Immerse: Messiah - Flipbook - Page 58
46
IMMERSE
•
MESSIAH
18:40–19:17
When Jesus heard him, he stopped and ordered that the man be brought
to him. As the man came near, Jesus asked him, “What do you want me
to do for you?”
“Lord,” he said, “I want to see!”
And Jesus said, “All right, receive your sight! Your faith has healed you.”
Instantly the man could see, and he followed Jesus, praising God. And all
who saw it praised God, too.
Jesus entered Jericho and made his way through the town. There was a man
there named Zacchaeus. He was the chief tax collector in the region, and
he had become very rich. He tried to get a look at Jesus, but he was too
short to see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig
tree beside the road, for Jesus was going to pass that way.
When Jesus came by, he looked up at Zacchaeus and called him by
name. “Zacchaeus!” he said. “Quick, come down! I must be a guest in
your home today.”
Zacchaeus quickly climbed down and took Jesus to his house in great
excitement and joy. But the people were displeased. “He has gone to be
the guest of a notorious sinner,” they grumbled.
Meanwhile, Zacchaeus stood before the Lord and said, “I will give half
my wealth to the poor, Lord, and if I have cheated people on their taxes,
I will give them back four times as much!”
Jesus responded, “Salvation has come to this home today, for this man
has shown himself to be a true son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came
to seek and save those who are lost.”
The crowd was listening to everything Jesus said. And because he was
nearing Jerusalem, he told them a story to correct the impression that the
Kingdom of God would begin right away. He said, “A nobleman was called
away to a distant empire to be crowned king and then return. Before he
left, he called together ten of his servants and divided among them ten
pounds of silver, saying, ‘Invest this for me while I am gone.’ But his people
hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, ‘We do not want him to
be our king.’
“After he was crowned king, he returned and called in the servants to
whom he had given the money. He wanted to find out what their profits
were. The first servant reported, ‘Master, I invested your money and made
ten times the original amount!’
“‘Well done!’ the king exclaimed. ‘You are a good servant. You have been
faithful with the little I entrusted to you, so you will be governor of ten
cities as your reward.’
