Luke 19:1-10 The Importance of a Tree
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: October 25 & 26, 2018 Luke 19:1-10
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
He entered Jericho and was passing through. And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
(Understanding the Text) According to Luke, Jesus was confronted by blind Bartamaeus at the entrance to Jericho where Jesus healed the blind beggar. (Other gospels place it as Jesus was leaving Jericho.) Now Jesus has entered into the city walking through its streets to the road on the other side that leads to Jerusalem. The crowds still accompany Him. They believe that He is on His way to Jerusalem to be crowned king of the Jews, and they don’t want to miss the show.
Edersheim says that “It was the custom, when a festive band passed through a place, that the inhabitants gathered in the streets to bid their brethren welcome. And on that afternoon, surely, scarce any one in Jericho but would go forth to see this pilgrim-band. Men – curious, angry, half-convinced; women, holding up their babes, it may be for a passing blessing, or pushing forward their children that in after years they might say they had seen the Prophet of Nazareth; traders, soldiers – a solid wall of onlookers before their gardens was this ‘crowd’ along the road by which Jesus ‘was to pass.’” According to Eidersheim, “Jericho was the central station for the collection of tax and custom, both on native produce and on that brought from across Jordan,” and Zacchaeus was chief of these tax collectors in Jericho.
Zacchaeus had heard many amazing things about the Messiah. He had even heard that one of Jesus’ special twelve disciples was a tax collector like himself. Something inside Zacchaeus was drawn to all that he had heard, but he was cynical and afraid to hope that there could be any acceptance for himself. However, if there was only a little chance, he had to check it out. The problem was that when he tried to get close to Jesus, he was blocked by the crowds of people. None of them would give way to a hated tax collector. He tried to see over their heads, but he was too short. Zacchaeus had not become chief tax collector by giving up. He calculated the path they were traveling and knew of a tree where they would pass by. He ran ahead, and climbed up the tree as fast as he could so that he was in position by the time that the first of the crowd passed under him.
(Revelation of God) “And he was seeking to see who Jesus was” This seems like a profound statement. Zacchaeus had heard stories, but it was difficult to sort out truth from fiction. Some sounded too good to be true while others just didn’t make sense. Was Jesus about to be crowned king? Was He going to tear down the temple? Did He really fellowship with sinners and tax collectors? Was He really the Messiah? Those are the kinds of questions a Jewish tax collector might ask. A modern seeker might ask questions like: What does Jesus have to do with my life? Can He really help me? Is He a hypocrite like so many people I have met? Is He real and if He is, will He take me and my life and fix them? Then, as we grow in Jesus, we never stop seeking to see who He is. Our sinful natures make it difficult to sort out truth from fiction. The parts that are too good to be true still mystify us and our views of Him remain warped like a funhouse mirror. We keep seeking to see Him and catch glimpses that draw us closer, but then our natures blur our vision again. It is only through the eye salve of the Spirit that our vision clears so that we can see Him clearly. Like Zacchaeus we have to climb up a tree to get a view of Jesus above the crowd’s stereotypes that block our understanding. Why is it so hard to see Jesus as He really is rather than through the lens of sin and stereotype?
How did Jesus know the tax collector’s name? Did one of the crowd or the disciples tell Jesus? The story implies that Zacchaeus had never met Jesus. Was it the Holy Spirit who informed Jesus of the name? Why did Jesus tell Zacchaeus to hurry? What made Him decide to stay at Zacchaeus’ house? Was it something revealed to Jesus earlier as He had prayed, or did it just come to Him then?
(Understanding the Text) As Zacchaeus heard Jesus speaking to him, the various reports that he had heard of Jesus fell into place and he realized that the too-good-to-be-true reports were both too good and totally true. Not only that, he realized that Jesus not only knew who and what he was, but that Jesus wanted to be with him. Joy filled his heart and he rushed to obey Jesus’ command and not because it was a command but because the path to Jesus was now clear, and he was one of the special chosen who Jesus had called.
As Jesus and His disciples followed Zacchaeus to his house, the crowd realized that Jesus was going to eat with the most hated man in the city. Many of them had been cheated and hurt by this man. Many of them saw him as a traitor who made money off of the misery of his own people. They saw a liar, a cheat, a heartless greedy man, and they were right. He was all of those things. They had cause for their resentment and dislike of Zacchaeus. He deserved every bit of it. He was not some innocent who had been misjudged and mistreated by his fellow man. No, he had made sure that he was not the victim, and in the process, he had victimized others. He was not a good man. When the people grumbled that Jesus had gone to eat in the house of a sinner, they were not only correct in their assessment, but they were also right in their judgment. Where they were wrong was that they looked at him through human eyes rather than the compassionate eyes of God. They saw a sinner who sinned more than them. Instead, they should have seen a fellow sinner in this sinful world. They themselves were just as bad in their own way. They had victimized others and selfishly ignored others’ needs.
(Revelation of God) In God’s eyes not only are we all equally sinners, we are also all equally loved. God looks at us with compassion seeing the secret desire in our heart to be known, loved, and accepted into another’s heart. Jesus looked at Zacchaeus and saw the sinner. He knew the sinner, and He had compassion for him. Jesus not only drew Zacchaeus to Himself, but He was drawn to Zacchaeus. Here was someone who wanted and needed what Jesus had to give. The crowd did not see what attracted Jesus to Zacchaeus but Zacchaeus did and was drawn by that rope of love and compassion to Jesus.
(Understanding the Text) The next part seems to take place in Zacchaeus’ house. They must have eaten and talked and formed a friendship. Zacchaeus was moved to change his life. He was going to do everything differently. He promised Jesus to restore that which he had stolen. He would no longer cheat people of their money. He understood that the poor were important to Jesus. He wanted to please Jesus and become the man that he saw reflected back at him in Jesus’ eyes.
(Application / Prayer) My application for myself is that I need to look at other people through Jesus’ eyes, and even more importantly, I need to look at myself through Jesus’ eyes. I need to see my sinful nature and that I am no better than the worst sinner imaginable. I need to see that I am known down to my core. I need to see that I am loved deeply even though I do not deserve it. Jesus, help me to see the potential that You see in me and to see the relationship that we could have. I want that knowledge to draw me closer and closer to You.