers (“servants”) to invest his resources in his business (vs. 13), and they would report to him upon his return. The principle of serving God with his resources is a common theme in the New Testament epistles. It is important to note that this parable does not teach that those who squandered their resources lost their positions or salvation, but they did lose their reward or inheritance in the kingdom. It was those who rejected him that were killed.

Like the other gospel writers, Luke included the account of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. As was prophesied, he rode in on a donkey to officially present himself as the king (Zechariah 9:9), and his followers made a loud procession for him. This concerned the Pharisees, because they thought it would disturb the Passover preparations. Jesus responded that someone would praise him at his entrance, even if it had to be the rocks. Luke closed this section only briefly mentioning Jesus’ cleansing of the Temple and teaching in it daily. He did, however, include a record of Jesus weeping over Jerusalem that none of the other Gospel writers include. Matthew mentioned one later in the week that is different than what Luke recorded.