Luke 18:35-19:10 "Seeing Jesus"
What do you call a mechanic who never works on cars?
You don’t. Not if you have car trouble.
What do you call a Christian who knows all kinds of things about the Bible and theology but doesn’t do anything with it?
You call them home for supper. You go looking for them because they must be lost.
A mechanic who refuses to get his hands dirty to help people when they’re in trouble is the same as a Christian who has the knowledge of salvation and the wisdom of God in their head but refuses to do anything with it.
Today we’re going to meet two people who really want to see Jesus. One is poor, one is rich. They can’t see Him for different reasons. They’re both desperate. They’re both lost. And they’ll both see the world in a completely different way once they see the Lord.
We’ve been going through the Gospel of Luke line by line, today we pick it up in chapter 18…
VERSE 35:
As he drew near to Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. And hearing a crowd going by, he inquired what this meant. They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” And he cried out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Luke 18:35-38
This isn’t the Jericho from the Old Testament where the people of God marched around the city until the walls came down. This is like a suburb of Jerusalem, a little more than a mile outside the city. It was a place where rich people lived and it was on the busiest road into Jerusalem.
Luke says a blind man was sitting beside the road begging, Mark tells us his name was Bartimaeus, Matthew says he had a friend with him who was also blind. So, was there one blind beggar or two? What’s going on here? Is there a contradiction in the Bible? What are we going to do? I guess we can’t trust God’s word after all—let’s just throw it away and go home. No. There’s no contradiction here. Luke didn’t say there was ONLY one blind man—if there were two like Matthew says, then there was also one—Luke just focused on the guy who made the most noise. Mark probably mentions his name because he knew him—we’re going to find out in a minute that he became a disciple. Here’s the deal, if we come to the Bible without faith in Jesus we’ll always find things to complain about, we’ll always find reasons to doubt—but if we start with Jesus, all these little differences in detail take care of themselves.
So, it’s a week before Passover, everyone is going to Jerusalem. This would have been a really good spot for a blind person to beg.
Lots of travelers are going by, then a bigger than usual group comes along. They would have been singing Psalms—there are a bunch of Psalms called the “Psalms of Ascent” that everyone sang when they were traveling to Jerusalem. Pretty much the same way we sing Christmas carols at Christmas time. Songs that talk about going to the temple, talk about the Messiah, about the excitement of going to worship.
There must have been something different about this particular group. Something even a blind man could notice. I wonder what sounded different about the followers of Jesus—maybe they were really good singers, maybe they sang with extra enthusiasm. For whatever reason, Bartimaeus asked who it was—they said it was a bunch of people with a guy named Jesus who was from Nazareth. He must have heard about Him before because he gets very excited, starts yelling, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
“Son of David” means “The Messiah.” Don’t miss the irony—a blind man sees what other people don’t see. He keeps saying it, he’s annoying, disrupting their singing like a yappy dog, ruining the parade for everyone.
VERSE 39:
And those who were in front rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” And Jesus stopped and commanded him to be brought to him.
Luke 18:39
Did they tell him to shut up because they thought he was irritating? Did they think he was being pathetic, just trying to get Jesus to give him some money? Were they offended because he was calling Jesus the Messiah? That would have sounded like blasphemy.
I know this: no one who calls out to Jesus and asks for mercy is ever denied—it’s always a good way to approach Him. You’re taking your chances if you get up in Jesus’ face like the Pharisees trying to see what you can get away with — ”How many of the Commandments can I break and still go to heaven?” Roll up on Jesus with that attitude and we’re going to be put in our place and force-fed a giant slice of humble pie washed down with some humili-tea! Don’t be walking up to Jesus trying to justify yourself. But anyone who comes to Jesus asking for mercy gets mercy and everything good that comes with it.
Jesus brings the parade to a stop and says he wants to see the man who’s making all the racket.
VERSE 40:
And when he came near, he asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” He said, “Lord, let me recover my sight.” And Jesus said to him, “Recover your sight; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God. Luke 18:40-44
Have you heard the one about the miracle-working carpenter? One day a blind man picked up his hammer and saw. See what I did there? Ha
Matthew says both blind men were healed. Never underestimate the power of bringing your blind friends to a place where they might see Jesus—where He can find them. Even when it’s the blind leading the blind. Jesus finds us where we are, not where we’re supposed to be.
He asks our loud friend what he can do for him. “How may I help you?”
Bartimaeus doubles down on the Messiah thing—calls Jesus “Lord.” “Lord, would you give me back my sight?”
Jesus is like, “You want to recover your sight? Fine. Recover your sight!” He said, “Your faith has made you well.” The man believed, he asked for mercy, and that’s what he got—along with his eyesight and salvation! “Your faith has made you well,” is the same thing as saying, “Your faith has saved you.” He was saved by grace through faith just like the rest of us. Luther’s dying words were, “We’re all beggars.” He might have had this story in mind.
On top of that, Bartimaeus got a new life. He wasn’t a blind beggar at the gates of Jericho anymore. He threw away the beggar's cloak he used to collect coins, followed the Jesus parade, became part of the church, joined in the singing, glorifying God, went with them on the way to Jerusalem, and would be part of everything that came next.
But the blind beggar wasn’t the only person in Jericho who was hoping to see Jesus.
Chapter 19:
He entered Jericho and was passing through. And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. Luke 19:1-2
First a poor, blind beggar and now a rich tax collector. Not just any tax collector—a chief tax collector. We’ve met a couple of tax collectors previously in Luke, we talked about how they were hated and considered to be traitors because they were in cahoots with the Romans to help extract every penny of taxes from the Jewish people. Well, this guy was like a mob boss. He organized a mafia of tax collectors. He not only ripped off his own people for the Romans, he also skimmed profits from other tax collectors. You could say he was a big man around Jericho except for one little detail…
VERSE 3:
And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way.
Luke 19:3-4
Apparently, people had lined the street to watch the Jesus parade go by. Our chief tax collector kingpin was a wee little dude. All he could see was the behinds of the wall of people in front of him. Kind of like when Kim and I go to a concert and it’s a standing-room-only situation. Kim has seen many shows looking at nothing but the tour dates printed on the back of concert T-shirts.
Well, Zacchaeus wasn’t going to just miss out on seeing Jesus—probably heard about Him from some of those tax collectors Jesus had been hanging out with at dinner parties. Maybe he heard about Matthew. He ran ahead of the procession and climbed up a tree like a crazy person. This was not typical behavior for a wealthy man-about-town. He was acting like a child. Imagine you’re at something like the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade—you might expect to see ten-year-old boys climb up a tree to get a better view but you wouldn’t expect to see bankers and lawyers and mob bosses up there with them.
It had to be a ridiculous sight. Jesus sees him up there—I’m sure He thought it was funny. The whole situation is hilarious.
VERSE 5:
And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” Luke 19:5
Jesus sees this little man up in a tree trying to get a better look, He calls him by name—doesn’t say how Jesus knew his name, maybe it’s a “God thing,” “Zacchaeus, dude, come down here. I need to spend some time with you, little man!”
Jesus invites Himself over for lunch. It’s something Jesus does, in Revelation He says,
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” Revelation 3:20
I know I shouldn’t but I imagine the little guy comically climbs down, almost falls, then stands there like a Munchkin and sings something like “We represent the Tax Collector’s Guild” or one of those Ompa Loompa songs.
This is a light moment. A fun moment. But there’s always someone who wants to be a party pooper.
VERSE 6:
So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” Luke 19:6-7
As usual, the “Karens” are standing by ready to complain when Jesus shows mercy to someone they think is on the wrong side of the issues. People have always misunderstood what Christian tolerance is about. Christian tolerance is not about tolerating wicked ideas or sin—Christian tolerance is about tolerating people. Christian tolerance also has nothing to do with leaving people in their sin and lost in their foolishness. “Come as you are” doesn’t mean “stay as you are.”
So, Jesus goes to our funny little tax collectors’ house to hang out. They walk to the house, it’s probably a nice house in a nice neighborhood, he probably gives Jesus a tour, introduces Him to the family, shows Him his collection of miniature Bible hero figurines—maybe he has a few scrolls of Scripture. They have a nice sit-down meal. We don’t get to hear about any of this but Jesus would have done what He always does—He looked into Zaccheaus’ heart and said what he needed to hear.
I would love to know what happened between verse seven and verse eight, but whatever it was, this is how Zaccheaus responded…
VERSE 8:
And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” Luke 19:8
This is his reaction to the Gospel. Jesus saw him, found him. Came to his house. Showed him mercy. Zacchaeus, out of the abundance of a thankful heart, wants to do something with this new life he’s been given. He wants to make up for all the selfish, greedy things he did in the past. He’s not trying to earn salvation—this isn’t a desperate man praying, “Lord, if You’ll save me, I’ll give half my money to the poor and if I stole anything from anyone, I’ll pay them back times four!” He wants to do these things BECAUSE the Lord has saved him.
I know some of us watch a TV show called Yellowstone. There’s this line in one of the early episodes that I think is a perfect picture of the obedience that flows from the Gospel. The show takes place on a ranch in Montana and a bunch of the ranch hands are ex-convicts. Some of the cowboys are offered a special status—they’re given the opportunity to be branded. Actually branded like cattle. If they receive the brand, they’re promised they’ll always have a job and a place to stay. The boss, who’s named Rip says this to one of the ex-con cowboys: “You can’t earn the brand but you can try to live up to it.”
You can’t earn salvation. Jesus earned it for you. But you can try to live up to it. God’s name is holy, and He puts His name on you. You can’t make yourself holy, but you can try to keep His name holy now that it’s on you. I love that. Rip went on to say, “It’s about being someone people can count on. About being someone who does what's right, even when it's hard. That's what the brand means.”
That’s what our friend Zaccheaus is doing here. He’s living up to the name that was put on him.
VERSE 9:
And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” Luke 19:9-10
Salvation literally came to his house. Jesus is salvation. The people who were complaining that He went to a filthy tax collector’s house were being put in their place. Zaccheaus, sinful man that he was, he was also a son of Abraham. Jesus found him lost in a sycamore tree on the side of the road. That’s what Jesus came to do, to seek and save the lost. Remember that verse—it’s pretty much the main theme of Luke.
Notice Jesus didn’t tell him to stop being a tax collector—didn’t tell him to give away all his wealth. Just that, from now on, he was going to be generous with his money—not exploit people, not cheat people. He understood he had something to live up to now, that it’s about being someone who does what's right, even when it's hard. I’m sure he had a long list of people he was going to have to have some awkward conversations with. Jesus doesn’t save any of us in a vacuum—the ripples of the mercy He shows us should reach all the way to anyone we ever hurt or hurt us.
I hope you came here today just like blind Bartimaeus and wee little Zacchaeus. Trying to be somewhere you can see Jesus. Trying to be somewhere you knew He was going to be. You heard the singing—I hope you sang along. You heard His word—I hope you listened. Have you cried out for mercy yet? If you’re paying attention, this is what He’s saying to you, “Your faith has made you well.” “You once were lost but now you’re found, were blind but now you see.” Today salvation has come to your house. Again. Jesus came here to seek and save the lost—like you and me. Again.
God has put His holy name on you. There was nothing you could do to earn it. Now what? How are you going to keep His name holy? How are you going to live up to your calling? How are you going to live on earth as it is in heaven? How are you going to be generous? How are you going to restore and make restitution to the people you have wronged? Forgive us as we forgive those who trespass against us.
The way you respond to the salvation that has been given to you, the way you respond to being found and receiving your sight, the way you respond to seeing Jesus—it should look something like this: And immediately he recovered his sight and followed Jesus, giving Him glory. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God. AMEN