See Verse / Commentary

Luke

Jesus entered Jericho and was walking through the town. A man named Zaccheus was there, a chief tax collector who was rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was, but he could not because of the crowd and the fact that he was short. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Jesus, because he was going to come that way. When Jesus got there, he looked up and said, “Zaccheus, hurry and come down, because today I must stay at your house.” He came down quickly and with joy took Jesus home with him. When the people saw this they complained, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.” Zaccheus stopped and said to the lord, “Look, lord, I will give half of all I own to the poor, and to anybody I have cheated of anything, I will repay them four times as much.” Jesus said to him, “Salvation has come to this house today, because he too is a son of Abraham. The Son of Man came to seek and save what was lost.” While they were listening, Jesus went on to tell a parable, because he was near Jerusalem and the people were thinking that the Kingdom of God was going to appear immediately. So he said, “There was a nobleman who went to a distant country to receive a kingdom for himself, and to return. He called ten of his servants and gave them each 10 minas. ‘Invest this money in business until I come back,’ he said to them. But his people hated him, and sent a group after him. ‘We do not want this man to be king over us,’ they said. When the king returned, after receiving the kingdom, he ordered that his servants be brought to him. He wanted to know what they had gained by investing the money he had given them. The first servant came and said, ‘Master, your mina has made ten more minas.’ The king said to him, ‘Well done, good servant! Because you were faithful in a small way, I am now putting you in charge of ten towns.’ The second servant came and said, ‘Master, your mina has made five more minas.’ The king said, ‘And I am putting you in charge of five towns.’ Another servant came and said, ‘Master, here is your mina which I kept wrapped in a cloth. I was afraid of you, because you are a harsh man. You take out what you did not put in, and you harvest what you did not sow.’ The king replied, ‘I will judge you by your own words, you worthless servant. You say you know I am a harsh man, who “takes out what I did not put in, and harvests what I did not sow.” If that is the case, then why did you not at least put my money in the bank, so that when I came back I could have collected it with interest?’ The king said to his attendants, ‘Take the mina away from him and give it to the one who has ten.’ They replied, ‘But master, he already has ten minas.’ The king said, ‘I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but from whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken away. But as for my enemies who did not want me to be king over them, bring them here and slaughter them in front of me.’” After he had said these things, Jesus went towards Jerusalem, walking on ahead. As he got close to Bethphage and Bethany, near the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two disciples, saying, “Go into the village up ahead, and as you enter you will find a colt tied there which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ just say, ‘The lord needs it.’” So the two disciples went and found everything just as Jesus had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners asked, “Why are you untying the colt?” They answered, “The lord needs it.” They led the colt to Jesus and threw their coats over it, and Jesus sat on top. As he went along, they were spreading their coats on the road. As he reached the place where the road descends the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began to shout joyful praises to God for all the miracles they had seen. “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” they shouted. Some of the Pharisees from the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, reprimand your disciples.” But Jesus answered, “I tell you, if they become silent then the stones will shout aloud!” As he got closer to Jerusalem, Jesus saw the city and wept over it. “If you had realized today, even you, the things which would lead to peace!” he said. “But now they are hidden from your sight. For the time is coming when your enemies will besiege you, surround you and shut you in on every side. They will level you to the ground with your children within your walls, and they will not leave in you one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.” Jesus went into the Temple and started throwing out the people selling there. “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be a house of prayer,’ but you have turned it into a robbers’ den.” He was teaching every day in the Temple. But the chief priests, the religious teachers and the leading men among the people kept on trying to find a way to get rid of him. However they could not find a way to do this, because all the people were hanging on to every word he said.

Luke