Today, I am reading and commenting on  Luke 19-20.

I want to note that when Jesus invited Himself to Zacchaeus’ house, he was not only choosing to go hang out with a sinner, but one who was viewed by most Jews as an oppressor.  Zacchaeus was a tax collector, and not just any tax collector, a chief tax collector.  Tax collectors put in bids about how much tax they would collect, if they one the contract, they paid the money the Romans upfront and then got to keep however much tax they collected.  Typically, they were perceived as collecting more than was due by various deceptive means.  Yet, Jesus saw Zacchaeus as someone whom God loved and by showing that love to Zacchaeus, He transformed him.  Let us seek to do the same to those society tells us we should ostracize.

That ended up being more than I intended.  I really wanted to focus on Jesus’ response when the religious leaders asked Him by what authority He did the things which He did in the Temple.  We should pay attention to that answer when we get into debates with non-Believers.  The religious leaders intended to take whatever answer Jesus gave them and twist it into something they could use against them.  By asking them whether John’s baptism was of man or of Heaven Jesus forced them to reveal what they were doing.  Just as importantly, if they had answered His question, it would have revealed the assumptions they made about the world, which would have given Jesus a starting place to debate them about the merit of His actions.  By answering that they did not know they revealed that they were not interested in debating, merely in obtaining a “gotcha” moment.  We should follow Jesus’ example and refuse to debate those who are merely looking for a “gotcha”.  Do not get into a debate with people who have no interest in understanding your point of view.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.