Gospel of Luke

Chapter Nineteen
Day 19 of 24
To say that Jesus was on a mission would be to state the eternally obvious. From before time began, God’s plan of salvation was Jesus. He came here to fulfill all prophecy and to accomplish redemption for mankind. While He was on earth, Jesus kept all of His divine appointments.
Doctor Luke meticulously records the daily itinerary of Jesus as He made His way to Jerusalem. There was His baptism in the Jordan River. Then The Spirit compelled Him into the time of temptation in the wilderness. After 40 days and nights of fasting, He became well acquainted with rocks that looked like loaves of bread. He dropped by the shores of the Sea of Galilee to pick up a few fishermen. He searched out places of refuge and solitude all along the journey so that He could spend time in prayer with His Father.
He knew where to locate fish for catching and where to borrow boats He could turn into pulpits for teaching. He kept His appointment to heal a man with a withered right hand. He walked through the village of Nain to stop a funeral procession in its tracks and raise the son of a desperate widow from the dead.
He accepted a dinner invitation knowing that His feet would be anointed by a nameless, wordless, forgiven woman. He set sail with His disciples across the Sea of Galilee knowing full well that they were headed into a storm on the Sea and a storm in a cemetery where they would meet a man possessed by many demons. Creation in chaos and child of God in crisis, with a word from The Word, both storms were dissolved into calm.
Then He drifted into a crowd just so that a woman who needed a healing touch FROM Him might be able to get close enough to reach out and touch His garment in faith. He preached long enough to a crowd with 5000+ people that they would need supper. Jesus knew that they needed spiritual AND physical nourishment. This appointment was really to show the disciples what it was like to eat and be completely filled with personal baskets of leftovers.
In Luke 9, Jesus had an ageless appointment to speak with Moses and Elijah. He traveled a soon-to-be well worn path to the home of Lazarus, Mary and Martha in the town of Bethany. He would have lots of reservation confirmations in that home and at that table.
He had appointments to heal a woman with a very crooked back and a man with dropsy. He healed ten lepers. He gave sight to a blind man who then rose and followed Him possibly all the way to the foot of the cross. Every day of His life, Jesus was truly on a mission.
Luke 19 records one of my favorite stories. Jesus moved from the healing of the blind man near Jericho straight to one particular sycamore fig tree on the Main Street of Jericho. He was standing under that tree not to seek shade for Himself but to shake down a short fella who had climbed that tree for a better view.
Being four foot twelve myself, I can relate to that “wee little man” named Zaccheus. Jesus knew exactly where that tree was located and knew that the climber needed to come down and be saved. It is here that we find Jesus stating His purpose was to seek and to save those who are lost.
Zaccheus climbed that tree a lost man. He came down that tree a lost man. He was in a hurry to steal from folks in his role as a tax collector for the Roman government. He was in a hurry to gather riches. But, for some reason, he was in a hurry to climb that tree to see Jesus. He was in a hurry to climb down that tree to be with Jesus and host Him in his home.
Then, it happened. He finally stopped in his tracks long enough to realize that Jesus had come for him. Jesus called him “a son of Abraham” which meant he had expressed faith in the Saviour. Jesus left Jericho and continued on toward Jerusalem. I have wondered if possibly Zaccheus followed the crowd to Calvary, too, and found himself standing under a “tree” that only Jesus could climb...
The appointments of Jesus were all by design, planned in advance by the Grand Designer. His parables filled in the teaching gaps between encounters with actual people along the way. Jesus did not waste one moment of His very limited time on earth. He redeemed every second and every person who would place their life and eternity in His hands.
Finally in Luke 19, the long journey of ascent to Jerusalem is completed. In fulfillment of the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9, Jesus rode a donkey colt into the city. He rode a colt that had never been ridden, proof that Jesus was Lord over His creation. Other gospels tell us that the mother of this colt walked along as Jesus rode her foal. His saddle blankets were garments belonging to His disciples. He was being announced and lauded as the king by riding this colt as He entered Jerusalem from the Mt. of Olives.
As He rode, Jesus wept over the city and the Jewish nation. Their rejection of His birth and sinless life would have eternal consequences. His grief was deep. I have a picture of the rejoicing crowd and the amazed disciples and the grouchy Pharisees and the tears of Jesus. He knew He came to die for all people, even for those who would never accept His blood sacrifice for the forgiveness of their sins. Those who rejected Him would spend eternity separated from Him. He felt the chasm of their lostness and He wept.
Jesus came to Jerusalem to keep His most important appointment of all. He had come to accomplish a long-standing agreement with His Father on the center sinner’s cross.