Then, as He entered Jericho, Zacchæus, the chief of the tax-gatherers, was mightily stirred with the desire to see this wondrous man, the Son of man. Hence he lets nothing stand in the way. Neither personal deficiency, nor the crowd that was there, is allowed to hinder his intense purpose of heart to see the Lord Jesus. He therefore climbs up a sycamore tree by the way; and Jesus knowing well the desire of Zaccheus, and the faith that was at work there however feebly, at once, to his joy and astonishment, invites Himself to his house. “Zacchæus, make haste, and come down; for today I must abide at thy house. And he made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully.” All fell to murmuring. It was the same tale at the end as at the beginning. “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 anything from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.” He had been really a conscientious man. He was a man thus characterized; for it is no promise of what he is going to do, but he mentions that which was no doubt a fact about himself at that very moment. He was what men call a just and good man, yet a chief, tax-gatherer and a wealthy one, though they be hard things to put together. Here was a tax-gatherer who, if through incautiousness or any defect guilty of wrong to another, needed no pressure to restore fourfold. Such was his habit. Our Lord, however, cuts it all short. As a matter of human righteousness, it was well; it was the proof that Zacchæus exercised himself as a man to have a conscience void of offense in his own way. Nor is this out of keeping with the tenor of Luke’s Gospel, as, indeed, it is only here that we have the story at all. Our Lord, however, shows that it was not the time to think or speak of such matters. “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.” How infinite the blessing! Was it a fitting time for speaking of himself? It was not a question of man’s walking righteously, or of talking about it. In truth, man was lost; but the Son of man was there to bear his burden. This great and glorious fact superseded all others. Whatever there had been working in him at any time, all was now swallowed up in the presence of the Son of man seeking and saving the lost. What can give us a more vivid, true, and blessed representation of the Lord Jesus Christ in His first coming with the grace of God that brings salvation? (Luke 19:1-101And Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. 2And, behold, there was a man named Zaccheus, which was the chief among the publicans, and he was rich. 3And he sought to see Jesus who he was; and could not for the press, because he was little of stature. 4And he ran before, and climbed up into a sycomore tree to see him: for he was to pass that way. 5And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up, and saw him, and said unto him, Zaccheus, make haste, and come down; for to day I must abide at thy house. 6And he made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully. 7And when they saw it, they all murmured, saying, That he was gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner. 8And Zaccheus 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. 9And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham. 10For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. (Luke 19:1‑10)).
Immediately after (and, if I mistake not, expressly put in close conjunction with this) is the parable of the nobleman who goes into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. They were all wrong, therefore, in looking for the kingdom of God immediately to appear. Not so. Christ was going away to heaven to receive the kingdom from God there—not about to take it from man now and in this world. It is evidently, therefore, a picture of the Lord’s return at the second advent, after having received a kingdom. It was not a question of human willingness or power, but of receiving from God. But then, further, He shows that meanwhile His servants are called to occupy themselves till He come. He called His ten servants, and delivered to them ten pounds; and said unto them, “Occupy till I come.” Then we find another picture—His citizens hating Him; for nothing can be more elaborate than this parable. The Lord’s relation to the kingdom at the second advent is contrasted with the grace that Rows out in the former part of the chapter. This is the main subject with which the parable opens. Next, we have the place of the servants responsible to use what the Lord gives. Such is another great point shown out here. It is not, as in the Gospel of Matthew, the Lord giving different gifts to different servants, which is equally true; but here it is the moral test of the servants carried out by each having the same sum. This proves yet more than in the other case how far they labored. They started with similar advantages. What was the result? Meanwhile hatred became apparent in the citizens, who represent the unbelieving Jews settled down in the earth. “When he was returned, having received the kingdom, then he commanded these servants to be called unto him, to whom he had given the money that he might know how much every man had gained by trading. Then came the first, saying, Lord, thy mina hath gained ten minas;” and so with the other; and then we hear of the one who says, “Lord, behold, here is thy mina, which I have kept laid up in a napkin: for I feared thee.” There was no confidence in His grace. The consequence is, that, treating the Lord as a froward man, he finds Him froward. Unbelief finds its own response as truly as faith does. As “according to thy faith it is unto you,” so alas! the converse proves true. It is to man according to his unbelief.
Further, we have a remarkable difference in the rewards here. It is not, “Enter into the joy of thy Lord;” but one receives ten cities, another five, and so on. He that was fearful and unbelieving, on the contrary, has his mina taken from him. Again, then enemies are brought forward. The unfaithful servant is not called an enemy, though, no doubt, he was no friend of the Son, and dealt with righteously. But the open adversaries are called into the scene; and as the Lord here pronounces those men His enemies which would not that He should reign over them, He says, “Bring hither, and slay them before me.” Thus the parable is a very complete sketch of the general results of the Lord’s second advent for the citizens of the world, as well as of the occupation and reward of the servants who serve Him faithfully meanwhile (vss. 11-27).
Next, we have the entrance into Jerusalem. We need not dwell on the scene of the riding in on the colt; but that which is peculiar to Luke claims our attention for a moment. “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” (vss. 37-38). Thus the Spirit of God works to give them a step, and a great step, in divine intelligence beyond the song of the angels at the beginning. What they justly sang at the birth of Jesus was, “On earth peace, good will [that is, God’s good will] toward men,” ushered in by glory to God in the highest. Here we have a signal change or converse. “Glory in the highest” is the result, not the introduction; and instead of “on earth peace,” (which will, no doubt, be the fruit by and by, as it is according to God’s mind, the anticipation from the beginning,) the disciples meanwhile, and most appropriately, sing, “Peace in heaven.” It was not a question of peace on earth now. The reason was manifest: the earth was unready, was about to judge unjustly, and to be judged. Jesus was on the very point of being cast out and cut off. He was really in heart thoroughly, rejected already; but He was shortly to enter on other sufferings, even to the death of the cross. The effect, then, of that which was imminent was not peace for the earth yet, but peace in heaven most assuredly; and therefore we can comprehend how the Lord guided by His Spirit the song of the disciples at the close just as much as at the beginning; that of the angels expressed the general idea of God’s purposes —the moral effects to spring from the death of the incarnate Son.
After this we hear the murmuring Pharisees rebuked, who would have had the disciples rebuked for their song: if they had not sung it, the stones must have cried out; and the Lord vindicates the blameless (vss. 39-40).
Then follows that most touching scene, peculiar to and characteristic of Luke—Jesus weeping over Jerusalem. It was not at the grave of the one He loved, though about to call from the grave. The weeping in John is in the presence of death, which had touched Lazarus. It is therefore infinitely more personal, though it be also the wondrous sight of One who, coming with the consciousness of divine power to banish death and bring life into the scene, yet in grace nevertheless did not one whit the less, but the more, feel the power of death as no mere man ever felt, yet as none but a real man could feel. There never was any one that had such a sense of death before as Jesus, just because He was life, the energy of which, combined with perfect love, made the power of death to be so sensible. Death does not feel death, but life did. Therefore He that was (and not merely had) life, as no one else, weeps in the presence of death, groaning in spirit at the grave. His having power to banish death weakened His sense of it in no respect. If poor dying man felt it somewhat, the Word made flesh, the God-man, entered into it in spirit the more because He was God, though man. But here we have another scene, His weeping over that very city that was about to cast Him out and crucify Him. Oh, it is a truth for us to treasure in our hearts—His weeping in divine grace over guilty Jerusalem, forsaking its own mercies, rejecting its own Saviour—the Lord God. Its desolation He predicts, and destruction, because the time of its visitation was unknown (vss. 41-44). His visit to the temple and its cleansing are mentioned summarily; as also His teaching there daily the chiefs of priest and people, with their desire to destroy Him, but hardly knowing how, for all the people hung on Him to hear.