In Luke 19, we get a disturbing image that casts Jesus in a whole new light. That is, if we haven’t been listening up until now.

a love that transcends revolution
Palm Sunday | Luke 19

When the gospel reading begins as this one does:

“After telling a parable to the crowd at Jericho, Jesus went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.”

I want to know what that parable was! Doesn’t that seem like an important part of the story?

I went back and read it. And it’s one of those occasions when you kind of wish you hadn’t.

So, of course, I’m going to read it to you!

But first, Zacchaeus

At the beginning of Luke 19, Jesus arrives at Jericho and he’s getting the crowds all riled up. And a filthy rich man, the chief tax-collector wants to see Jesus but he can’t. He’s too short. This is that favorite story of Zacchaeus climbing the tree.

What’s most important about Zacchaeus is that his being the chief tax-collector makes him the chief sinner in this community. But even he can have a change of heart. Jesus hangs out with him when the Temple leaders wouldn’t.

We keep seeing an image of Jesus practicing an uncommon relationship to the outcast for a Jewish religious leader of his time.

Now listen carefully to the words of Jesus here. He says:

“For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”

The Son of Man comes to seek out and save, not cast out and destroy. Remember this.

And then the story.

This is what it says.

So, first of all, that’s a weird parable.

Second, that’s a weird last statement before heading into Jerusalem.

Third, and this is the most important, what the heck is Jesus trying to say? Because he just said “the Son of Man came to seek and out and save the lost.” Then he tells a story about a nobleman who seeks out royal power to become a king and then exercises it. A story he tells to people who keep trying to give him royal power to exercise.

So where do we even begin?

1) Royal Power

In this parable, Jesus describes a man of great power in his country going to another country to receive greater power. He deputizes ten of his slaves to exercise his power while he’s gone.

“But the citizens of his country hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, “We do not want this man to rule over us.””

They send people to this greater royal authority to say “Don’t give this guy more power over us! We hate him!”

It doesn’t sound like Jesus and it doesn’t play out like it is Jesus.

This is a terrifying story with a disturbing thesis. That a powerful man, who has already enslaved other people, seeks more power to exploit all in his charge.

Perhaps here is where we remember what the faithful are taught about kings. And we remember those previous words of Jesus:

“For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”

Jesus is not a nobleman, but the son of all humanity.

2) Son of Humanity

Jesus associates himself with this title, son of humanity, not the noblest member of humanity. He preaches the last shall be first and first shall be last, not the last shall be laster and the first shall be firster.

The nobleman’s actions are the antithesis of the message of Jesus. Jesus doesn’t seek more power, but he sheds it and spreads it. He doesn’t seek to consolidate wealth into the hands of the powerful, but to share it among all the people. He doesn’t enslave the powerless, he empowers them with the very grace of God!

This nobleman isn’t Jesus! And he isn’t doing the will of God! It doesn’t sound anything like God; but it does sound like Herod. This parable is about someone else! Someone who doesn’t do the will of God.

3) Slaves

Then there are all the other clues.

God’s grace is about freeing the captive, not keeping slaves and encouraging them to exploit their neighbors. Here’s another: Judaism condemns the taking of interest. The whole action of the parable revolves around expecting and rewarding interest-taking. We reap what God sows, we don’t steal what others sow!

Huge red flags need to fly here.

So what do we make of this backward parable told by the would-be Messiah? The man they tried to crown? A story of slaves and exploitation, of stealing money and granting more power to the powerful?

Maybe this is the final exam.

Or maybe this is what he has to say.

The 2nd Coming…of the Maccabees

In verse 11, it says that Jesus told this parable

“because he was near Jerusalem, and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately.”

He taught them about abuse of power because HE was near Jerusalem and they thought it would all appear suddenly.

Because they thought it would make sense to seek foreign power and march into the capital for battle.

We get this backward teaching because we still struggle to see why it’s backward.

Jesus enters Jerusalem humbly on a colt, not a warhorse in the pageantry of a Roman Triumphal Entry. But also with a confused army eager to start another Maccabean revolt. And by the end of the week, he’ll make sure a couple of people show up with swords to sell the image.

Jesus walks into Jerusalem knowing that it isn’t just the state conspiring against him. The religious authorities conspire with them. For a revolt is the ultimate symbol of “unrest” none of the powerful want. But the blood-soaked freedom is what the people hunger for.

So Jesus comes, not to confront Rome or Judaism or the Temple, but the very power that would rather destroy its opponents than show mercy to its people.

Of God

So let us return to the question: what is Jesus trying to say?

What will happen by the end of the week isn’t of God. If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll know that’s true. Only what happens in the end, in the resurrection, that’s of God.

If you’ve listened and watched; followed along and made mental notes. It was all right there for us from the beginning.

Who God comes to and partners with. The unlikely partnerships and the relationships with the outsiders. They even make a disciple out of Zacchaeus. And those unlikely recipients of miracles and the prodigious displays for the sake of all.

Teachings which return our attention to the fundamentals and entreat our hearts to love more generously the oppressed and condemn more directly their oppressors.

And the constant call to establish a new jubilee: to transform economic systems, restore those who have lost their lives and give new life to those who never had one; and to bring low the noble men who exploit their power and dignify the exploited.

If we take all of that with us into Jerusalem, we can see how power crucifies and destroys and the temptation to power over others corrupts our hearts.

So if we’ve paid attention; if we’ve learned anything; we also know that we need to go in anyway. That eventually we will all have our own crosses to carry.

Following Jesus in, we can see what power does to those who stand up to it. And where the power to sustain us in the midst of it really comes from.