< Luke 19 >
1 Jesus entered Jericho and walked through the town.
2 A man was there named Zacchaeus, a chief tax collector. He was very rich.
3 He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he couldn't see over the crowd.
4 So he ran ahead, and climbed up a sycamore tree to see Jesus as he passed by.
5 When Jesus got there, he looked up and said, “Zacchaeus, come down quickly! I need to stay at your house today.”
6 Zacchaeus climbed down quickly and was so happy to welcome Jesus to his home.
7 When the people saw this they all complained, “He's gone to stay with such a sinner!”
8 But Zacchaeus stood up and said before the Lord, “Look, I'm giving half of everything I own to the poor, and if I've cheated anybody, I'll pay them back four times as much!”
9 In response Jesus said, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man has shown he is a son of Abraham too.
10 For the Son of man came to search for and save those who are lost.”
11 While they were still paying attention, Jesus told them a story for they were close to Jerusalem and the people thought that God's kingdom was going to become a reality right away.
12 “Once there was a nobleman who left home to go to a distant country to be crowned king there, and then to return.
13 He called ten of his servants, divided money equally among them, and told them, ‘Invest this money until I return.’
14 But his people hated him, and sent a delegation after him to say, ‘We won't have this man as king over us.’
15 After he had been crowned king he returned. He ordered his servants brought to him. He wanted to know what profit they had made by investing the money he had given them.
16 The first servant came in and said, ‘Lord, your money has earned ten times as much.’
17 ‘Well done! You're a good servant,’ said the king. ‘Since you proved yourself trustworthy in a very small matter, I'm placing you in charge of ten cities.’
18 The second servant came in and said, ‘Lord, your money has earned five times as much.’
19 ‘I'm placing you in charge of five cities,’ said the king.
20 Another servant came in and said, ‘Lord, look, here's your money back. I kept it safe, wrapped up in a cloth.
21 I was afraid of you because you're a hard man. You take what doesn't belong to you, and you harvest what you didn't plant.’
22 ‘I'll judge you by your own words,’ the king replied. ‘You know I'm a hard man, who as you say, takes what doesn't belong to me, and I harvest what I didn't plant.
23 Why then didn't you deposit my money in the bank, so that when I returned I could have had my money with interest?’
24 The king told those who were standing beside him, ‘Take the money away from him, and give it to the one who made ten times as much.’
25 ‘But master, he already has ten times as much,’ they replied.
26 The king said, ‘I tell you, to those who have, more will be given; but those who do not have, even what they have will be taken away from them.
27 And as for my enemies who didn't want me to be king over them, bring them here and kill them in front of me.’”
28 After he'd finished telling them this story, Jesus left for Jerusalem, walking on ahead.
29 As he approached Bethphage and Bethany on the Mount of Olives, he sent two disciples, telling them:
30 “Go to the village farther on. As you enter it you'll find a colt tied up that no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here.
31 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ just say, ‘The Lord needs it.’”
32 So the two disciples went and found that everything was just as Jesus had said.
33 As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?”
34 The disciples replied, “The Lord needs it.”
35 They brought the colt to Jesus. Then they threw their cloaks over it, and sat Jesus on its back.
36 As he rode along, people spread their cloaks on the road.
37 As he approached Jerusalem, right where the road goes down from the Mount of Olives, the crowd of disciples all began shouting joyful praises to God at the top of their voices for all the miracles they had seen.
38 “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord,” they shouted. “Peace in heaven and glory in highest heaven.”
39 Some of the Pharisees who were in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, stop your disciples from saying that.”
40 But Jesus replied, “I tell you that if they kept quiet then the stones will shout!”
41 But as he got closer, he saw the city and wept over it.
42 “I really wish today that you, even you, had known the path that leads to peace!” he said. “But now it's hidden from your eyes.
43 The time is coming upon you when your enemies will besiege you, building ramps to attack you, encircling you and closing you in from every side.
44 They will smash you to the ground, you and your children within you. They won't leave one stone on another within you, for you refused to accept salvation when it came to you.”
45 Jesus entered the Temple and began driving out all the people trading there.
46 He told them, “Scriptures state that ‘my house will be a house of prayer,’ but you've turned it into a den of thieves.”
47 He was teaching in the Temple every day. The chief priests, the religious teachers, and the leaders of the people were trying to kill him.
48 But they couldn't find a way to do it because everyone appreciated him, hanging on his every word.
