Peter, James and John had a little faith problem...

My whole life I have been taught that Jesus singled Peter, James and John out because those were the three closest to Him. I believe scripture actually paints a little different picture. In fact these three needed special attention from Jesus because their faith was weaker than the other disciples. John says that he is the one that Jesus loved. John finally got it, and by the time he wrote the book of John he wanted others to realize how much Jesus loved him. Just like Jesus loves me and you. John is merely expressing how much he had realized that Jesus truly does love him. John realizes how undeserving he is of that love. Just like me and you. There are several places in the New Testament where these three are singled out as a group and several places where one of the three is singled out. Today we will look at only a couple of those places but set the stage for looking at several others in the next couple of weeks.

Luke 9: 18-37

¹⁸And it happened that while He was praying alone, the disciples were with Him, and He questioned them, saying, "Who do the people say that I am?"

"And it happened." What happened? Well that is exactly what Luke is about to tell us, what happened and "it" is the story he is about to tell us. After all of the crowd had left the area where more than five thousand had just been fed, Jesus is alone praying with the twelve and asks them, who do the people say I am.

 ¹⁹They answered and said, "John the Baptist, and others say Elijah; but others, that one of the prophets of old has risen again." 

Several tell Him things they have heard or what the people are saying. Then He turns the table and asks them a more difficult question.

 ²⁰And He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" And Peter answered and said, "The Christ of God." 

Notice it was Peter who was quick to speak. Often those that are unsure are the first ones to speak up to hide the fact that they are unsure and we will see that was the case with Peter. Peter's answer is word for word exactly correct but he speaks quickly, I think to cover up his unbelief. So why does Jesus respond in the next verse the way He does? Especially after He had just sent the twelve out to preach that Jesus was the Christ and to heal and cast out demons in His name.

 ²¹But He warned them and instructed them not to tell this to anyone, 

Some have said that Jesus was entering the last phase of His ministry on earth and He did not want the people to try to make Him king before His time was come. This very well could be true because at this point Jesus had been teaching the disciples for about two and half years and His time of crucifixion was quickly approaching. But for me, I have a hard time accepting that the God of the universe could not stop man from doing something that would foul up His plans. Especially something that had been planned since sin first entered the world. Once before man had tried to expedite Jesus' death and He merely past through their midst. Luke 4:28-30. So why the warning to the disciples here? Maybe it was because some of the disciples were not spiritually ready. Not ready to handle what would happen as the world around them started accusing them as being one of His followers. This would line up better with what Jesus had to say after this remark.

 ²²saying, "The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised up on the third day." 

Obviously He is talking about His death and resurrection here. 

 ²³And He was saying to them all, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. 

If you want to be a spokesperson for Me you can not do it for yourself, it has to be for Me. On a daily basis be prepared to be ridiculed,  jilted and persecuted. Following Me will not be easy.  In fact, for some it will cost them their life. For others they will prefer to save their own life and will sacrifice His eternal life to do so. Those willing to lose their life for Me will in fact save their life for all of eternity. 

 ²⁴"For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.

 ²⁵"For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself?

 ²⁶"For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. 

Can you think of anyone who in just a few short weeks from this event who will deny even knowing Christ? Jesus was only talking to his disciples here and he is obviously talking about salvation. He also knew what was going to happen after His arrest and I think He was speaking directly to Peter, James and John. We will see why more in the near future but the next verse and the very next incident will make this even more clear.

 ²⁷"But I say to you truthfully, there are some of those standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God." 

Jesus is still only talking to His disciples and obviously there is something different about "some" of them than the others. But what is different? This verse is difficult at best but especially if you look at it all by itself. You must put it in context with the story in front of it and the story after it, then it makes more sense. First of all we have to try to figure out what Jesus is talking about. Jesus said that some will not "taste death" until they see the kingdom of God. What does He mean "taste death"? Frankly it means they will not die on this earth. So some of the disciples will die before they see the kingdom of God. We know that all of the disciples died a death on this earth and all before Jesus' return to establish His kingdom on this earth. So the question has to be, what is the Kingdom of God. Well, there are a lot of different opinions on this one. Some say that this is referring to the Transfiguration that is about to occur, that Peter, James and John will see Jesus in all of His glory after His appearance changes and this has to be the kingdom of God. I think they are partially right. Some say that the kingdom of God is the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. I believe all of the disciples were still alive at this time so I struggle with this explanation also. I think the best explanation is the one that Jesus gave in Luke 17:20-21. Now having been questioned by the Pharisees as to when the kingdom of God was coming, He answered them and said, " The Kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed; nor will they say, 'Look, here it is!' or, 'There it is!' For behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst." So if the kingdom of God is Jesus, how could some of the disciples see Him and some of them not see Him. I think Jesus is referring to the disciples who have not yet seen Him for who He really is. 


Right after this incident, we read in couple of the gospels, that Jesus sent the disciples, in a boat back across the sea, while he stayed behind. A strong storm came up and the disciples fought against the storm for several hours. Jesus then came to them walking on the water. In the Matthew we learn something about Peter.


Matthew 14:25-31


²⁵ During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 


The fourth watch was about 3-6 am.


²⁶ When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. "It's a ghost," they said, and cried out in fear.
²⁷ But Jesus immediately said to them: "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid."


Jesus calms their fears and reassures them that it is He. All except for Peter that is.


²⁸ "Lord, if it's you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water."


I think the key to this verse is the little word "if". It screams a lot about Peter's faith right here. Everyone else is fine with the image and the voice that belongs to Jesus, but Peter needs more.


²⁹ "Come," he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.


I think he did it without even thinking. But when he did start thinking, he started sinking. 


³⁰ But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!"
³¹ Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?"




This is a rebuke from Jesus. "You of little faith" refers to Peter doubting it was Jesus and even more, doubting that Jesus really is who He claims to be. "Why did you doubt" is dealing more with Peter sinking in the water. You were doing it, why did you start doubting. Peter, your faith is so small, why do you insist on doubting me?


As we look at the next story we will see that Peter, James and John are singled out for a reason.

   

²⁸ Some eight days after these sayings, He took along Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. 

Why were these three singled out for this remarkable event? We will see in just a minute.

  ²⁹ And while He was praying, the appearance of His face became different, and His clothing became white and gleaming. 

Similar to what happened to Moses when he spent time with God. I wonder if this was the same mountain. Time with God changes us inwardly and outwardly.

 ³⁰And behold, two men were talking with Him; and they were Moses and Elijah,

 ³¹who, appearing in glory, were speaking of His departure which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. 

Suddenly two men appeared who just happened to be Moses and Elijah and they are gleaming from being in the presence of God as well. They are carrying on a conversation with Him and encouraging Him, I think, about what was about to take place, His death and ressurrection.  Peter, James and John are jumping up and down in amazement at what they are seeing...well...not exactly.

 

 ³²Now Peter and his companions had been overcome with sleep; but when they were fully awake, they saw His glory and the two men standing with Him. 

The same three who will later fall asleep in the Garden of Gethsemane are asleep now.  But they wake up and it is not a dream because we are told they are fully awake, and they see the three; Jesus, Moses, and Elijah, standing there in all of their glory having a conversation.

 ³³And as these were leaving Him, Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three tabernacles: one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah"--not realizing what he was saying. 

Moses and Elijah are leaving and Peter comes up with a bright idea. It was a great thing that you brought us here so we can build three places of worship for each one of you. Doing the same thing that many people do today, minimize Jesus and make Him equal with other men of old.  Just a man. I get the feeling that as soon as Peter says this, in fact as the words are coming out of his mouth, he realizes that he has just made a mistake. He put his mouth in gear before his brain. Which is exactly what we do most of the time also. While he is talking a strange thing starts to occur.

 ³⁴While he was saying this, a cloud formed and began to overshadow them; and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. 


The cloud forms over them and then drops down and engulfs them. They become afraid. 

 ³⁵Then a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is My Son, My Chosen One; listen to Him!" 


How much more clear can you be. God speaks from heaven and tells Peter, James and John this is My Son would you listen to Him already. He is MY Son, not some man, not someone equal to Moses and Elijah, not just a prophet of old, He is the Chosen One, the Christ of God. When will you "get it"?

 ³⁶And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent, and reported to no one in those days any of the things which they had seen. 


"Jesus was found alone" means that Elijah and Moses are now gone and God the Father had left. I believe there was a deafening silence also. It is more clear in the Matthew and Mark accounts. One of the most fascinating things that these three disciples have ever seen has just occurred and yet they remain silent about it. Why? Actually it says that they "kept silent, and reported to no one in those days". They did talk about it later. Jesus, in both the Matthew and the Mark account, told them not to tell anyone about this occurrence until after the Son of Man has risen from the dead. Interestingly Matthew, Mark, and Luke all tell about this occurrence but John is strangely quiet. Matthew, Mark and Luke were not there but John was. Why would John not mention this story? Is it possible that he later realized how he had missed the importance of this event when it had occurred and then later would rather not talk about it? Maybe he was a little embarrassed just as we are when we are talking to someone who has a lot of scripture memorized and asks us if they are right about a particular Bible event. We sheepishly agree whether we know or not so as not to look to stupid. After all we wouldn't want someone to think that we did not have the entire Bible memorized. We will see that Jesus is not through with these three, not by a long shot. They still have a lot to learn. In fact they don't "get it" until after Jesus is raised from the dead. Then and only then will they be ready to tell others about who Jesus is and not just say the words but mean it in their hearts. He is the Christ of God. 

Jesus fed the 12 and more than 5000 benefited

Often referred to as Jesus feeds the 5000, this story actually gives a peek into the nature and care that Jesus had for His disciples and how he spent so much of His time teaching and training them. As we look at this familiar story we will begin to see how it is tied to so many other stories in the Bible and how it is one of the few stories that is depicted by all four of the gospels. Obviously it is very important and we should look at it closely.

Mark 6:33-44

vs. 33 The people saw them going, and many recognized them and ran there together on foot from all the cities, and got there ahead of them.

Jesus had pulled His disciples aside and told them to come to a lonely place to get some rest for several reasons.  First, He had just sent them out by twos.  They had gone to the surrounding area preaching that people should repent. Jesus had given them special powers to cast out demons and to heal the sick. Their journey had been cut short when Herod had beheaded John the Baptist and the disciples had buried John and went to tell Jesus. Secondly, they were surrounded by people, so much so, that they did not even have time to eat. So Jesus had told them to get into a boat with Him and to cross the Sea of Galilee. Unfortunately the only quiet time they had was while they were on the boat. Only a few hours at the most.

vs. 34 When Jesus went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and He felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and He began to teach them many things.

 Jesus and His disciples are tired and grieving for John the Baptist and felt like they needed some down time. But the world will not let them. Have you ever felt that way? Jesus has compassion on the large crowd because they are lost, confused, looking for guidance.   They are like sheep without a shepherd having no idea where to go and what to do. So He begins teaching them. Apparently a good deal of time has passed and it starts to get late. They are a long way from town and the disciples get worried about the large crowd and come to tell Jesus. Notice the people are not complaining.  Often when we are fed spiritually we do not hunger physically and apparently this is the case here.

vs. 35 When it was already quite late, His disciples came to Him and said, "This place is desolate and it is already quite late;

vs. 36 send them away so that they may go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat."

This next verse is actually the most important verse, I think, in the entire story. Jesus gives them a command not a suggestion. This is where Jesus turns his attention from the crowd and zeros in on His disciples. Let the teaching begin.

vs. 37 But He answered them, "You give them something to eat!" And they said to Him, "Shall we go and spend two hundred denarii on bread and give them something to eat?"

Obviously the disciples missed what Jesus was commanding them to do. Jesus has just sent them out by twos where they have healed the sick, casted out demons and performed miracles in His name. He tells them to give the crowd something to eat and their immediate response is rooted in the flesh. They ask Him if they should go to town and spend two thirds of a year's salary (which is very unlikely that they even have it).  Also even if they did have the money it is very unlikely that the small towns would have enough bread to support such a large crowd.  And even if they did, how would they transport it. The disciples look at the physical rather than what God can do. So much like us. God tells us to do something and our first response is how are we supposed to do that. God never tells us to do something that is impossible to do. If the disciples would have had the faith, they could have fed the masses. Their response tells us that the possibility of them actually doing what God told them to do never even crossed their mind. 

I am going to introduce something here that we will look at more in the next few weeks. If we look at all four of the gospel accounts of this story we see that three; Matthew, Mark and Luke all tell the exact same thing. John, however, tells a different account. In fact, so different that some theologians have speculated that maybe a similar feeding of five thousand occurred at a different time and that John is referring to that account. I personally don't think that is the case at all. Actually there was another feeding of a large group of four thousand that occurred later and Matthew and Mark do tell us about it. We will look at it in a minute but I believe wholeheartedly that John in his account is referring to this exact same account for many reasons. The similarities in the stories are too close to be coincidence and the order of events, before and after this story, line up with the other Gospels. In John's account he says that Jesus asked Peter how they were going to pay for the food to feed the 5000, not the disciples asking Jesus. John also says that Jesus did so because He wanted to test Peter because He already knew what He intended to do. So how do we explain this very different account? Well there are a lot of different ways that people have tried to explain these differences, and quite frankly I don't necessarily agree with any I have read. I think the key is understanding the relationship of Peter and also, James and John with Jesus. We see on several occasions that these three are singled out and we will see in the next couple of weeks is that it may be possible that these three needed some special attention from Jesus. John here is looking at the account from the same perspective that we have. He is focusing on the miracle of feeding more than five thousand people. Matthew, Mark and Luke are focusing on the teaching that Jesus is directing at them, the disciples. I will show you why later but I believe that Peter, James and John really struggled in their faith and possibly may not have been truly saved yet. They knew what to say but it may not have been a personal faith yet. Similar to the youth pastor who suddenly realizes one day that he has been living a lie and has never made his relationship personal with Christ. Of course, this is speculation on my part. At the very least their faith was much weaker than the other disciples even though they were often very out spoken about their faith. When we look at other accounts of Jesus:  Jesus walking on the water, or Jesus raising the dead child back to life, the Transfiguration, the garden of Gethsemane, and even when Jesus reappeared to some of the disciples on the lake after His resurrection, we will see how all of these events point back to the feeding of the five thousand and how Jesus was using all of these to strengthen the disciples' faith, but especially that of Peter, James and John. 

vs. 38 And He said to them, "How many loaves do you have? Go look!" And when they found out, they said, "Five, and two fish."

John tells us that Andrew is the one who found a young boy who had five loaves of bread and two fish. There is the real miracle. A boy who had food and had not eaten it. 

vs. 39 And He commanded them all to sit down by groups on the green grass.

vs. 40 They sat down in groups of hundreds and of fifties.

The accounts of the story are all very similar in that the people sat down on the grass in groups of fifty to a hundred. Why is this important? Some say so it would be easier to hand out the food, to be more organized. But honestly groups of fifty to a hundred would still be difficult to feed. It would take more than one basket to feed a group this size. I think the reason for the grouping is for an accurate counting of all the people present. All four gospels tell us that 5000 men where fed and Matthew tells us that number did not include women and children. So the feeding was easily 10,000 on a conservative number. This miracle became well known throughout the land but arguably it is not Jesus' greatest. They are all impossible from a human stand point, outside of God.

vs. 41 And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven, He blessed the food and broke the loaves and He kept giving them to the disciples to set before them; and He divided up the two fish among them all.

I have often wondered how the disciples delivered the food to the groups. Did they collect it in their hands at first and then when it kept coming gather it up their robes? Did they have baskets? If they did, where did the baskets come from? For that matter where did the baskets come from at the end of the story? Did the disciples or someone else bring them empty or did the disciples eat all of their food and then say to Jesus to send the others away? I guess we may never know these answers. I tend to think the later may have been the case but the scriptures are quiet on this because it really is not important.

vs. 42 They all ate and were satisfied,

This was not just a snack. It was enough to completely satisfy everyone's hunger. God is completely capable of handling all that we desire. 

vs. 43 and they picked up twelve full baskets of the broken pieces, and also of the fish.


vs. 44 There were five thousand men who ate the loaves.



Twelve baskets full, one for each disciple. One for each disciple to hold and wonder at their own disbelief. What if I had believed, could God have done this through me?  Jesus was teaching the 12 to have faith in Him and what He can do through them if they would only allow Him to work through them. I think all of the disciples understood what Jesus was trying to teach them, eventually. But none of them understood it at the time. However, it took much longer before Peter, James and John understood it. In fact it was not until much later, after Jesus rose from the dead. We will look at that soon. But first we must look quickly at the very next story after the feeding of the 5000 to see the proof that they did not understand what Jesus was trying to teach them. 

 In Mark we read that immediately following the feeding of the five thousand, Jesus put the disciples in the boat to head back across the sea. A wind comes up and they struggle at the oars for quite a while. Jesus comes walking on the water, intending on passing them by. Why, because almost immediately they have no faith, he has only left them for a few short hours and already they have no faith. Jesus is going to leave them to figure it out on their own, just like He does us if we do not ask for His help. It was not until they cried out to Him did He stop and still the waters. And then we read the verse that explains the feeding of the 5000.


vs. 51-52 And He got into the boat with them, and the wind stopped and they were greatly astonished, for they had not gained any insight from the incident of the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.

They had not gained any insight from the incident of the loaves? They did not understand what God was teaching them but instead their hearts were hardened. They became entrenched in their lack of faith just as Pharaoh had become entrenched in his unbelief and would not let the Jews leave Egypt. Even though they had healed others in Jesus' name, cast out demons and seen the miracles He had performed they still wrestled with their faith.

To get a full understanding of the feeding of the 5000 we have to look also at the almost identical story of the feeding of the 4000. The two stories are so similar that the second one seems to be unimportant because it sounds just like the first one with less people. As we look at it quickly we will see from the comments Jesus makes after the event, the two stories are closely tied together and is important. In fact, Jesus tells the disciples the two are tied together. So let's look at it quickly.

Mark 8:1-21

¹In those days, when there was again a large crowd and they had nothing to eat, Jesus called His disciples and said to them, ²"I feel compassion for the people because they have remained with Me now three days and have nothing to eat.
 ³"If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way; and some of them have come from a great distance."


Notice it says "again" because the stories are so similar Mark wanted us to be sure to realize that this was a separate story.


 ⁴And His disciples answered Him, "Where will anyone be able to find enough bread here in this desolate place to satisfy these people?"


Sound familiar?


 ⁵And He was asking them, "How many loaves do you have?" And they said, "Seven."
 ⁶And He directed the people to sit down on the ground; and taking the seven loaves, He gave thanks and broke them, and started giving them to His disciples to serve to them, and they served them to the people.
 ⁷They also had a few small fish; and after He had blessed them, He ordered these to be served as well.
 ⁸And they ate and were satisfied; and they picked up seven large baskets full of what was left over of the broken pieces.


Sound familiar?


 ⁹About four thousand were there; and He sent them away.
 ¹⁰And immediately He entered the boat with His disciples and came to the district of Dalmanutha.
 ¹¹ The Pharisees came out and began to argue with Him, seeking from Him a sign from heaven, to test Him.
 ¹² Sighing deeply in His spirit, He said, "Why does this generation seek for a sign? Truly I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation."
 ¹³ Leaving them, He again embarked and went away to the other side.
 ¹⁴ And they had forgotten to take bread, and did not have more than one loaf in the boat with them.
 ¹⁵ And He was giving orders to them, saying, "Watch out! Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod."
 ¹⁶ They began to discuss with one another the fact that they had no bread.
 ¹⁷ And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, "Why do you discuss the fact that you have no bread?Do you not yet see or understand? Do you have a hardened heart?


Jesus plainly asks the disciples, "Do you not yet understand? Don't you get it yet? Even after two times of feeding large crowds do you still refuse to understand who I am?


 ¹⁸"HAVING EYES, DO YOU NOT SEE? AND HAVING EARS, DO YOU NOT HEAR? And do you not remember,
 ¹⁹ when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces you picked up?" They said to Him, "Twelve."
 ²⁰"When I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of broken pieces did you pick up?" And they said to Him, "Seven."
 ²¹And He was saying to them, "Do you not yet understand?" 


How much like the disciples are we? We seem to think that because the disciples walked with Him on a daily basis that their faith was unbelievable. Actually as we look at Jesus' teachings we learn that right up to His ascension into heaven He was teaching them how to have faith in Him. He never gives up on them, regardless of how it seems they struggle to "get it" and He never gives up on us no matter how much we struggle to "get it" either. He loves us and has compassion on us like sheep without a shepherd. He wants to be that shepherd if only we have the faith to let Him.

Zaccheus – a giant of a man

Luke 19: 1-10

I am sure you are familiar with the story. Jesus has come to town and Zaccheus wants to see Him and is too short. He climbs a tree to get a better view and Jesus sees him and tells him to come down because Jesus is going to his house today. So why is this story important to us? Just so we will have a cute little song to sing in grade school? There has to be more. There is, a whole lot more. 

 In Luke 9:51 we are told that Jesus sees that the time has come for Him to die and to ascend to Heaven and He has resolutely set his face to go to Jerusalem.  Luke 9:51 And it came about, when the days were approaching for His ascension, that He resolutely set His face to go to Jerusalem. In other words the time has come and He is ready to do what God has sent Him here to do. In Luke 13:22 we see it repeated that He is headed for Jerusalem. And He was passing through from one city and village to another, teaching, and proceeding on His way to Jerusalem.  And again we see the same thing repeated in Luke 17:11 And it came about while He was on the way to Jerusalem, that He was passing between Samaria and Galilee. But here we get some additional information. Here it tells us exactly where He is located as He is headed for Jerusalem. He is between Samaria and Galilee. If you have some maps in the back of your Bible turn to those and find one that shows the regions and you will see that the Dead Sea (Salt Sea) is just South of the Sea of Galilee (Sea of Chinnereth) and the Jordan River is connecting the two. To the left of these is Galilee near the Sea of Galilee, Samaria below that and Judea, where Jerusalem is located below Samaria. To left of these is the Mediterranean Sea and the further South you go, on the other side, along the Jordan River the more mountainous it becomes.  In Luke 18:31 Jesus tells us again that He is headed to Jerusalem. 

So now we have the story of Zaccheus. 

vs. 1 And He entered and was passing through Jericho,

This verse would be real easy to just read over but actually it is very important. Jesus is in the area of Galilee and Samaria and headed for Jerusalem and now he is passing through Jericho. Jericho appears to be way out of the way.  At least, if you were heading in a straight line or had your face resolutely set on Jerusalem it would be. Not for Jesus and we will see why in just a few minutes.  The last thing we see important about this verse is the city is Jericho, and we know a lot about Jericho.

Jericho was the city that Joshua marched around in Joshua 6:1-20 and the walls came tumbling down. Then in vs. 26 Joshua made all the people take an oath.  Then Joshua made them take an oath at that time, saying, “Cursed before the Lord is the man who rises up and builds this city Jericho; with the loss of his first born he shall lay its foundation, and with the loss of his youngest son he shall set up its gates.”  Then in I Kings 16:34 we see the fulfillment of that oath.  In his days Hiel the Bethelite built Jericho; he laid its foundations with loss of Abiram his first-born, and set up its gates with the loss of his youngest son Segub… Obviously an oath to God is not to be taken lightly. 

We also know from history that Jericho became known as the city of evil.  Many of the vilest people in Jesus’ day lived there. It was a vacation spot and became known as a place sort of like Vegas. What happens in Jericho stays in Jericho. Most tax collectors for the region lived there because they were not welcomed anywhere else, and the equivalent of the modern day mob called Jericho home.

Another interesting thing about this verse is that Jesus would have passed on through Jericho unless someone had not called out to Him or in this case made the effort first to come see Him. Just as it is today for us, He makes Himself available for anyone but first we must call out to Him or make an effort to find Him.

vs. 2 And behold, there was a man called by the name of Zaccheus; and he was a chief tax-gatherer, and he was rich.

Here we learn about Zaccheus. First of all his name means “pure.”  I’m sure when his mother and father named him they looked at an innocent baby and thought, oh how sweet and pure. But as Zaccheus aged his name probably became like a joke, especially as he became more and more corrupt. Look here comes Mr. Pure himself. Secondly we learn that not only was Zaccheus a tax gatherer but a chief tax-gatherer and he was rich. A tax gatherer in this day basically sold out to Caesar and turned his back on family and friends. A tax-gather would be assigned an area to collect taxes for Rome. His payment would be a portion of the taxes that he collected. Obviously deception would run rampant.  In Zaccheus’ case he was a chief tax-gatherer, meaning that he was one of the bosses of the other tax- gatherers. He received a cut from all of them. The fact that he was rich is an indication that he was very good at what he did. Humanly speaking Zaccheus was a giant of a man that needed to be brought down to size.

vs. 3 And he was trying to see who Jesus was, and he was unable because of the crowd, for he was small in stature. 

Nowhere does it say that Zaccheus was a “wee little man” but rather he was just a little shorter than the average person. He had heard of Jesus and he like everyone else wanted to see him and he could not because of the crowd and his height. So he humbled himself and devised a plan.

vs. 4 and he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree in order to see Him, for He was about to pass through that way.  

Zaccheus ran ahead of the crowd climbed into a sycamore tree so he could see over the crowd when they came that way.  Zaccheus has exerted quite a bit of effort by now. The running, the climbing, and just the anticipation of seeing Jesus had his blood pumping pretty well.

vs. 5 And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and said to him, “Zaccheus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house.”

First of all Jesus calls Zaccheus by name, just as He does anyone that has responded to His call and received the gift of salvation. I am sure Zaccheus is a little surprised that this Jesus knows his name.  There is almost a little humor here also. Jesus tells him to “hurry” and come down. Why hurry? I think Jesus is telling him that he knows that he had just hurried to climb that tree, he has Zaccheus’ attention, and then Jesus tells him the most astonishing thing of all, that He is coming to stay at his house today.  So obviously Zaccheus laughed at Him and said no way, dude. Well, that is not exactly what happened.

vs. 6 And he hurried and came down, and received Him gladly.

When a person comes to the point in their life where they realize that they need Jesus there is an urgency to receive Him. The same was true for Zaccheus. He may have been looking for Jesus but it was Jesus who found Zaccheus. The word “received” in this verse means to receive hospitably and kindly, to admit under one’s roof.  But I think it has a double meaning here. It also means that Zaccheus received Jesus into his heart, as we will learn as we keep looking at this wonderful story.

vs. 7 And when they saw it, they all began to grumble, saying, “He has gone to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.”

The grumblers and naysayers are doing what they do best, looking at someone else and judging them. This time they have judged Jesus. How disgusting, this man, Jesus had gone to the house of a sinner. Not the home of a governor, Pharisee or mayor but a sinner. How awful. If they will talk about Him, what makes you think they will not mock, talk about and judge you when you witness for Him. Of course they will. The ones who are doing nothing always complain about the way someone is doing something. Satan wants others to talk to discourage us and hopefully to keep us from doing what God has pricked our hearts to do. Their grumbling had no effect on Jesus. And apparently there has been a period of time that has passed while they stand outside and grumble. 

vs. 8 And Zaccheus stopped and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much.”

When it says that Zaccheus stopped, it does not mean he stopped on the way while walking to his house. We know this because of verses 6 and 7. Verse 6 says Zaccheus received Him into his house. And verse 7 says that Jesus has gone (left this place) to be the guest of Zaccheus. Obviously a period of time has passed and we have no clue how long it has been or what has happened but we get to see the result of the visit between Jesus and Zaccheus. This is the point where Zaccheus gets it, he understands what Jesus has been teaching him. Zaccheus stops in his tracks, stops his old way of life and turns from it. A change has taken place in his heart and suddenly he wants to give to the poor and repay anyone that he has cheated. He is showing his faith by his works. James 2:18. Notice also that his salvation did not alleviate him from his debts but rather he was willing to make restitution. In fact the law said to make a 20% - 100% restitution and he is freely offering 4 times. Ex. 22:4,7, Lev. 6:5 and Num.5:7. He wants to double what the law requires.

vs. 9 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham.

Jesus plainly tells us that Zaccheus has been saved. Not because of being a Jew but because he has become also a son of Abraham. I thought the Jews where the sons of Abraham. They are by birth but so are the gentiles by rebirth according to faith in Jesus Christ as is explained in Hebrews 11. This is the type of son of Abraham that Zaccheus has just become, the same as anyone who by faith believes in Jesus for salvation. It does not matter if Zaccheus was a Jew or not.

vs. 10 “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

It was Jesus who went out of His way to seek out Zaccheus and to save him, just as He sought me out to save me and just as He seeks everyone to save them, who will make the effort to find Him. Why did Jesus go through Jericho that was way out of the way? To seek and to save that which was lost.

Don't Lose Me Jesus

John 6: 30-40

Here we have a beautiful picture of how careful God is to take care of every detail concerning our salvation, right up to the time of the return of Christ. While Jesus talked to the people they asked Him for a sign so they could see it and then believe that He really was who He claimed to be.

vs. 30 They said therefore to Him, "What  then do You do for a sign, that we may see, and believe You? What work do You perform?

In other words perform a trick for us teacher. Our forefathers had bread rain down from heaven. If you are from God then make bread fall from Heaven.

vs. 31 "Our Fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, 'HE GAVE THEM BREAD OUT OF HEAVEN TO EAT.'"

Jesus makes sure they realize that it was God who gave their forefathers the bread and not Moses.  

vs. 32 Jesus therefore said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven. 

vs. 33 "For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world."

Jesus tells them God sends not only Manna from heaven but true bread and this bread doesn't feed just a few but gives life to the whole world. Obviously Jesus is talking about Himself. And He plainly tells us that in vs. 51 where He says, "I am the living Bread that came down out of Heaven,"

vs. 34 They said therefore to Him, "Lord, evermore give us this bread."

If you have bread that gives life we want some. This could come in handy.

vs. 35 Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me shall not hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.

Jesus is doing the same thing He always does. He brings His teachings down to the mere basics of salvation. And here He does it again. He explains that He is the life giving bread that not only satisfies hunger it quenches thirst. About now they are probably saying something like, yeah this is unusual bread. They didn't have the full picture like we do now, so Jesus kept on explaining.

vs. 36 "But I said to you, that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe.

You see me and your eyes make it difficult for you to believe what I am telling you. So Jesus goes on explaining and the next four verses is where we will focus the most of our time. The next four verses could easily be misread but when we look at the big picture of what Jesus is telling us, it is such an awesome reminder of how powerful God is and how every detail is important about our salvation.

vs. 37 "All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.

Jesus is talking about souls, salvations. Everyone, every person that God gives to Jesus to become a follower or a believer in Him will not be turned away. John 3:16 ...that whosoever will believe in Him shall be saved, John 3:17 God sent His son...that the world through Him might be saved, John 10:9 I am the door, if any man enter in, he shall be saved, Acts 2:21 and Romans 10:13...whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Jesus does not pick and choose who gets saved its our choice our free will. In 2 Peter 3:9 it says that the Lord is long suffering toward us and is not willing that any should perish but all should come to repentance. John 6:37 is a wonderful promise of security to us. It is not a guess, it is not a contest, it is not limited to certain members only but heaven is available to anyone who comes to the Father through the Son.

vs. 38 " For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will,  but the will of Him who sent Me.

So what is the will of God for Jesus?

vs. 39 " And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given to Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day.

 Well this has to beg the question, what is it that Jesus could lose. Are we still talking about salvation?  Is this a verse that some could use to say, "See a person can lose his salvation.” Well it might appear that way, but we will have to look at this verse closer. The key to this verse is the word "lose". The tense of this word suggests a simple undefined action of something at a set time, yet undetermined and not repetitive. So obviously this verse is talking about a losing of something in the future at a time yet unknown and occurring only once. If this verse were talking about people losing their salvation it would have to be an action that was complex because it would have to have occurred to more than one person. It would not be a set, undetermined time. It would be several instances and it would be repetitive. This verse is referring to that day when Jesus returns. Matthew 24:36 "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone."  It is an undetermined, set event that is non-repetitive and Jesus plainly said that he would raise it up on the last day. So if this verse is not talking about salvation then what is it talking about. Could it be that people lose their salvation on the last day? No, because it says that Christ will raise it up on that last day. Who will Christ raise up on the last day? I Thes. 4: 16-17 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God; and dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall be with the Lord. Those not saved, will be raised for judgment and those saved will be raised to spend eternity in the presence of God. That is the beauty of verse 39, no one, not even one of the millions who have lived, died, decayed and returned to dust. None of the ones on the space shuttle that disintegrated on re-entry, none of the ones in Hiroshima, none, not one will be lost.

vs. 40 "For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him, may have eternal life; and I Myself will raise him up on the last day."

And everyone that has been given to Jesus as followers, none, not one will be lost, in what could, from a human perspective, be a day of total confusion. But not to the one, the only one who God could entrust, to handle such a feat, His beloved Son, in whom He is well pleased. In Him, and Him alone can God trust, to make sure that none are lost, forgotten or sent to the wrong place. What a wonderful picture of how we have nothing to worry about. Our salvation is secure.