Luke 19 Bible study: To seek and to save

"He entered and was passing through Jericho" (19:1). "There was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector, and he was rich" (19:2). "He was trying to see who Jesus was, and couldn’t because of the crowd, because he was short" (19:3), so "He ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was going to pass that way" (19:4). Then it is Jesus who looks up: "When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and saw him, and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house.”" (19:5). "He hurried, came down, and received him joyfully" (19:6) (tap received). "When they saw it, they all murmured, saying, “He has gone in to lodge with a man who is a sinner.”" (19:7) (tap murmured). "Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, half of my goods I give to the poor. If I have wrongfully exacted anything of anyone, I restore four times as much.”" (19:8). "Jesus said to him, “Today, salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham." (19:9) (tap salvation). Luke tells nothing more of Zacchaeus than these verses, and says nothing of why he said what he said. These notes don't either, and apply his words to no one's money or goods today.

Leviticus 6:5→leads toLuke 19:8-10

The one who has taken from his neighbor "shall restore it in full, and shall add a fifth part more to it" (6:5). Zacchaeus was "a chief tax collector" (Luke 19:2). Jesus told him, "today I must stay at your house" (Luke 19:5). Then Zacchaeus said, "Behold, Lord, half of my goods I give to the poor. If I have wrongfully exacted anything of anyone, I restore four times as much" (Luke 19:8). Jesus said to him, "Today, salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost" (Luke 19:9-10). Four times is more than this chapter's fifth; it is what Exodus sets for a sheep stolen and then killed or sold, "four sheep for a sheep" (Exodus 22:1). Neither Zacchaeus nor Jesus names Leviticus 6, so setting their words beside this chapter is a reading, not something Luke states.

ζητέωzeteosay dzay-TEH-o

Strong's: "to seek (literally or figuratively)", and "(in a bad sense) to plot (against life)". The WEB gives it three ways in this chapter: "He was trying to see who Jesus was" (19:3), "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost" (19:10), and "the chief priests, the scribes, and the leading men among the people sought to destroy him" (19:47). Luke's Greek has it 26 times (counted in RP2018, the Byzantine text the WEB translates), and Favor's Luke 11 and John 7 study it too. Mark's telling of the temple has it too, with the verb behind destroy: "sought how they might destroy him" (Mark 11:18).