Day 108

Joshua 16:1–18:28; Luke 19:1-27; Psalm 87:1-7; Proverbs 13:11

YESTERDAY, WE READ of Jesus making His way through Jericho on His way to Jerusalem —and death. Jesus healed a blind man who was desperate enough to cry out for mercy. Today, we managed to move through Jericho to the other side of town and onto the strenuous path that would lead up to the Holy City. The highest-ranking tax collector for the region happened to live in Jericho, and he wanted to see Jesus —but for all his riches, he was a squat little man and couldn’t see above the crowd. So he did what any of us would: He climbed a tree. When Jesus passed by, He must have had a smile on His face as He saw Zacchaeus clinging to the branches.

Jesus called him down and went home with him for a visit, which displeased the people following along. The crowd was following Jesus in expectation that He would establish His Kingdom once He got to Jerusalem. “He has gone to be the guest of a notorious sinner,” they grumbled (Luke 19:7).

This gives us some context for the way the people misunderstood Jesus and His mission. It also gives us context for the way the people would turn on Jesus once He got to Jerusalem and didn’t initiate a massive revolt against Rome.

All this was lost on Zacchaeus, though. It didn’t matter. He was in the presence of someone unlike anyone he’d ever met.

“I will give half my wealth to the poor, Lord, and if I have cheated people on their taxes, I will give them back four times as much!” he said (Luke 19:8).

This was no small statement. Zacchaeus was agreeing to divest his ill-gotten gain back to the people who needed it most, and Jesus declared that salvation had come.

In our own lives, we make many assumptions about what Jesus does and does not do —just as the people did in His time. But Jesus was never unclear about His purpose. We’ve read a lot of stories about Jesus thus far on our journey through the Bible, and it should be clear to us that His intentions encompassed a lot more than what He did in the last few days of His life. He came to heal the brokenhearted and set the captives free —as He did with Zacchaeus, despite the people’s displeasure. Or as He said in our reading today, “The Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost” (Luke 19:10).

As we follow Him, we must continue with this same mission, becoming the hands and feet of Jesus. Only then will we truly know Him beyond imagination and assumption.

MEDITATION:

Wealth from get-rich-quick schemes quickly disappears; wealth from hard work grows over time.