Monday, March 15
Read Luke 19
Think About It:
- In Luke 19:1-10, we read the account of the chief tax collector, Zacchaeus. The actions and the response of Zacchaeus to Jesus is a model to us of how to receive Jesus:
- Receive Jesus by seeking after Him with real effort.
- Receive Jesus by humbling yourself.
- Receive Jesus no matter how sinful or hated you are.
- Receive Jesus as He invites you by name.
- Receive Jesus without delay.
- Receive Jesus by coming down to Him.
- Receive Jesus Himself.
- Receive Jesus into your life and your home.
- Receive Jesus joyfully.
- Receive Jesus despite what others say.
- Receive Jesus with repentance and restitution.
- In verses 41-44, Jesus weeps over Jerusalem. Here, the word wept might be translated as wailed, rather than silent tears. This was a deeply moving moment for Jesus. His tears were not for His own fate that awaited Him in Jerusalem, but for the fate of the city itself, the fate of the people. He burst into sobbing as He lamented lost opportunity. “The cry was that of a frustrated desire. He had visited the city with the desire to deliver it from the things of destruction; and with the offers of the things of peace. The spiritual blindness of the rulers and people were such that they did not discern the meaning of the visitation. The result was inevitable. There could be no escape from the destruction” (G. Campbell Morgan). God expressed similar feelings in Isaiah 65:1-2. Here Jesus showed the heart of God, how even when judgment must be pronounced, it is never done with joy. Even when God’s judgment is perfectly just and righteous, His heart weeps at the bringing of the judgment. Are you living according to your own will, following your own desires and your own interpretation of who God is? Could Jesus be weeping over you as He wept over Jerusalem, lamenting your lost opportunities?
Family Time:
- The people said Zacchaeus was a sinner. They were upset with Jesus for going to his house. Zacchaeus probably wasn’t a great guy. He was a tax collector and they weren’t very nice people. Read verses 8-9. What happened in Zacchaeus’ heart to make Jesus say that salvation had come to Zacchaeus’ house?
- How did Jesus feel when He got closer to Jerusalem? (verse 41) Why? (verses 42-44)
