This chapter sort of picks up where the last chapter left
off. Remember that chapter 18 ended with Jesus healing a blind man (go back
right quick and read the end of yesterday’s summary). Notice how this chapter begins- Jesus sits
down to dinner with Zacchaeus- a tax collector. We already know enough about
tax collectors to know that they were not highly regarded people back in those
days: they were cheats and dishonest and they sided with the Roman authorities
to fleece their own people. Jesus calls Zacchaeus down from the tree (he’s ripe
for the picking- Zacchaeus is a “piece of fruit” ready to be harvested by the
Lord… watch this…). He then tells him that he wants to dine at his home. He
sits down with this lowliest of sinners, to dinner, an intimate act- in others
words, Jesus forgives Zacchaeus. He is picked from the tree, he is ripe, ready
to harvested: notice what Jesus says to Zacchaeus and then notice what
Zacchaeus says to Jesus. If this ain’t real conversion, I don’t know what is.
Following we have a long parable about the 10 pounds, also
known as the 10 talents (vv. 11-27). Talents were a unit of currency- a pretty
significant amount. This parable continues to carry the theme of God’s
characteristics when it comes to Judgment Day and it sort of balances out the
lavish mercy and forgiveness that was bestowed on Zacchaeus. This parable
highlights God’s justice- to each what he deserves- this is the essence of
Christian justice.
Then we have Jesus entering into Jerusalem on what we now
celebrate of Palm Sunday (vv. 28-40).
With Jesus’s entry, he marks one week until Passover. Today is Sunday,
by Friday he will be dead. The symbolism is huge here: from the donkey, to the
robe, the palm branches and the “Hosanna” shouted by the people. Taken together
they all signify that the people really did think Jesus was their Messiah, the
one they were waiting for. It’s interesting how much would change in five days.
In fives days the Pharisees, Scribes and Sadducees would betray Jesus and
convince their own people that Jesus was no less than a charlatan. (I recommend
Pope Benedict XVI’s book, Jesus of Nazareth, Volume 2, for a detailed
explanation of the symbolism contained in these verses. It’s quite beautiful.
The chapter closes with Jesus weeping over his lost sheep-
literally. And then the famous cleansing of the temple that really begins the
conniving of the Pharisees against Jesus. This is it- the point of no return.
Point for Prayer
“Resolute Jesus, from the time you completed your Galilean ministry
you never were distracted from your resolve to go to Jerusalem and there into
the paschal mystery which saved me. Fill me heart with this kind of faith
determination so that my witness to love and forgiveness may never falter. Let
my heart’s resolve be such that my mind will always follow its goals of
faith”(171).
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