September 15, 2025; Luke 19:1-27

Daily Dose of Hope

September 15, 2025

Scripture - Luke 19:1-27

Prayer (from St. Augustine): Breathe in me, O Holy Spirit, That my thoughts may all be holy. Act in me, O Holy Spirit, That my work, too, may be holy. Draw my heart, O Holy Spirit, That I love but what is holy. Strengthen me, O Holy Spirit, To defend all that is holy. Guard me, then, O Holy Spirit, That I always may be holy.

Welcome back to the Daily Dose of Hope, the devotional and podcast that complements the New Hope Church daily Bible reading plan at New Hope Church in Brandon, Florida.  We are currently doing a deep dive into the Gospels and Acts.  Today, we begin a deep dive into Luke 19.

At the beginning of the chapter, we meet Zacchaeus.  Zacchaeus’ encounter with Jesus is worth a fair amount of reflection. Zacchaeus was a tax collector. The Roman government hired local Jews to actually go around collecting the taxes for them. One article I read said that they didn't receive a salary per se but instead collected significantly more in taxes than was owed so they could keep that money for themselves and evidence suggests they took a lot for themselves. Thus, tax collectors tended to be wealthy and they were hated by their fellow Jews. The Jews thought of them as selling their services to a foreign oppressor at the expense of their own people. The rabbinical writings refer to these tax collectors as "robbers" and the Gospels call them "sinners." They were the scum of the Jewish community. And Zacchaeus was one of them.

Zacchaeus wasn't just a run of the mill tax collector but a chief tax collector. You typically don't get to be chief of something unless you have worked at it for a while and climbed your way to the top so I'm thinking Zacchaeus had probably been living a dishonest life for years, extorting and deceiving others for his own financial gain. He wasn't a newbie at this.

Zacchaeus lived in the town of Jericho, which was Jesus' last stop on his journey from Galilee to Jerusalem. It's interesting...people must have heard that Jesus was coming through. Zacchaeus must have heard it because he is determined to see him. I'm curious what it was that made Zacchaeus want to see Jesus so badly-curiosity or conviction-but Scripture says that the crowd that had gathered was quite large and he couldn't see over all the people because he was short. But he was persistent, so he ran ahead to a place where he knew that Jesus would walk by, he climbs a tree, and he waits.

As Jesus walks by, he notices Zacchaeus and he calls him by name. He knows him. (I hope each of you know that Jesus knows your name too!) When Jesus calls to him, he tells Zacchaeus to climb down from the tree, for he had plans to go to his home. We might not recognize the significance of this, but to go to someone's home, to dine with them, demonstrated connection and belonging. To break bread with someone was a big deal.

It was pretty much a given that the Pharisees didn't like this. He was hanging out with "those" people again. But Jesus goes to Zacchaeus' home and possibly while they are dining together, something happens within Zacchaeus. Maybe it started when Zacchaeus heard Jesus was coming through Jericho-something within him stirred for a different way of doing life. Maybe it started when Jesus really knew him and saw him up in that tree. Maybe it was when Jesus offered him the gift of acceptance by offering to dine with him. Maybe it was in their dinner conversation (I wonder what they talked about over their meal)...but we know that because of his encounter with Jesus, something changes within Zacchaeus. In fact, he eventually tells Jesus, "I'm going to give half of my money to the poor and if I have cheated people, I will payback four times as much.” Four times! He didn't just say, I'll pay them back, I'll make amends ,but he specifically says he will pay them four times as much as he took. He was no longer the crooked, thieving Roman sympathizing tax collector, but rather a repentant, generous Jesus follower.

What can we learn here?

·  God has the power to transform any person, no matter how far gone we think they are. God isn’t done with anyone yet! I’m guessing many people had given up on Zacchaeus but Jesus wasn’t one of them.

·  Never discount how God may use you to be prevenient grace for someone else. I think about how Jesus noticed Zacchaeus in the tree. There were many people, probably lots of noise and distractions, and yet Jesus notices individual people and responds to their needs. That was an act of prevenient grace that led Zacchaeus closer to a place of change. Do we notice individual people around us, do we really notice them, and show them care and kindness in a way that leads them closer to Jesus?

Immediately after his interaction with Zaccheaus, on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus shares the parable of the minas.  This is very similar to the parable of the talents, which we talked about in Matthew, and it gives us another glimpse into the Kingdom of God.  As a traveling preacher, Jesus would have told the same parable at different times and in different ways.  We see this here.

In the parable, a man leaves for a foreign nation in order to be made king. Before he left, he gave ten minas to ten of his servants. A mina was a good sum of money (about three months’ wages), and the future king tells his servants to put the money to work until he returns.  The servants admit they don’t like the man and they don’t want him to be king.  Nevertheless, some servants invested the money and some didn’t.  When the man returns, this is made obvious. 

It is clear that the man, now king, expected a return on his investment.  Likewise, God expects a return on his investment.  God has given us resources, which he expects us to use to benefit the kingdom.  This includes material resources but it isn’t just material resources.  We have gifts and talents which God has given to us for a particular purpose.  If you have the gift of teaching, God wants you to teach.  If he’s given you the gift of leading, then he expects you to lead.  If you have the gift of discernment, prayer, music, then he has the expectation you will use those for the Kingdom. 

God also expects us to take our financial resources and use those for the Kingdom as well.  Every single thing we have is a gift from the Lord.  We may think that we have earned it, but it’s all a gift from God.  We are to use what we have been given for his glory.  

Blessings,

Pastor Vicki