Luke 19 Round Two: Jesus Gets Violent

Start with a tax collector in a tree and end with a city on the brink: Luke 19 shows how Jesus transforms people, challenges systems, and calls us to a quieter kind of courage. We walk from Jericho to Jerusalem tracing a pattern—mercy that makes restitution, stewardship that values faithfulness over performance, praise that stubbornly tells the truth, and worship that refuses to exploit those seeking God.

Our journey begins with Zacchaeus, the chief tax collector who climbs above the crowd and finds more than a view—he finds a new way to live. We talk about why Jesus meets him first, how restitution changes communities, and what repentance looks like when injustice has receipts. Then we tackle the parable of the minas, the story that once fueled pressure and perfectionism for many of us. We reframe it through the lens of stewardship: the commendation is for effort and integrity, not inflated outcomes. If you’ve felt the weight of “produce or else,” this conversation offers freedom without lowering the call.

From there, we step into the Triumphal Entry, hearing Psalm 118 rise as cloaks fall. We explore why some wanted the praise silenced and why Jesus says stones would cry out if the people didn’t. His tears over Jerusalem bring a sober layer—an eerily precise prophecy of siege and destruction that underscores how costly it is to miss the things that make for peace. We close in the temple courts, where Jesus confronts a system that turned access to God into an opportunity for profit. The issue isn’t selling animals; it’s exploiting worshipers in the name of God. That distinction matters for how churches handle money, hospitality, and trust today.

Along the way, we share a simple practice to help you carry this into your week: SOAP—Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer—so you can notice what stands out, respond with clear steps, and invite God to shape your choices. If this episode helps you breathe easier while standing firmer, share it with a friend, subscribe for more chapter-by-chapter insights, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway or question.

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The More We Dig. The More We Find.

Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation (NLT).
Copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Chapters

• 0:00 New Format, Same Mission
• 2:24 Why Luke’s Investigative Gospel Matters
• 4:56 Zacchaeus: Mercy Meets Justice
• 8:29 The Parable That Caused Me Grief
• 13:20 Freedom: Faithfulness Over Results
• 16:58 The Triumphal Entry and Its Echoes

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Welcome to the Bible Breakdown Podcast. Every day, we take one chapter of the Bible, dig deeper, and discover that the more we dig, the more we find. You can find out more at the Biblebreakdown.com. Now let's grow in God's word together. Well, hello everyone. Welcome back to the Bible Breakdown. It is so good to have you back with us today. And this particular podcast feels weird. I'm just gonna go tell you, it feels really, really weird because if you've been listening to our podcast from the very beginning, this is the first time that it sounds like this because up until today, I have been going through kind of a backlog of the way we used to do the podcast, and now today is this brand new way. So hi, we're all caught up now, and it's kind of awkward, but it's fine, it's fine. I've been really looking forward to doing this together. And so today is Luke chapter 19. Man, this chapter, I got beef with this chapter. I'm gonna tell you why in just a minute. This chapter has caused me more trouble than almost any other chapter in the entire Bible, and that's saying something, right? I mean, if you read the Song of Solomon, this one right here has caused me more trouble. We're gonna talk about it in a minute. But first, don't forget what we're doing. Going through the Gospel of Luke one chapter at a time, breaking down the Bible to where we can get it, we can understand it, and we can grow. Because man, the more we dig, the more we find. And we realize that the Gospel of Luke is awesome because he is the investigative journalist of his time. Like this guy named Theopolis, Theo, he says, Hey, I need you to go investigate all this. I've heard the teachings of Peter. I've I believe in Jesus, but go investigate it and bring back to me these reports. And so this trained doctor takes a break from, you know, probably nursing up Paul's wounds. He was a traveling partner of Paul, and he goes and he investigates and he talks to all these different ones, and he's able to write back to Theopolis and say, It's true, it's true, all the things are true, and that's what we're doing. And I wonder every chapter, who was Luke talking to when he wrote this? I wonder if he was talking to a guy named Zacchaeus, we're gonna talk about in a moment. If you've ever gone to a vacation Bible school, you're gonna know who Zach is because we've sang that song over and over again. But then I also wonder if he was talking to some Pharisees toward the end. So I'm really, really excited about this. I'm really excited for you to kind of get some takeaways from this. I'm gonna start talking about something called the soap Bible study method toward the end. But first, let's jump in. So if you've got your NLT Bible, got your cup of coffee ready, maybe your Bible journal. Let's jump in. The first part of Luke chapter 19, verse 1 says this Jesus entered Jericho and made his way through the town. There was a man there named Zacchaeus. He was a 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 tree beside the road, for Jesus was going to pass by that way. And when Jesus came by, he looked up and he saw Zacchaeus, and he called him by name and said, Zacchaeus, quick, come down. I must be a guest in your home today. Oh man, Zacchaeus climbed down and took Jesus to his house in great excitement and joy. But the people were displeased. He has gone to be a guest of a notorious sinner, they grumbled. Meanwhile, Zacchaeus stood before the Lord and said, I will give half of my wealth to the poor, Lord, and if I have cheated people on their taxes, I will give 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 a son of the son of man came to seek and to save those who are lost. Now, what's going on here? Zacchaeus is the chief tax collector among other tax collectors. Tax collectors got rich by doing the dirty work of the Romans, and what they would do is let's say you owe$10 in taxes. Wouldn't that be nice, right? Well, what they would do is they would charge you$20 in taxes. And it didn't matter who you complain to, you're going to complain to the Romans. They don't care. All they want is that$10. So if they charge you$20, you give them uh give them the$20, they give$10 to the Romans and they keep$10 for themselves. That's how they got rich. And what the people are saying is they're like, hey Jesus, guess what? You're gonna go have this wonderful banquet for Zacchaeus. Guess who paid for that banquet? I did. So did all my family. You're taking you know that from them, and just imagine how offended they would be. But here's the thing though. What if Jesus knew exactly what he was doing? You know, the way Jesus can get them their money back is to go to the guy who stole it. And if he reaches the guy who stole it, he gets all their money back and he stops the crime from happening in the future. One of the things I love about Jesus is Jesus always plays the long game. He does that in my life, he does that in your life, he does that so very much. And you can see that in this story. First of all, Jesus is interested in the sinners, not just the saints, but then also he plays that long game because he knows if he gets Zacchaeus, they get all their money back and they never get bothered again. So, how about we trust Jesus when he does things we don't always understand, right? Okay, now the next parable is beautiful, but it has absolutely caused me so much grief. So I'm gonna read it and I'll explain to you why it has. Okay, Jesus tells a parable in verse 11. It says the crowd was listening to everything Jesus said. You better believe they were. When they were getting all their money back, they're like, that's my new best friend, right? And because he was nearing Jerusalem, he told them a story to correct the impression that the kingdom of God will begin right away. He said, A nobleman was called to a distant empire to be crowned king and then returned home. Before he left, he called together ten of his sons and divided among them ten pounds of silver, saying, Invest this for me while I'm gone. But his people hated him, and he sent and sent a delegation after him to say, We do not want him to be our king. But after he was crowned king, he returned and he called the servants to whom he had given the money, and he wanted to find out where his profits were. The first report said, or the the first servant said, Master, I invested the money you had and made ten more of the original amount. Well done, the king exclaimed, You're a good servant. You have been faithful, with a little I entrusted you, and so you will now be a governor over ten cities as your reward. The next servant reported, Master, I invested your money and made five times the original amount. Well done, the king said, You will be a governor over five cities. The third servant brought back only the original amount of money and said, Master, I hid your money and kept it safe. I was afraid because I know you are a hard man to deal with, taking what isn't yours and harvesting crops you didn't plant. You wicked servant, the king roared. Your own words condemn you. For if I knew, if you knew that I'm a hard man who takes what isn't mine and harvest crops that I didn't plant, why didn't you deposit my money in the bank? At least I could have gotten some interest on it. Then turning to the other standing nearby, the king ordered, Take the money from this servant and give it to the one who has ten pounds. But master, they said, he already has ten pounds. Yes, the king replied, and to those who use well what they are given, even more will be given. But to those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away. And as for these enemies of mine who didn't want me to be their king, bring them in and execute them right in front of me. This king, don't play. All right. Now, here is my beef with this. Here's the reason why I have a problem with this is I read this parable wrong for a really long time. It says that, and you can this parable is told another place in the book of Luke as well, or excuse me, book of Matthew, that Jesus said that there was three different servants that was given three amounts of money. And another way he tells the parable it was one was given ten, one was given five, one was given one. And what someone had told me one time when they were interpreting this for me is they were saying, the goal of this was to make sure you multiply everything you're given. You are required to do something great. And people would say it like this in the ministry world healthy things will grow. Therefore, if you don't grow something, then you're doing it wrong. And so I lived out of a sense of just fear all the time that I had to produce, I had to do well, otherwise I was disrespecting the Lord. But when I got to reading this even further, that is not at all what this says. First of all, it says the one that was given the most, he worked hard and he multiplied it, and he was blessed. The second person worked hard, but didn't do as well. He was still blessed. The problem with the third one is he didn't try at all. As a matter of fact, if you look at the the way the original text reads in the tradition of the time, he actually disrespected his master. When he came to his master and he said, I know that you are a hard man, and you basically take what's not yours. He wasn't giving him a compliment. He wasn't saying, Man, you know how to do all the right moves and all the right, you know, right situations. He was actually saying, You're a scoundrel and you're mean and you're a thief, so I didn't work for you. And you wonder why the king was like, uh, you're done, buddy. It was because he took what was given to him and he didn't honor it and do the best he could. And then when he didn't do the best he could, that was taken away from him and given to the one who was going to do the best he could with it. And so the the moral of this parable, the the principle rather of this parable is whatever you're given to do, just do the best you can with it. You do the best you can, and God will get the glory. And when I finally understood that, that the goal of life is not in what you can accomplish, but it's in what you become. You become a faithful servant of God and you do the best you can with what you have been given. You want to talk about the freedom that I had, and now I love this parable. It's one of my favorite parables in all of all the parables that Jesus told. Because it's not about accomplishing, it's about applying yourself and doing the best as you can with what you've been given. All right, the next thing that the Bible says in verse 28, Jesus, uh, after telling the story, Jesus went down toward Jerusalem and walking ahead of his disciples. He came to the towns of Beth Phage and Bethany and on the Mount of Olives, and he said to two of his disciples, Go ahead and go into the village over there. As you enter it, you will see a young donkey tied there that as no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks, Why are you untying that colt? Just say, The Lord needs it. So they went and they found the colt, just as Jesus said. And sure enough, as they were untying it, the owner said to them, Hey, hey, hey, why are you untying that colt? Well, the disciples simply replied, The Lord needs it. And they brought back the colt to Jesus and they threw their garments over it and they let him ride on. Now, pause. Now, I don't know about that. God's word doesn't say you use your own context clues if they beat up the guy or not. Okay. I'm gonna go with no, but come on. All right. So, next verse, verse 36. As he rode along, the crowds spread out their garments on the road ahead of him. And as he reached the place where the road started down toward the Mount of Olives, all of the followers began to shout and sing as they walked along, praising God for all the wonderful miracles they had seen. Blessings on the king who comes in the name of the Lord, peace in heaven, glory in the highest heaven. Which, by the way, they are quoting a song here, a psalm, Psalms chapter 118, verse 26. There they're quoting a praise to the Lord. But the Bible says, Some of the Pharisees among the crowd said, Teacher, rebuke your followers for saying things like this, because what they were saying is they were calling him the Messiah. But Jesus replied, If they kept quiet, the stones along the road would burst into cheers. Verse 41. But as he came closer to Jerusalem and he saw the city ahead, he began to weep. How I wish today that you of all people would understand the way to peace. But now it's too late. The peace is hidden from your eyes. Before long your enemies will build ramparts against your walls and encircle you and close in on you on every side. They will crush you into the ground, and your children with you. Your enemies will not leave a single stone in place because you did not recognize it when God visited you. Now pause. Now that right there, verse 41 through verse 44, is one of the most powerful scriptures in the entire Gospel of Luke. And here's the reason why. What Jesus just described was almost exactly like it's eerie how exactly the Roman legion came and overtook Jerusalem. Because Jerusalem is at an elevation, they literally had to build ramps so that they could march their army into the city. They build ramps on it, they siege the city on every side, and they came in and they took over. And here's the thing: this was written before that happened. The Gospel of Luke was written and spread out before 70 AD when Jerusalem was overwhelmed and the temple was destroyed, and he had no idea. If this had been written after 70 AD, this would have been one of the most telling signs that Luke got a little carried away because they would have said, Well, yeah, look, that's that's not him trying to tell what Jesus said, that's him just reporting what happened because it's so eerily accurate. But this was written between five and seven years before Jerusalem was destroyed. It's powerful, it's powerful. All right, finally, this is this is the second one that's causing me so much grief, and we're going to finish up. The Bible says in verse 45, Then Jesus entered the temple and began to drive out the people, selling animals for sacrifices. He said to them, The scriptures declare, My temple will be a house of prayer, but you have turned it into a den of thieves. After that, he taught daily in the temple, but the leading priests and teachers of religious law and the other leaders of the people began planning on how to kill it. But they could, but they could think of nothing because all the people hung on every word he said. Now, why does that cause me grief? Is because the Bible says that Jesus entered the temple and he drove out people selling animals for sacrifice. Well, because of that, there's actually some denominations that won't allow you to sell anything inside a church building. But I want to give you a little context on this and then we're going to finish up. Jesus was not angry that they were selling animals. The problem was how they were going about it. We can read through the other gospels and then also context of tradition and history. What was needful is people were coming from all over the known world at the time, and they were required several times a year to travel to the city of Jerusalem to offer sacrifices for various reasons. Well, especially on the Day of Atonement, when you needed to have a lamb without any spot or any blemish, here's the problem. Sometimes these people would travel for a month to get to Jerusalem. Well, over the course of a month and traveling the way they would then, if that if you left with a sheep that had no spots or blemishes, that joker is going to have some spots and some blemishes by the time you get to Jerusalem, and he's gonna the age wouldn't be right. So it was it was horrible. They had to find something to do. The best you could hope for is take a pregnant mom and hope everything came out all right. So instead, what they would do is they would get to Jerusalem and they would buy a sheep or whatever there. The problem was, just like the tax collectors, instead of charging the right amount, they would gouge the people of God for what they needed. Also, the only way you could do business inside the temple was to use temple money. So when you would exchange money, they would also gouge people as well. So Jesus is not upset that they are offering a service to the local people, he's upset because they're taking what should be used as an act of worship and they're using it as a way to steal from people in the name of God. So that is the problem that they're dealing with. But can I tell you as a pastor, that has caused me so much grief. So now you know Jesus didn't mind them selling stuff, he did mind them scamming God's people and calling it the gospel, calling it something that's good. Okay? All right, I want to know from you what did you get out of this? Now, in the show notes, there is a link so you can learn how to soap through God's word. Scripture, observation, application, and prayer. When you have time, either right now or later today, I want you to stop this recording and I want you to think through of all the things that we read today, what scripture stood out to you? And I want you to write it down. I want you to write down the observation. What was it that made it stand out to you? Is the Holy Spirit just bringing it to your attention for a reason? Then I want you to write an application based on God's word today. What are you going to do about it? How are you going to allow God's word to change your life today? And then finish it with a prayer. I'm going to pray for you and we're going to be done today. Father, thank you for your goodness. Thank you for your word. Thank you that it is active and it is powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword. We apply your word to our heart and we watch you change us and lead us from the inside out. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right. God bless you. I love you. I'll see you next time for Luke chapter 20.