1Jesus entered Jericho and made his way through the town.
2There was a man there, known by the name of Zacchaeus, who was a senior tax collector and a rich man.
3He tried to see what Jesus was like; but, being short, he was unable to do so because of the crowd.
4So he ran on ahead and climbed into a mulberry tree to see Jesus, for he knew that he must pass that way.
5When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, be quick and come down, for I must stop at your house today.”
6So Zacchaeus got down quickly, and joyfully welcomed him.
7On seeing this, everyone began to complain, “He has gone to stay with a man who is an outcast.”
8But Zacchaeus stood forward and said to the Master, “Listen, Master! I will give half my property to the poor, and, if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give him back four times as much.”
9“Salvation has come to this house today,” answered Jesus, “for even this man is a son of Abraham.
10The Son of Man has come to search for those who are lost and to save them.”
11As the people were listening to this, Jesus went on to tell them a parable. He did so because he was near Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God was going to be proclaimed at once.
12He said, “A nobleman once went to a distant country to receive his appointment to a kingdom and then return.
13He called ten of his servants and gave them ten pounds of silver each, and told them to trade with them during his absence.
14But his subjects hated him and sent envoys after him to say ‘We will not have this man as our king.’
15On his return, after having been appointed king, he directed that the servants to whom he had given his money should be summoned, so that he might learn what amount of trade they had done.
16The first came up, and said ‘Sir, your ten pounds have made a hundred.’
17‘Well done, good servant!’ exclaimed the master. ‘As you have proved trustworthy in a very small matter, I appoint you governor over ten towns.’
18When the second came, he said ‘Your ten pounds, Sir, have produced fifty.’
19So the master said to him ‘And you I appoint over five towns.’
20Another servant also came and said ‘Sir, here are your ten pounds; I have kept them put away in a handkerchief.
21For I was afraid of you, because you are a stern man. You take what you have not planted, and reap what you have not sown.’
22The master answered ‘Out of your own mouth I judge you, you worthless servant. You knew that I am a stern man, that I take what I have not planted, and reap what I have not sown?
23Then why didn’t you put my money into a bank? And I, on my return, could have claimed it with interest.
24Take away from him the ten pounds,’ he said to those standing by, ‘and give them to the one who has the hundred.’
25‘But, Sir,’ they said, ‘he has a hundred pounds already!’
26‘I tell you,’ he answered, ‘that, to him who has, more will be given, but, from him who has nothing, even what he has will be taken away.
27But as for my enemies, these men who would not have me as their king, bring them here and put them to death in my presence.’”
28After saying this, Jesus went on in front, going up to Jerusalem. The Last Days
29It was when Jesus had almost reached Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, that he sent on two of the disciples.
30“Go to the village facing us,” he said, “and, when you get there, you will find a foal tethered, which no one has yet ridden; untie it and lead it here.
31And, if anybody asks you ‘Why are you untying it?’, you are to say this – ‘The Master wants it.’”
32So the two who were sent went and found it as Jesus had told them.
33While they were untying the foal, the owners asked them – “Why are you untying the foal?”
34And the two disciples answered – “The Master wants it.”
35Then they led it back to Jesus, and threw their cloaks on the foal and put Jesus on it.
36As he went along, the people kept spreading their cloaks in the road.
37When he had almost reached the place where the road led down the Mount of Olives, everyone of the many disciples began in their joy to praise God loudly for all the miracles that they had seen:
38“Blessed is He who comes – our king – in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory on high.”
39Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, restrain your disciples.”
40But Jesus answered, “I tell you that if they are silent, the stones will call out.”
41When he drew near, on seeing the city, he wept over it, and said,
42“If only you had known, while yet there was time – even you – the things that make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your sight.
43For a time is coming when your enemies will surround you with earthworks, and encircle you, and hem you in on all sides;
44they will trample you down and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone on another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”
45Jesus went into the Temple Courts and began to drive out those who were selling,
46saying as he did so, “Scripture says – ‘My house will be a house of prayer’; but you have made it a den of robbers.”
47Jesus continued to teach each day in the Temple Courts; but the chief priests and teachers of the Law were eager to take his life, and so also were the leaders of the people.
48Yet they could not see what to do, for the people all hung on his words.