Luke 19:1
Luke 19:11Then Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through.
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.
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.