A wealthy tax collector too short to see over the crowd climbs a tree just to catch a glimpse of Jesus passing by, and Jesus stops, looks up, and invites Himself to dinner at that man’s house before the man has said a single word. A king going away to receive a kingdom leaves money with his servants and tells them to put it to work while he’s gone. And coming down from the Mount of Olives with a whole crowd shouting His praise, Jesus looks at the city ahead of Him and starts to cry.
A study in Luke 19 · Arthur Baldwin · StandUp4Jesus.Org · 26 min read
This Day Is Salvation Come To This House
“And Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. And, behold, there was a man named Zacchæus, which was the chief among the publicans, and he was rich. And he sought to see Jesus who he was; and could not for the press, because he was little of stature.”
Luke 19:1-3
“Yet the wealthy customs officer was not altogether the hardened man of the world that he seemed. Beneath the appearance of worldliness and pride was a heart susceptible to divine influences. … In this chief of the publicans was awakened a longing for a better life.”
Ellen G. White · The Desire of Ages, p. 552
Zacchaeus’s interest in Jesus did not begin the day Jesus walked into Jericho. It had been forming for years, ever since he first heard reports of John the Baptist’s preaching at the Jordan not far away.
“And he ran before, and climbed up into a sycomore tree to see him: for he was to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up, and saw him, and said unto him, Zacchæus, make haste, and come down; for to day I must abide at thy house.”
Luke 19:4-5
“Suddenly, just beneath the fig tree, a group halts, the company before and behind come to a standstill, and One looks upward whose glance seems to read the soul. Almost doubting his senses, the man in the tree hears the words, ‘Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for today I must abide at thy house.’”
Ellen G. White · The Desire of Ages, p. 553
A grown man, one of the wealthiest and most despised men in the region, has climbed a tree like a child just for a glimpse. Jesus does not merely grant the glimpse. He calls him down by name, and invites Himself to stay.
“And when they saw it, they all murmured, saying, That he was gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner.”
Luke 19:7
“And Zacchæus stood, and said unto the Lord; Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.”
Luke 19:8
“Before Zacchaeus had looked upon the face of Christ, he had begun the work that made him manifest as a true penitent. Before being accused by man, he had confessed his sin. … No repentance is genuine that does not work reformation.”
Ellen G. White · The Desire of Ages, p. 555
Restitution offered fourfold, unprompted and unaccused, is not Zacchaeus earning his way into favor. It is the first visible fruit of a change that had already, quietly, taken root before Jesus ever spoke his name.
“And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
Luke 19:9-10
“Not only was Zacchæus himself blessed, but all his household with him. … They had been shut out from the synagogues by the contempt of rabbis and worshipers; but now, the most favored household in all Jericho, they gathered in their own home about the divine Teacher.”
Ellen G. White · The Desire of Ages, p. 556
This same verse — “the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” — could stand as the title over the entire fifteenth chapter of this Gospel, and over the ten lepers, and over the whole long road to Jerusalem this Gospel has been narrating since chapter nine. Zacchaeus is its living proof, up close, with a name and an address.
Occupy Till I Come
“And as they heard these things, he added and spake a parable, because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear. He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return.”
Luke 19:11-12
“And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come. But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us.”
Luke 19:13-14
This site’s own study of Matthew’s twenty-fifth chapter already covers the closely related parable of the talents. Luke’s own version, spoken specifically because the crowd expected the kingdom to appear immediately upon arriving in Jerusalem, adds a detail Matthew’s does not include — a group of citizens who actively reject the nobleman’s right to reign at all.
“And he said unto him, Well, thou good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities. … Then came the first, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds.”
Luke 19:16-17
“And another came, saying, Lord, behold, here is thy pound, which I have kept laid up in a napkin: For I feared thee, because thou art an austere man: thou takest up that thou layedst not down, and reapest that thou didst not sow. And he saith unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant.”
Luke 19:20-22
The unfaithful servant’s own excuse becomes his own conviction. He is not condemned for what the nobleman actually is, but for the fear he chose to believe about him — a fear that produced nothing but a buried coin and an empty account.
“But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me.”
Luke 19:27
The parable closes with two separate reckonings — one for servants who managed what was entrusted to them, and a harder one still for citizens who never wanted the nobleman to reign at all. Told on the very road up to Jerusalem, in a city about to make exactly that choice, the warning would not have been lost on anyone listening.
Blessed Be The King That Cometh
This site’s own studies of Matthew 21 and Mark’s own eleventh chapter already cover the Triumphal Entry in full.
“And when he was come nigh, even now at the descent of the mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen; Saying, Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest.”
Luke 19:37-38
Luke’s own wording of the crowd’s shout is distinct from Matthew’s and Mark’s — not simply “Hosanna,” but “the King that cometh,” a direct, public claim of royalty that the Pharisees standing nearby cannot pretend to have misheard.
“And some of the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto him, Master, rebuke thy disciples. And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.”
Luke 19:39-40
Found in no other Gospel, this exchange settles, in a single sentence, whether the praise could have been silenced. It could not. Some testimony, on this particular day, was always going to be given, with or without human voices to give it.
He Beheld The City, And Wept Over It
“And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.”
Luke 19:41-42
“The tears of Jesus were not in anticipation of His own suffering. Just before Him was Gethsemane. … Yet it was not because of these reminders of His cruel death that the Redeemer wept and groaned in anguish of spirit. His was no selfish sorrow.”
Ellen G. White · The Desire of Ages, p. 576
Found in no other Gospel, this scene arrives in the middle of the loudest celebration this book records — a crowd shouting Him King, and Jesus, at the very peak of that shout, weeping. The grief is not for Himself. It is entirely for the city that will, within the same week, reject the very King it is praising today.
“For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.”
Luke 19:43-44
“Christ came to save Jerusalem with her children; but Pharisaical pride, hypocrisy, jealousy, and malice had prevented Him from accomplishing His purpose. Jesus knew the terrible retribution which would be visited upon the doomed city.”
Ellen G. White · The Desire of Ages, p. 577
Every stone that would in fact fall in the Roman siege forty years later is already visible to Jesus on this ordinary spring afternoon, in the middle of a parade held in His own honor.
This site’s own studies of Matthew’s twenty-first chapter and Mark’s eleventh chapter already cover the cleansing of the temple that follows.
“And he went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold therein, and them that bought; Saying unto them, It is written, My house is the house of prayer: but ye have made it a den of thieves.”
Luke 19:45-46
“And he taught daily in the temple. But the chief priests and the scribes and the chief of the people sought to destroy him, And could not find what they might do: for all the people were very attentive to hear him.”
Luke 19:47-48
The long journey that began at Luke 9:51, when Jesus “steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem,” ends here, in the temple courts, teaching daily to a crowd so attentive that His enemies cannot find a way to touch Him — not yet.
