Jesus · c. AD 30
Chapter 47
Zacchaeus
Jesus said to him, “Today, salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham.For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost.”
For parents
Jesus tells a parable in this chapter. At its end, a nobleman who has received a kingdom orders his enemies, the ones who did not want him to reign over them, to be brought and put to death in front of him (Luke 19:27). It is told plainly, in a few words.
came into and was passing through.
There was a man named . He was a chief , and he was rich.
He was trying to see who Jesus was, and he couldn’t, because the crowd was in his way and he was short. He ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, since Jesus was going to pass that way.
When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and saw him. “Zacchaeus,” he said, “hurry and come down, because today I must stay at your house.”
Zacchaeus hurried down and joyfully welcomed Jesus.
Everyone who saw it grumbled. “He has gone in to stay with a man who is a sinner,” they said.
Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I give half of what I own to the poor. If I have wrongly taken anything from anyone, I give back four times as much.”
Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he is a son of too. The came to seek and to save what was lost.”
As they heard these things, Jesus went on and told a . He told it because he was near and also because they were thinking that God’s Kingdom would be revealed immediately.
“A nobleman went to a faraway country to receive a kingdom for himself and then come back,” he said. “He sent for ten of his servants and handed them ten coins. ‘Do business with this money until I come back,’ he told them.” Ten minas were more than three years’ wages for a farm laborer.
“But the people of his land hated him, and they sent a messenger after him with these words: ‘We don’t want this man to reign over us.’
“He received the kingdom and came back. Then he sent for the servants he had given the money to. He wanted to know what profit they had made by doing business.
“The first one came before him and said, ‘Lord, your mina has made ten more minas.’
“‘Well done, you good servant!’ he said to him. ‘Because you proved faithful with very little, you will have authority over ten cities.’
“The second came and said, ‘Lord, your mina has made five minas.’
“So he said to him, ‘And you will be in charge of five cities.’
“Another one came and said, ‘Lord, look, here is your mina. I kept it put away in a handkerchief, because I was afraid of you, since you are a demanding man. You pick up what you didn’t put down, and you harvest what you didn’t plant.’
“He said to him, ‘I’ll judge you by what you yourself have said, you wicked servant! You knew that I am a demanding man, picking up what I didn’t put down and harvesting what I didn’t plant. Then why didn’t you deposit my money in the bank, so that I could have earned interest on it when I came back?’
“Then he told those standing by, ‘Take the mina away from him, and hand it to the one with the ten minas.’
“‘Lord,’ they said to him, ‘he has ten minas!’
“‘I tell you, everyone who has will be given more, but from anyone who doesn’t have, even what he has will be taken from him. But bring those enemies of mine here, the ones who didn’t want me to reign over them, and put them to death in front of me.’”