Luke 19:8-32

⁸But Zacchaeus stood up and said before the Lord, “Look, I'm giving half of everything I own to the poor, and if I've cheated anybody, I'll pay them back four times as much!”

⁹In response Jesus said, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man has shown he is a son of Abraham too.

¹⁰For the Son of man came to search for and save those who are lost.”

¹¹While they were still paying attention, Jesus told them a story for they were close to Jerusalem and the people thought that God's kingdom was going to become a reality right away.

¹²“Once there was a nobleman who left home to go to a distant country to be crowned king there, and then to return.

¹³He called ten of his servants, divided money equally among them, and told them, ‘Invest this money until I return.’

¹⁴But his people hated him, and sent a delegation after him to say, ‘We won't have this man as king over us.’

¹⁵After he had been crowned king he returned. He ordered his servants brought to him. He wanted to know what profit they had made by investing the money he had given them.

¹⁶The first servant came in and said, ‘Lord, your money has earned ten times as much.’

¹⁷‘Well done! You're a good servant,’ said the king. ‘Since you proved yourself trustworthy in a very small matter, I'm placing you in charge of ten cities.’

¹⁸The second servant came in and said, ‘Lord, your money has earned five times as much.’

¹⁹‘I'm placing you in charge of five cities,’ said the king.

²⁰Another servant came in and said, ‘Lord, look, here's your money back. I kept it safe, wrapped up in a cloth.

²¹I was afraid of you because you're a hard man. You take what doesn't belong to you, and you harvest what you didn't plant.’

²²‘I'll judge you by your own words,’ the king replied. ‘You know I'm a hard man, who as you say, takes what doesn't belong to me, and I harvest what I didn't plant.

²³Why then didn't you deposit my money in the bank, so that when I returned I could have had my money with interest?’

²⁴The king told those who were standing beside him, ‘Take the money away from him, and give it to the one who made ten times as much.’

²⁵‘But master, he already has ten times as much,’ they replied.

²⁶The king said, ‘I tell you, to those who have, more will be given; but those who do not have, even what they have will be taken away from them.

²⁷And as for my enemies who didn't want me to be king over them, bring them here and kill them in front of me.’”

²⁸After he'd finished telling them this story, Jesus left for Jerusalem, walking on ahead.

²⁹As he approached Bethphage and Bethany on the Mount of Olives, he sent two disciples, telling them:

³⁰“Go to the village farther on. As you enter it you'll find a colt tied up that no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here.

³¹If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ just say, ‘The Lord needs it.’”

³²So the two disciples went and found that everything was just as Jesus had said.