Luke 19: Being Responsible with what Jesus Gave You

We read Luke 19 and watch Jesus move from joyful welcome to piercing grief to righteous anger, all while revealing what God’s kingdom is really like. We also slow down on the parable of the ten minas and ask what faithfulness looks like while we wait for the King’s return. 
• Zacchaeus climbing a tree and finding mercy that changes his life 
• Salvation shown through repentance, generosity, and restitution 
• The parable of the ten minas as a call to stewardship and courage 
• Why similar Jesus stories can show up differently across the Gospels 
• The triumphal entry and Jesus’ claim that praise cannot be silenced 
• Jesus weeping over Jerusalem and warning about missed peace 
• Cleansing the temple and confronting worship turned into profit 
• Setting our sights on eternity while taking action today 

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Transcript

Welcome And Luke’s Focus

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Hey, welcome back to the Out Loud Bible Podcast. This is Mike. We're reading through the book of Luke, and today let's just read chapter 19. Remember, the author of this gospel account, this biography of Jesus' ministry here, Luke, is focusing on what Jesus felt, really trying to show the human side of Jesus. And in this chapter, we see a number of human emotions from Jesus. We see joy, we see surprise, we see him weep, and we see him very angry and frustrated. Let's see what we can learn about the heart of Jesus and what we need to do about it here as we read Luke chapter 19 from the New English Translation. Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through it. Now a man named Zacchaeus was there. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. He was trying to

Zacchaeus Meets Jesus

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get a look at Jesus, but being a short man, he couldn't see over the crowd, so he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, because Jesus was going to pass that way. And when Jesus came to that place, he looked up and said to him, Zacchaeus, come down quickly, because I must stay at your house today. So he came down quickly and welcomed Jesus joyfully, and when the people saw it, they all complained He's gone in to be the guest of a man who's a sinner. But Zacchaeus stopped and said to the Lord, Look, Lord, half of my possessions I now give to the poor, and if I've cheated anyone of anything, I'm paying back four times as much. And then Jesus said to him, Today salvation has come to this household because he too is a son of Abraham, for the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost. While the people were listening to these things, Jesus proceeded to tell them a parable, because he was near to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately. Therefore,

Parable Of The Ten Minas

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he said, A nobleman went to a distant country to receive for himself a kingdom, and then return. And he summoned ten of his slaves, gave them ten Minas, and said to them, Do business with these until I come back. But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, We don't want this man to be king over us. When he returned after receiving the kingdom, he summoned these slaves to whom he had given the money, and he wanted to know how much they had earned by trading. So the first one came before him and said, Sir, your Mina has made ten minas more. The king said to him, Ah, well done, good slave. Because you've been faithful in a very small matter, you'll have authority over ten cities. Then the second one came and said, Sir, your Mina has made five minas. So the king said to him, And you are to be over five cities. Then another slave came and said, Sir, here is your mina that I put away for safekeeping in a piece of cloth. For I was afraid because you're a severe man. You withdraw what you don't deposit and reap what you don't sow? The king said to him, I will judge you by your own words, you wicked slave. So you knew, did you, that I was a severe man, withdrawing what I didn't deposit and reaping what I didn't sow? Why then didn't you put my money in the bank? So when I returned I could have collected it with interest? And he said to his attendants, Take the Mina from him and give it to the one who has ten. But they said to him, Oh sir, he has ten minas already. I tell you that every one who has will be given more, but from the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. But as for these enemies of mine who did not want me to be their king, bring them here and slaughter them in front of me. Hmm. Well, after Jesus had said this, he continued on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. Now when he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, telling them,

The King Enters Jerusalem

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Go to the village ahead of you, and when you enter it you'll find a colt tied there that's never been written. Untie it and bring it here. And if anyone asks you why are you untying it, just say, The Lord needs it. So those who were sent ahead found it exactly as he had told them, and as they were untying the cold, its owners asked them, Why are you untying that colt? They replied, The Lord needs it and then they brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt, and had Jesus get on it. And as he rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road, and as he approached the road leading down from the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen. Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord, peace in heaven and glory in the highest. But some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, Teacher, rebuke your disciples. He answered, I tell you, if they keep silent, the very stones will cry out. Now when Jesus approached and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, If you had only known on this day even you the things that make for peace

Jesus Weeps And Cleanses Temple

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But now they're hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and surround you and close in on you from every side. They'll demolish you, you and your children within your walls, and they will not leave within you one stone on top of another, because you didn't recognize the time of your visitation from God. And then Jesus entered the temple courts and began to drive out those who were selling things there, saying to them, It's written, My house will be a house of prayer, but you've turned it into a den of robbers. Jesus was teaching daily in the temple courts, and the chief priests and the experts in the law and the prominent leaders among the people were seeking to assassinate him, but they couldn't find a way to do it for all the people hung on his words. When I was traveling around doing my improv comedy ministry full-time, there were a number of times that we would see an itinerant preacher or speaker multiple times, whether we were on a tour with them or we'd just run

Why Jesus Repeats Stories

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into the the same preacher multiple times. And it became clear that these itinerant ministers and these traveling preachers would have some stories that they would say pretty much everywhere they went, to every new group of people. And they were often told similarly, but they would there would be little differences between them based on maybe what the the theme of an event was or that uh type of group that they were speaking to, the the demographic of the group, they would change some details to to make it appropriate or really uh fit the group of people who were listening. But for the most part, they would just tell these stories in different ways and in different groups of people, and they would feel fresh and kind of customized for each group. However, you know, if you were one of the people who followed this preacher multiple times, then you'd see, oh well, they're they're telling the story. It doesn't make it any less genuine, the fact that he's said it before. Uh it just shows that, you know, yeah, this is the story he tells to make this point. And he'll change some things here or there to make it land uh more specifically to the group. But, you know, if you follow him around, you'll you'll know here's this story. Oh, oh, well, that was a little bit different. He told it a little bit different there. The same can be true of Jesus. We get to know him, we get to follow him around when we read these gospel accounts, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and as we do, we find some stories that seem pretty similar to other times that we've read them elsewhere in the Gospels. Like today, with the parable of the ten Minas, where this master had ten servants and he gave them each one Minos, it's a currency, a type of currency of the day,

Minas Versus Talents Explained

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and told them to be a steward of it while he was gone. Now, of course, this reminds us of probably the more popular, the more famous version of the story about the the talents, but there are some differences with the story of the talents, which is written in Matthew 25, verses 14 through 30. We find three servants, and they were each given different amounts of money. One was given five, one was given two, one was given one, and in the parable of the talents, all of them doubled what they had, except for the one who only had one, and the ones who doubled the master's money received reward, and the one who did not was punished. And in a similar way, the parable of the ten Minas, the the levels of increase were actually different. One turned one into ten, another servant turned one into five, and they were still rewarded and and praised for their good stewardship. And now this is one example where people will try to, if they're trying to find fault with the Bible, they'll say, Well, why does he tell this story here? And why is he why are there differences here? Well, look, this isn't saying that Jesus told the story once, and now we have two completely different takes on it. How can we trust either one when we, you know, that that's not the point here? That's just someone trying to cause trouble and trying to to find some fault with the Bible, when really Jesus was a traveling preacher, a itinerant minister, and he would repackage a story in different ways to make the same sort of point to different groups of people in different contexts. In fact, in the context of the parable of the talents in Matthew, he was actually speaking to uh his disciples privately on the Mount of Olives, and they were asking him, When will these things be? When will be the sign of your coming about the end of the age? And he then talked, that was in Matthew 24 and Matthew 24, and into Matthew 25 with the parable of the talents, was his explanation of what the coming kingdom would be like. But based on what we read today in Luke chapter 19 in the story of the Minas, we see that Jesus is talking in the context of those who think that the kingdom of heaven is coming right now, as we're walking into Jerusalem. And we can see Jerusalem is heavy on Jesus' heart as a city that did not recognize his coming. They are like the people that Jesus talked about in the story, the ones who did not want him to be their king. In this story, everyone was given the same amount. Everyone was given the same thing. The Lord has given all of us followers a valuable commission. We have to be faithful.

Faithfulness, Eternity, And Prayer

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We have to be faithful with what he's given us. When he returns, he's going to figure out how faithful we were with what we've been given, this responsibility to share him with others. And the reward is some degree of authority in the next life. What exactly that means, I frankly don't know. But there's enough here for us to take action on what we do know now. Let's be faithful with what he's given us. Let's set our sights on things above and things in eternity, rather than focused so much on the ways of the world right now. But while we're in the world, let's do our best to be able to win ground for the kingdom today. Let's pray to that end today that God will give us more opportunities and the eyes to see them as we go out into the world. Thanks for joining me here today as we read and talk about Luke chapter 19 a little bit. Join me next time on the Out Loud Bible Podcast.