7 March - Luke 19

We are reading Luke 19 today. Below are some points to consider:

1. The first story told by Luke in chapter 19 is a story about a guy named Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus was a tax collector (look back at yesterday’s post if you haven’t read it) and Jesus called him out from the crowd to go eat dinner at his house. Which is rather presumptuous of Jesus to think Zacchaeus wanted him over for dinner isn’t it? At any rate, Zacchaeus not only wanted Jesus over for dinner, Zacchaeus’ life was forever changed! 
2. Then we read a story about this rich guy who entrusted some money to ten of his servants. The point of the story is that the servant who did nothing with the money used a horrible excuse which showed he didn’t really know his master. Some scholars believe it’s a reference to how some people talk like they know God but their actions show they don’t really know him at all.
3. The end of the chapter is about Jesus coming into the city of Jerusalem. The people were treating Jesus like quite the rock star. 
4. After Jesus entered the city he went to the temple and threw out the people who were taking advantage of people trying to gain access to God. Jesus called them robbers because they were charging people exorbitant prices on currency exchange and animals they used in sacrifices (which I know sounds weird but it is how the early Jewish faith was set up).

The story of Zacchaeus the tax collector is an awesome story showing us how we are best positioned to help others find the love of God we have experienced, just spend time with them. At the end of the story we see the impact spending time with Jesus had on Zacchaeus. He gave half of all he had to the poor and paid back everything he had stolen with insane interest! Clearly Zacchaeus had a change of heart after his encounter with Jesus. 

The significance of how Jesus entered into the city is lost on most of us. There were tons of prophecies written thousands of years before Jesus was born telling of what would happen in the life of the coming Messiah. A few of them were about this very moment. The interesting thing is that the people thought Jesus was coming into the city to set up his earthly reign but the Kingdom of God does not operate under the same rules we would think it should. It doesn’t make sense that Jesus would have to die to become king in his own kingdom but that is exactly the way he set it up. In the same way it doesn’t make sense to us that God would offer us grace but that is exactly what he does. The Bible says that the ways of God are not like the ways of people. 

Does the fact that the kingdom of God operate in these ways make sense to you? Can you see why it’s so beneficial to us that God doesn’t act like we would? What can you learn about helping others find Jesus from the story of Zacchaeus?