---
title: Luke 19:1
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/luke-19-1/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/luke-19-1.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Luke 19:1
testament: NT
section: Gospels
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Luke 19:1

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> Then Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through.

## JW Usage

Luke 19:1 functions in JW publications as a setup verse — the beginning of the Zacchaeus narrative — without distinctive doctrinal handling. JWs read the wider story (vv.1-10) as an evangelistic encounter that produced repentance, which fits comfortably with the wider Watchtower framing of Jesus' table fellowship as targeted ministry rather than ongoing relationship.

## Protestant Usage

The verse opens one of the Gospels' clearest illustrations that Jesus deliberately sought out social outsiders. Luke names Jericho and frames Jesus' passage through it as the trigger for the Zacchaeus encounter that follows. The geography matters: Zacchaeus's tax-collector status was not incidental to the meal Jesus invites himself to in v.5. Read with vv.7-10, the verse anchors the passage that most directly contradicts the categorical Watchtower reading of "bad associations" — the crowd's complaint at v.7 names exactly what Jesus refuses to treat as a barrier.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [When 'Bad Associations' Becomes a Categorical Ban](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/worldly-association-1cor15-categorical.md) — 1 Corinthians 15:33 — A Greek Proverb About Resurrection Deniers, Not All Outsiders [Practice]