Christmas is less than a week away! Stick with us as we complete our overview of Luke’s gospel.
In Luke 19, we move into the final week of Jesus’ life on earth. Jesus passes through Jericho and heads to Jerusalem. On his way, he bumps into Zachaeus. This story, too, is unique to Luke’s account. Zachaeus is a chief tax collector, a Jew of some means. He not only has bought the right to collect taxes for the Roman government, but he has franchised others to do the dirty work for him. But no one is so filthy that they cannot find hope in Jesus. “Salvation has come to your house today.”
In this chapter, Jesus at last enters Jerusalem. It is broad daylight. The crowds shout and wave palm branches.
This seems like a huge contrast to the way he entered the world quietly at night, lying in a manger. At his birth, angels announced, “Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth to all men,” and on Palm Sunday, the crowd announces, “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest.” A fitting set of parentheses surrounded Jesus’ birth and death: Peace on earth and peace in heaven.
May you experience God’s peace as you gather with family and friends this season.
