How It All Goes Down in Jericho
- Jesus is finally drawing near to Jericho, which is close to Jerusalem, their final destination.
- Are we there yet?
- A blind man is sitting at the side of the road where he's begging. Hearing the crowd, he asks what's going on.
- When he's told that Jesus of Nazareth is passing by, he shouts, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" (18:38). People are ordering him to pipe down, but he starts to cry out louder.
- Guess what Jesus does? Yep—he makes the blind man see. The guy gives God a big hurrah, and so does everyone else.
- As Jesus passes through Jericho, a man named Zacchaeus is there. This guy is loaded.
- He's trying to see Jesus, but he's a short guy, and the crowd's too large. Zacchaeus sprints ahead and climbs a sycamore tree so he can see Jesus when he passes.
- As Jesus walks by the tree, he looks up and sees Zacchaeus: "Zacchaeus! You come down from there! For I'm going to your house today!"
- Zacchaeus is thrilled to oblige.
- Everyone moans because Jesus chooses to stay with a sinner. What gives?
- Zacchaeus stops dead in his tracks and makes an unexpected announcement to Jesus: he's giving half of his possessions to the poor, and he's using the other half to repay anyone he's defrauded fourfold.
- Wow.
- Jesus declares that deliverance belongs to Zacchaeus and his house. Finally, here's a rich guy who's doing it right (as opposed to say 12:16-21; 16:14-15, 19-31; and 18:18-27).
- Jesus gives a nice big "I told you so" to the grumblers from 19:7. He's come to deliver the lost.