Jesus and His followers come to Jericho, the last major stop before Jerusalem. The group traveling with Jesus likely grows as other pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem for Passover join them. Since Jesus knows the disciples think He’s going to declare Himself or usher in the Kingdom once they reach Jerusalem (19:11), He warns them very clearly what really awaits them there. He then continues to demonstrate who He is by healing a hopeless blind man and saving a hopeless lost man. In so doing He shows that even as the time of His passion nears – and His mind almost certainly is filled with what is about to occur – He continues to love and serve and seek those who need Him most.
Along with the meaning of this passage, it’s also interesting to notice how Luke groups the different sections of Chapter 18 and 19. After recording Jesus’ parables about prayer and the Pharisee and the tax collector in the first half of Chapter 18, Luke includes three stories – the rich young ruler, the blind man, and Zaccheus – that either elaborate on or illustrate the messages of the parables. It’s fascinating to see how the sections dovetail together and further our understanding of Jesus’ words.
18:31-34
Since they are getting close to Jerusalem – they’re coming up on Jericho which is roughly 18 miles from Jerusalem – Jesus takes the 12 disciples aside and tells them plainly that He will be killed when they get there. He says that everything the prophets wrote about Him will be accomplished and that He will be killed and will rise again after three days.
This is the third time (9:22, 9:43-45) Jesus tells them some version of this message. Here He goes into more detail than the other times and even explains that He’ll be handed over to the Gentiles to be shamefully treated, mocked, spit upon, scourged, and then killed. He seems to go to great lengths to make sure the disciples have the full picture. There’s no way for Him to make it clearer. And He makes sure to tell them again that He will rise from the dead on the third day after His execution.
Like the other times, the disciples don’t grasp His message at all. Luke records no response to what Jesus says. He also writes, however, that the meaning of what Jesus says is hidden from them. This is the second time (9:45) Luke has recorded this to explain why the disciples remain in the dark. What ‘hidden from them’ means isn’t totally clear. It could mean that God doesn’t allow them to understand (why He does this is hard to know), but it may also mean that their built-in biases about the Messiah keep them from absorbing Jesus’ words. The Messiah is supposed to rule and conquer, not be mistreated and executed. Regardless of the reason, they will stay ignorant to the very end. Even after Jesus’ death, they will have no expectation of His resurrection. What’s amazing is that the religious leaders will show a better understanding of Jesus’ words than the disciples when they go to Pilate after Jesus is buried and ask for a guard on His tomb because they know He predicted that He’d rise again (Matt 27:63).
The question this raises is why does Jesus bother telling the twelve about His coming death if He knows they won’t understand? We can’t know for certain, but it’s likely so that after His resurrection when these words come back to them, they’ll realize that everything that happened was part of the divine plan. On the surface, Jesus tries to set expectations for what’s coming amongst a group that likely thinks He’s going to announce Himself during Passover and usher in His kingdom (19:11). But since they can’t or won’t fully grasp His words, His message serves as a marker to come back to once the disciples DO understand the culmination of His ministry.
Don’t miss that after showing He knows exactly what’s in store for Him that Jesus continues to proceed toward the end He describes. It is a horrific event now only days away and yet He never wavers in His progress toward it. He knows about the betrayal, the spitting, the mocking, the thorns, the scourging, the nails on the cross and – worst of all – the separation from His Father when He becomes sin. He knows He will suffer as no one else can because of who He is. Yet He continues to go forward (Is 50:5-6). He faces what awaits Him with unwavering resolve (9:51) and continues to minister to others even as His own suffering approaches. It’s a remarkable picture of our Savior’s love.
35-43
Jesus and His disciples continue toward Jerusalem from the Jericho area. Per Matthew (20:29-34) and Mark (10:44-52), as they leave Jericho the events of this story take place. Per Luke it’s as they enter Jericho. This could be because there are two cities named Jericho – an older town on a hill largely in ruins and a new town roughly one mile away. Not that it’s important to the story, but Luke might refer to one town while the other gospel writers refer to the other. Also, Mark and Luke say there is one blind man while Matthew refers to two. Perhaps Mark/Luke focus on the more prominent man (Bartimaeus, per Mark) of the two while Matthew includes all details of the event.
A great multitude follows Jesus. This is because of His reputation but likely also because many pilgrims are traveling to Jerusalem for Passover. As the multitude walks along, it passes a blind man sitting by the side of the road begging. When the man figures out that Jesus is the one passing by in the great crowd, he begins to cry out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” By saying “Son of David” he acknowledges that Jesus is the Messiah.
The crowd tries to silence him. Perhaps they – like the disciples with the children (18:15) – don’t want Jesus interrupted as He’s otherwise engaged. Or maybe they’re embarrassed by someone like him making a spectacle of himself and making the town look bad. Regardless of why, their response to the man is enormously callous. They see him as a problem, not someone desperately in need of what only Jesus can give him (how often do we see the lost as problems we’d love to eliminate instead of people we can bring to Jesus?).
The man is undeterred. He knows his need and won’t stop crying out until Jesus notices him. He essentially demonstrates the message of the parable about prayer (18:1-8); he won’t stop pursuing Jesus and doesn’t lose heart.
Jesus hears him and commands that he be brought to Him. After the man comes to Him, Jesus asks him what he wants (which seems like a Captain Obvious question). He doesn’t ask this because He doesn’t know or because it’s a great mystery what the man wants. He wants the man to state his faith. By telling Jesus he wants to recover his sight (apparently this wasn’t a condition he was born with), the man states plainly that his faith is big enough to assume Jesus can heal him.
After the man speaks, Jesus tells him his faith has made him well and the man instantly regains his sight. The man then follows Jesus – and presumably leaves Jericho – glorifying God as he goes. The people who witness the miracle also glorify God. The miracle thus illustrates Jesus’ mission on earth – demonstrate His divinity and glorify His Father in heaven.
This healing is not an uncommon occurrence in Jesus’ ministry. The gospel writers may include it here to show that even as Jesus makes the final stage of His journey to His death, He continues to have compassion on the hurting and sick around Him. Also, this is yet another instance that shows that the power of Jesus used mercifully on this blind man will not be used to save the One who wields it.
19:1-10
Jesus passes through Jericho where He continues with a very large crowd. In the crowd is a man named Zacchaeus, described as a chief tax collector (a title used nowhere else in the Bible). We don’t know exactly what ‘chief’ means but presumably he’s in authority over other tax collectors in the area. And if that’s true, it’s likely that he’s despised even more than a garden variety tax collector. It’s also fair to assume that since tax collectors are typically wealthy, Zacchaeus is very wealthy.
Zacchaeus wants to see Jesus but can’t because he’s small of stature and can’t see over the crowd. To remedy this, he runs ahead and climbs a sycamore tree (Luke likes detail and so makes sure the reader knows what kind of tree it is) where he knows Jesus will pass. That he climbs a tree gives us more information about Zacchaeus. He must not be too old, and he’s not concerned with how he looks to the crowd. A grown man in Jewish culture likely doesn’t make it a habit to climb trees. Zacchaeus, however, wants to see Jesus and doesn’t care how he looks. Plus, since he knows he’s hated by pretty much everyone, he likely long ago stopped worrying about others’ opinions (there’s a certain freedom in knowing without a doubt that everyone DOES hate you).
Jesus comes to where Zacchaeus is and speaks to him in the tree. He tells him to come down “for I must stay at your house today.” Notice that Jesus makes it sound like He’s not just going for a meal but will actually be a houseguest of Zacchaeus. That Jesus says must implies that it’s part of His divine mission. He comes to bring salvation to sinners; as part of that mission, He must bring salvation to one of the chief sinners of Jericho.
Verses 6 and 7 give an interesting contrast. Zacchaeus hurries down the tree (once again showing he’s in decent shape) and receives Jesus joyfully. The Jews around Jesus, however, grumble when they hear His words. They say (presumably among themselves), “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” It’s easy to condemn the self-righteousness and hard-heartedness of the crowd when they say this. But it pays to remember that Zacchaeus is considered a traitor as well as a liar and thief. If we saw someone who had become rich by betraying his fellow citizens rewarded by being selected to host the foremost leader of the faith, it might be hard for us to swallow too. On the other hand, the contrast in responses shows the difference in how a sinner sees Jesus versus how the self-righteous do.
There’s no way to know if Luke leaves some details out of the story (for instance, has Zacchaeus heard any of Jesus’ teaching?), but Zacchaeus is apparently so overwhelmed by Jesus’ actions that he makes an astonishing pledge. He tells Jesus that he will give away half his possessions to the poor and restore fourfold to anyone he’s defrauded. The numbers here are staggering and show both his incredible change of heart and his amazing wealth. For him to give away half and still have enough to pay back everyone he’s defrauded times four means he has quite the net worth. This also shows how revolutionary Jesus’ actions are. Zacchaeus can’t get over that the Messiah is willing to be his houseguest and it completely changes his life. Jesus goes TO the sinner, and the sinner repents and completely changes course.
Notice what true repentance looks like. Zacchaeus could’ve pledged to clean up his life going forward at little cost to himself. But he instead backs up his words with actions (and note that he doesn’t ask Jesus what he must do to make things right – he voluntarily states what he wants to do). He gives away half of everything and restores to others more than what the Law requires (the Mosaic Law calls for restoration plus 20%). He now has higher goals than wealth and comfort, and he proves it with his actions.
Jesus responds just as strongly as Zacchaeus. He says, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham.” Zacchaeus’ actions don’t save him, but they show what’s happened in his heart and soul. His pledge to give and restore is the result and proof of his salvation. This is what James means when he says “…I will show you my faith by my works” (Jas 2:18). And Jesus says he is a son of Abraham to show that those who follow Abraham’s faith are his true descendants (Rom 4:10-16). He also may say this for the sake of those around Zacchaeus. Yes, he cheated and betrayed his countrymen in the past, but he now is a true child of Abraham because he repented.
Jesus finishes His declaration by saying that Zacchaeus’ salvation is the very reason He came. He came to seek and to save the lost [Note the TWO verbs – He didn’t just come to save; He came to SEEK and save.] This answers the question as to why Jesus said He must stay at Zacchaeus’ house. Zacchaeus was a sinner who needed found and saved. This is the whole point of the Messiah’s ministry.
It’s interesting to compare Zacchaeus with the rich young ruler. The two of them essentially act out Jesus’ parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector (18:9-14). The ruler (who was likely a Pharisee) fills the role of the self-righteous man who depends on his own credentials to gain entrance into the kingdom. Zacchaeus, like his fellow tax collector who couldn’t lift his eyes to heaven when he prayed, knows he has no credentials and so throws himself on the mercy of Jesus. The ruler sees no need for repentance and can’t imagine life without his wealth, so he goes away discouraged and lost. Zacchaeus fully understands his need for repentance and joyfully gives away his wealth and goes away justified.
No one earns his place in the presence of God. The rich and the religious who depend on their righteousness and assume wealth is a sign of God’s approval miss their chance at salvation. Conversely, the sinner keenly aware of his sin and his need for a Savior is joyfully welcomed into the kingdom.
This is the gospel. We don’t bring anything with us that qualifies us for the kingdom. The Savior has done it all; it is only through Him that we gain entrance. Those who trust in the work of the Son are saved. Those who trust in the work of themselves are lost.
Closing Thought
Everything about the gospel gives reason for hope. Notice again how Jesus describes His mission – “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” If you would’ve predicted who in Jericho would follow Jesus, Zacchaeus likely would’ve been toward the bottom of the list. It would’ve been laughable to think that a chief tax collector would give up everything that makes his life meaningful, everything that essentially defines him, just to follow Jesus. A man whose whole profession is predicated on sin isn’t going to suddenly care about salvation and acceptance by God. Yet that’s exactly what a Spirit-infused Zacchaeus does (he climbs a tree to see Jesus because he sees a chance at redemption, a chance to turn his life around). There is NO ONE beyond the hope and power of the gospel. The worst sinners lost in their sin are exactly who our Savior came to seek and save.
And don’t miss that Zacchaeus is a very wealthy man who nevertheless is saved. He’s the camel who somehow fits through the eye of a needle (18:25). He does what’s impossible for man but possible for God. Again – NO ONE is beyond the hope and power of the gospel.
