Luke 18:31-19:27

Contrary to the expectations of the disciples, even though He had done so many miracles, and given such great teaching, and demonstrated that He was truly the long awaited Messiah, when He came to Jerusalem, Yeshua knew He would not be recognized as the rightful King of Israel. The One through whom the world was created and is sustained would be rejected and insulted and terribly mistreated - not only by the leaders of the Chosen People, who should have known better, but also by the Gentiles who were in power in our land.

According to the Son of God, both Jews and Gentiles would play a role in His sufferings and death. He knew that the leaders of the holy nation, and the leaders of the Gentiles who were in power in Israel would not believe Him or put their trust in Him. They would number Him with the transgressors, and consider Him to be an evil human being worthy of death.

But, the Savior also knew that death would not be able to hold Him, and shortly after His grave was assigned with wicked men, yet with a rich man in His death, He would overcome that very powerful enemy, death!

But the disciples understood none of these things, and the meaning of this statement was hidden from them, and they did not comprehend the things that were said. These special disciples, even though they had been with the Messiah for several years, and had learned so much from Him, couldn’t grasp that their Rabbi would be rejected and pour Himself out to death. They didn’t have the faith to understand those parts of the prophets that predicted the sufferings of the Messiah; they didn’t have the faith to understand Yeshua’s clear statements on this very important subject.

But, although the majority of Israel would not have faith in Messiah, and the majority of the leaders of the Chosen People and the leaders of the Gentiles, the important and powerful and advantaged would not trust Him, faith would be found among others; among a minority; and among some of whom seemed to be the least likely candidates for salvation - as the next two incidents will show.

As Yeshua was approaching Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the road begging. This man had very few of life’s advantages. He was blind. He could not read or study the Law and Prophets and Writings. He was unable to work. He was so poor that he had live off of the kindness of others. He was a beggar. And yet, despite these serious disadvantages, he had more faith than those who had far more of life’s advantages - more faith than the Gentiles who were in control of Israel, and more knowledge and trust in the Messiah than the majority of the political and religious leaders of the Chosen People!

Now hearing a crowd going by, he began to inquire what this was. They told him that Yeshua of Nazareth was passing by. And he called out, saying, “Yeshua, Son of David, have mercy on me”! This blind man had some real faith in Yeshua. He knew things about the Rabbi from Nazareth. He knew that Yeshua was from the family of David. He knew that He was very close to God, and God was able to do something miraculous for him through the young Rabbi from Nazareth. And so, because he had some faith in Messiah, he asked Him for help.

But, just as the disciples didn’t want to be bothered with children, many in the crowd didn’t want to be bothered by an unimportant blind man. Those who led the way were sternly telling him to be quiet; but he kept crying out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

Faith is willing to go against the crowd. It is not easy to go against the majority, especially if your livelihood depends on it - as it may have in the case of this blind man. If he displeased the majority, maybe many in that crowd would have responded by withholding their charity from him. But this man had enough confidence in Yeshua that he was willing to defy the crowd and risk his financial well-being in order to get closer to David’s Special Son and get the miraculous help from Him that only He could provide. And, that kind of faith that goes against the majority and is greater than concern for money or comfort caught the attention of the Son of God.

And Yeshua stopped and commanded that he be brought to Him; and when he came near, He questioned him, “What do you want Me to do for you”? And he said, “Lord, I want to regain my sight”! And Yeshua said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has made you well”. It is not our own efforts or ability to heal ourselves that brings the kind of healing we need. It is faith that brings the kind of healing that we most desperately need! Trust in God and Messiah releases the healing and saving and restoring and redeeming power of God! And this poor blind beggar had that kind of confidence and trust. Immediately he regained his sight and began following Him, glorifying God; and when all the people saw it, they gave praise to God.

Humanity is like this blind man - only our blindness and poverty are spiritual. We can’t see God the way we need to. We are spiritually impoverished. But the more we learn about Yeshua, and trust Him, and understand what He is capable of doing for us, the more we will be able to see God and be able to live a rich productive life that honors the God who loves us.

Chapter 19

Now, Luke will give us a second example of another unlikely candidate for salvation who was greatly benefitted by his faith. He entered Jericho and was passing through. And there was a man called by the name of Zaccheus; he was a chief tax collector and he was rich.

Zaccheus was not only one of the hated tax collectors, but he was one of the leading ones. While the rich were generally respected because of their riches, tax collectors who enriched themselves by collaborating with the despised Roman overlords were not respected or even liked. But, again, unlike the political and religious leaders who were respected, but had no genuine faith, something was happening in this man that was causing real faith to grow. This rich chief tax collector was attracted to the Rabbi from Nazareth and was willing to do extraordinary things to find out more about Him.

Zaccheus was trying to see who Yeshua was, and was unable because of the crowd, for he was small in stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree in order to see Him, for He was about to pass through that way. When Yeshua came to the place, He looked up and said to him, “Zaccheus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house”. Yeshua knew something about this man - how or what - we are not told. But Yeshua knew something about him - that this short man was in a tree because he wanted to have a better view of Yeshua. Maybe that was enough to draw the attention of the Lord. Maybe a little man willing to lose some of his dignity by climbing a tree and experiencing some embarrassment from the crowd was enough for Yeshua to know that something of faith, something of God, was at work in him.

Most other rabbis would not have had anything to do with Zaccheus, but the popular miracle working Rabbi, who is rightly called the Friend of Sinners, was not put off by Zaccheus being a leading tax collector, and graciously asked to stay in his home. And, that honor made an impact on Zaccheus and made him very very happy!

And he hurried and came down and received Him gladly. But, it did not make the majority happy. They had been taught that the right thing to do was shun sinners like Zaccheus. When they saw it, they all began to grumble, saying, “He has gone to be the guest of a man who is a sinner”. But, Yeshua was different from the other rabbis of His day, and knew that all of us are sinners, and it is sinners who are willing to come to God on His terms, and turn to God and Messiah and the Word of God, and start doing what God wants, that are worth befriending. The tiniest little movement in a human soul toward God, toward righteousness, is very significant. It is something precious, something that we need to encourage. And, Rabbi Yeshua’s actions based on this understanding made a profound impact on Zaccheus.

Zaccheus stopped and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much”. It is not easy for the average rich man to give away half of his wealth, and then to be willing to use the rest of what remains to return the maximum penalty that the Torah requires to be done in the case of theft of an animal (400% or 500%) or fraud (120%) - see Exodus 22:1, Leviticus 6:5, Numbers 5:7, 2 Samuel 12:6. These tangible acts of faith and repentance showed that money and riches were no longer Zaccheus’ god. He had a new God, the true God!

And Yeshua said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost”. The Creator very much wants to save lost human beings. They are precious to Him. It is a wonderful thing to be a human being, any human being - made in the image of God - incredibly precious and valuable. It’s an amazing thing to part of the special people who come from Abraham - even if one is a tax collector. Messiah came on a special mission to rescue the precious but lost sons of Abraham, like Zaccheus.

We, like God the Father and Messiah the Son, are not to automatically avoid all sinners, shunning those who are far from God, but rather we are to be actively seeking and looking for lost human beings; looking for any human being who shows a little flicker of responsiveness to the truth, a tiny little bit of faith and movement toward God - the lost sons of Abraham first, but also Gentiles, and encourage them, like Zaccheus, to experience Messianic salvation!

A parable about the rich and powerful who don’t have faith in the Messiah and who won’t be saved. The majority of the nation will not place their faith in Messiah. They will be rejected, and their authority will be transferred to a new community with new leaders. Israel will survive in the New Covenant Community and through the faithful remnant.

While they were listening to these things, Yeshua went on to tell a parable, because He was near Jerusalem, and they supposed that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately - and God’s more visible and present rule over humanity wasn’t going to happen right away, and Yeshua knew it and wanted His disciples to know it.

So He said, “A nobleman went to a distant country to receive a kingdom for himself, and then return. Yeshua is the man of noble birth - the most noble birth. He will leave this world and return to Heaven and be recognized as the rightful King of Heaven, under the authority of the High King - God the Father. When the time is right, Yeshua will return to Earth, to Israel, as the legitimate King of Israel and the King of the entire planet!

There are different groups of people back home on Earth. The first is the King’s servants. They are the believers. While the King is gone to Heaven, His servants who remain on Earth must faithfully be engaging in productive activity that benefits the King. And he called ten of his slaves, and gave them ten minas (a mina was about 3 months’ salary - say, $15,000) and said to them, ‘Do business with this until I come back’.

The second group is the majority of the populace who hated the King. But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to reign over us”. The rejection of the majority of Israel is to be expected. Until the Son of God returns from Heaven to Earth, the minority of the faithful must endure the rejection of the majority, and faithfully serve the interests of Yeshua according to the abilities given to them.

When he returned, after receiving the kingdom, (Yeshua will return to Earth after being acknowledged King in Heaven) he ordered that these slaves (those are Messiah’s followers, Christians and Messianic Jews), to whom he had given the money, be called to him so that he might know what business they had done. The first appeared, saying, ‘Master, your mina has made ten minas more.’ This follower of Messiah had a lot of talents, giftings and skills, and he used them well, with zeal and enthusiasm and produced a ten-fold return that benefitted the King. Fantastic! Job well done! And he said to him, ‘Well done, good slave, because you have been faithful in a very little thing, you are to be in authority over ten cities.’ Ruling over ten cities was a great reward! This follower of the King was greatly rewarded for his faithful and productive service in accord with his zeal, talents, gifting and skills.

The second came, saying, ‘Your mina, master, has made five minas.’ And he said to him also, ‘And you are to be over five cities’. The second Christian or Messianic Jew was greatly rewarded for his faithful and useful service in accord with his talents, gifting and skills, zeal and enthusiasm. He was given a magnificent reward - which is mentioned to encourage each one of us to engage in faithful, productive service. Are you?

The third servant of the King didn’t really know the King. He didn’t have much faith in Him, and it negatively affected his service and his reward. Another came, saying, ‘Master, here is your mina, which I kept put away in a handkerchief; for I was afraid of you, because you are an exacting man; you take up what you did not lay down and reap what you did not sow.’ He said to him, ‘By your own words I will judge you, you worthless slave. Did you know that I am an exacting man, taking up what I did not lay down and reaping what I did not sow? Then why did you not put my money in the bank, and having come, I would have collected it with interest?’ Then he said to the bystanders, ‘Take the mina away from him and give it to the one who has the ten minas.’

The third servant of the King received no reward and lost the initial money entrusted to him. He demonstrated that although he seemed to know and serve the King, he never really did. We don’t want to be this third servant!!! Seemingly saved, supposedly in the service of the King, but not in truth; not really knowing Yeshua, not really serving Him, not rewarded, and in fact, one who will suffer total loss - loss of life, and one who never will experience the reward of eternal life.

And they said to him, ‘Master, he has ten minas already.’ I tell you that to everyone who has, more shall be given, but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away. The reward of the faithless servant - the nominal Christian, the nominal Messianic Jew, will be taken away. The little life that he has - life that is limited to this world, will be over. He will die. He will not experience eternal life. Why? He was a false disciple, a false follower, a Christian in Name Only, a Messianic Jew in Name Only.

The other group who was mentioned before - the faithless majority, will one day be completely destroyed. But these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slay them in my presence”. You don’t want to be part of this group - the faithless, Messiah rejecting majority!

It is the faithful remnant, who use their God-given talents, skills, with intelligence, with enthusiasm, who will be saved and greatly rewarded. Be part of the faithful remnant - not the faithless and Messiah-rejecting majority. Make absolutely sure you are part of the faithful remnant! Make absolutely sure you are not the OMS- the One-Mina Servant! Serve the Lord will all of your gifts, talents, skills and resources! With courage, love, zeal, enthusiasm, not looking to the world, not looking to the world for comfort. It’s worth it!