About Jesus and Zacchaeus

1Jesus and the people with him arrived in Jericho, but they weren't going to stay there. They were going straight past the houses.

2There was a very rich man called Zacchaeus there. He was an important person who worked for the Roman rulers collecting tax money from people to give to the Romans.

3Zacchaeus knew that Jesus was coming, and he wanted to see his face, because he didn't know him. But he was a short man, and there was a crowd of people on the road.

4So he went ahead and ran and climbed up a tree so that he could see Jesus when he went past.

5Jesus came near the tree where Zacchaeus was, and he looked up at him and said to Zaccchaeus, “Come down quickly, because I must come to your house today.”

6Zacchaeus came down quickly and took Jesus to his house. He was very happy to be taking him there.

7But some of the people saw Jesus going to Zacchaeus' house and they began to grumble. “Zacchaeus is a bad man but Jesus has gone to his house!” they said.

8Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord Jesus, “Master, I will give a lot of my things to poor people. I will keep half and give half away. The money I have taken from people when I tricked them, I will pay back to them now. I will give back four times as much as I have taken.”

9Jesus said, “Today God has saved the people in this house. This man is a descendant of Abraham.

10And I, the one who was born in this world, have come here to look for the people who are lost and to save them.”

About working well for God

11When the people in Zacchaeus' house heard Jesus say that, they said to themselves, “God will soon be ruling here.” They thought that, because Jesus was near Jerusalem now.

12So Jesus told them this story. There was once a man who was going far away to another country so that the important ruler there could make him the ruler over everyone where he lived. Then he would come back as the king.

13Before he went away he called his ten servants and gave each of them some money. “I am going away,” he said. “While I am gone I want you to work for me. I want you to use this money to make more money for me until I come back.” Then he went away.

14But the people in his country hated this man. So they sent some messengers to the important ruler. The messengers went to him and said, “None of us want that man to be our king.”

15But he didn't listen to them, and they went home again. Then at last the man who had given his servants the money came home too. Now he was king over all the people there. He called his servants to him one by one, because he wanted to find out about his money.

16The first servant came to him and said, “Master, you gave me one coin before you went away, and now here are ten coins.”

17The king said to him, “That is very good! You have worked well! So now I will give you a lot of work, because I could trust you with the little bit of work you have done for me. You can be in charge of ten cities now.”

18Then another servant came to him. “Master,” he said, “you gave me one coin, and now here are five.”

19The king said to him, “You can be in charge of five cities now.”

20Then another servant came to him. “Master,” he said, “here is the coin you gave me. I hid it in a piece of cloth.

21I was afraid of you because I know you are a hard man. You always take what belongs to other people and you get the food that others have planted. That is why I have just kept your coin safe.”

22The king said to him, “You are a very bad servant. I will use your own words to blame you. You told me you know I am hard, taking what belongs to other people and getting the food that others have planted.

23So why didn't you give my money to men whose job is to work with money? If you had done that, then I would have this coin and more today.”

24Then he said to the other servants, “Take that coin away from him and give it to the man who has ten coins.”

25But they said, “But he already has ten coins!”

26“That doesn't matter,” the king answered. “When I give someone a little work and he does well and finishes it, I will give him more work. And when I give someone a little work and he doesn't finish it, I will tell him to leave that work and I will give that work to another man to do.

27“Bring those people here to me who hated me and didn't want me to be their king. Kill them here so that I can see them die.” When Jesus had finished telling the story he came out of Zacchaeus' house and left Jericho.

About Jesus going to Jerusalem on a donkey

28Jesus and his disciples kept on going along the road that went up to Jerusalem.

29After a while they came near two small towns called Bethphage and Bethany. The two towns were on a hill where olive trees grew, so the hill was called the Mount of Olives.

30Jesus said to two of his disciples, “Go to those houses ahead of us. You will find a young male donkey tied up there that no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here to me.

31If someone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ say, ‘The Master needs it.’”

32The men went and found the donkey as Jesus had said.

33While they were untying it, the owners of the donkey said to them, “Why are you untying that donkey of ours?”

34They answered, “Because the Master needs it.”

35They took the donkey to Jesus and put their coats on its back and helped Jesus get on.

36Then Jesus rode on the donkey, and as he went his friends put their coats on the ground for the donkey to walk on, so that people would know that Jesus was a very important king.

37They went on climbing up the hill until they arrived at the top. A big crowd of disciples had joined them now, and as they went down the hill on the other side they all rejoiced. They praised God for all the powerful things they had seen Jesus doing. They shouted,

38“Let us praise the king the Lord God has sent to rule over us!
God gives us peace!
Let us praise God because he is good!”

39Some Pharisees were also in the crowd going to Jerusalem. They said to Jesus, “Teacher, tell these disciples of yours to be quiet!”

40Jesus answered, “I tell you that if they keep quiet, the stones that are lying on the ground will call out.”

About Jesus crying for the people of Jerusalem

41Jesus and his disciples came closer to Jerusalem. But when Jesus saw the city he felt very sad and he began to cry,

42saying, “If only you people of Jerusalem knew me today! God sent me here so that you could have peace, but you still don't know me.

43“Later on terrible things will happen to you. Soldiers who hate you will be all around you. They will shut all your gates and pile up heavy trees and earth so you cannot get out and escape.

44They will crush your houses and destroy them completely. And they will kill you all, you and your children too. They will throw all the stones of your houses down to the ground. They will destroy you, because you have rejected God. He came here to save you, but you did not recognize him.”

About Jesus arriving at the temple

45Then Jesus arrived in Jerusalem with his disciples and he went to the temple. He saw men there selling birds to people and he began to throw out the men selling the birds.

46Jesus said to them, “Long ago these words were written in God's book. God said, ‘My temple is a place for you to pray to me.’ But you have spoiled it. Now it is a place for thieves!”

47Jesus taught in the temple every day. The chief priests and the teachers of Moses' law and the leaders of the people wanted to kill him,

48but they couldn't, because all the people wanted to listen to him. They didn't want to miss a single word.