TGBC: two stories, and three
TGBC Monday, March 19: Luke 19:1-27
He entered Jericho and was passing through it. A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax-collector and was rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because Jesus was going to pass that way.
When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, ‘Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.’ So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. All who saw it began to grumble and said, ‘He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.’
Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, ‘Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.’ Then Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.’
As they were listening to this, he went on to tell a parable, because he was near Jerusalem, and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately. So he said, ‘A nobleman went to a distant country to get royal power for himself and then return. He summoned ten of his slaves, and gave them ten pounds, and said to them, “Do business with these until I come back.” 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.” When he returned, having received royal power, he ordered these slaves, to whom he had given the money, to be summoned so that he might find out what they had gained by trading. The first came forward and said, “Lord, your pound has made ten more pounds.” He said to him, “Well done, good slave! Because you have been trustworthy in a very small thing, take charge of ten cities.”
Then the second came, saying, “Lord, your pound has made five pounds.” He said to him, “And you, rule over five cities.” Then the other came, saying, “Lord, here is your pound. I wrapped it up in a piece of cloth, for I was afraid of you, because you are a harsh man; you take what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow.” He said to him, “I will judge you by your own words, you wicked slave! You knew, did you, that I was a harsh man, taking what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow? Why then did you not put my money into the bank? Then when I returned, I could have collected it with interest.”
He said to the bystanders, “Take the pound from him and give it to the one who has ten pounds.” (And they said to him, “Lord, he has ten pounds!”) “I tell you, to all those who have, more will be given; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. But as for these enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them—bring them here and slaughter them in my presence.” ’
Comments. There are two stories here. First, Zacchaeus the rich tax collector, which appears only in Luke, another story of a sinner repenting and coming to Christ and being welcomed and forgiven, for such is the Gospel of the Love of God. This event happens during Jesus’ time in Jericho, which Matthew covers nicely; while in Mark 10 (where both Matthew and Luke got their stories) between Mark 10:46a and 10:46b there is a gap, a strange empty gap (look it up for yourself) where fits the first part of so-called “Secret Mark” (let the curious and inquisitive reader google this also) that fills in the gap. The gap is subtle, and rationalizers will deny it’s even there, but it is there. Whether Secret Mark is original and legitimate is your choice, as for me, I like it. In my role as DThomas, I wonder if Luke placed his Zacchaeus story here as his way of filling the “Jericho gap” and/or of circumventing the Secret Mark issue? No matter, it’s a good story of a repentant sinner coming to Jesus and being welcomed and forgiven, a lesson for you and me. God is good.
The second story, Luke’s version of the Parable of the Talents, in which we might have seen Jesus teaching about receiving God’s good gifts as an opportunity to spread the kingdom of God, Luke turns into a conglomerate nightmare by mixing in a third story. Luke has taken from Q the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30), harsh as it is for the lazy, sorry, worthless slave (though perhaps serving justice). But also, and this is significant, some scholars say that Luke has wrapped in the history of a hated and opposed man, Archelaeus going to Rome to be confirmed as king of Judea, and Luke somehow relates the Judeans’ opposition to Archelaeus as king to their rejection of Jesus as king and messiah, seeming to turn Jesus’ parable into a fearsome allegory of a vengeful God destroying those who reject Jesus. Further oddly, the parable begins with ten slaves but finishes up with the usual three. Though modified by Luke or the early church, the parable itself is indeed from Jesus. But the horrific nightmare, which surely, hopefully, could not have come from the lips of the compassionate Jesus, comes at the end when the lord orders that his enemies be rounded up and slaughtered in his presence. If you never read or heard this dreadful story before, it’s because Luke 19:11-27 mercifully never appears in the Sunday Lectionary. Rejoice and be exceeding glad.
What have I overlooked? For one, the unexpected, at least from Jesus, pronouncement that those who have much will have even more while those who have little will have even less. Atrocious at first glance, but I reckon it’s meant to show positive justice for those who work hard with what they are given, and negative justice for those who are too lazy and sorry to do anything? Too simplistic actually for today’s exceedingly complex socio-economic world in which it is virtually impossible for those at the bottom to escape from their lot. Poverty is as clutching and inescapable as a maximum security prison. A different take on kingdom come.
Notice, incidentally, that Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem, begun in mid-Luke 9 and lasting ten chapters, now comes to an end in the middle of chapter 19: he is arriving. The tension builds.