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Luke 19:1-10 NET.

¹ Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through it. ² Now a man named Zacchaeus was there; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. ³ He was trying to get a look at Jesus, but being a short man he could not see over the crowd. ⁴ So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, because Jesus was going to pass that way. ⁵ And when Jesus came to that place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down quickly, because I must stay at your house today.” ⁶       So he came down quickly and welcomed Jesus joyfully. ⁷ And when the people saw it, they all complained, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” ⁸ But Zacchaeus stopped and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, half of my possessions I now give to the poor, and if I have cheated anyone of anything, I am paying back four times as much!” ⁹ Then Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this household, because he too is a son of Abraham! ¹⁰ For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

We have been studying the commands of Christ. We are looking for clues as to what Jesus wants. Unfortunately, we do not have a written list of commands from Jesus that applies to us. Instead, we have to figure out what Jesus wants us to do based on his interactions with others and his commands to others. Today’s story might be a little tricky. It tells about Jesus’s interaction with Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus was up a tree, literally. Jesus tells him to come down from that tree. He plans to stay at Zacchaeus’s house. Zacchaeus responds by obeying Jesus’ command. He also seems to have had a conversion experience. The problem with a story like this is that most of us do not climb Sycamore trees. We are not put in a position like Zacchaeus was. Jesus is not walking through our town on his way to Jerusalem. And even if Jesus was coming in our direction, we are not like Zacchaeus, seeking to get a glimpse of him. We are his followers, so we are more like those in the crowd. But I think there is a message in today’s text for us. We can understand what Jesus wants us to do if we follow three steps.

The first step is to examine Zacchaeus and compare him to another man we encountered recently in the Gospel of Luke.

Compare Zacchaeus with the rich ruler of Luke 18.

They were both rich. When Jesus saw this rich young man coming, he loved him. But when this young man wanted to join Jesus’ disciples, Jesus required that he give up all his wealth. The rich man was not willing to do that. He went away sad because he had a lot of money. He wanted to be a believer and a follower of Jesus, but he did not want to sacrifice his wealth to do so. Jesus was not willing to accommodate his wishes. He told his followers a rich man couldn’t enter the Kingdom. It was like a camel going through the eye of a needle.

And so, this man, Zacchaeus, appears on the scene. He is also a rich man. Will Jesus say the same thing to him? Will Jesus turn him away? We know already from the text that Jesus does not. That is a comfort. Knowing that you can be rich and still be accepted by Jesus is a comfort. But what was the difference in Zacchaeus? How did Jesus know that Zacchaeus was fit for the Kingdom? Why did Jesus accept Zacchaeus and reject the rich young man? We will leave that question for a moment.

They were both famous. Both Zacchaeus and the rich young man were famous among their population. People knew their names, and they knew what they did. They were not renowned for the same reason. They were famous for the opposite reasons. The rich young man was famous for being a righteous person. Zacchaeus was not. Zacchaeus was a tax collector. He was the chief tax collector. Zacchaeus was a significant person in a city like Jericho, famous for its role in trade and commerce. But he was also a very despised person. He got rich by preying on the people. He cheated people for a living. He was the kind of famous person you didn’t want to have at your house.

They both sought Jesus. The rich young man sought Jesus to have a guaranteed eternal life. We are not sure why Zacchaeus sought Jesus. Perhaps he was looking for something that he had never found anywhere else. But no one else knew about what Zacchaeus wanted. Everyone thought Zacchaeus was a scoundrel, and they didn’t think Jesus would have anything to do with him. They were a little upset when Jesus decided to join Zacchaeus at his home.

They both had a decision to make. The rich young man had a decision to make. He had to decide whether joining the Kingdom of God was worth giving up all of his wealth. He had to determine if he wanted to change his life to get eternal life. He went away sad because he would not make that decision. He decided that the destiny of eternal life was not worth a current life of poverty. But look at the decisions Zacchaeus made. He had a very similar decision to make. He knew that coming to Christ would mean changing the way he lived. He knew that self and money would have to come off the throne. He knew that to follow Jesus, he had to change how he lived. But he decided to do that. This is what we call repentance.

Now, after we have examined these two men and their decisions, we can discuss the crowds. Remember I said we were more like the people in the crowd that day?

Consider the crowds that day.

They all hated Zacchaeus. Their pockets were a little less full because of Him. They despised the man. If Zacchaeus had tried to reach Jesus through the crowd, they would have tried to stomp him and rough him up a bit. He was not popular with anyone. The only ones who would have tried to look like his friends were the people who worked for him.

The people in the crowd were obstacles to Zacchaeus’ salvation. They were not just obstacles to him physically getting to Jesus. By their actions, Zacchaeus was prevented from contacting Jesus. They wanted to follow Jesus to Jerusalem but did not intend to invite Zacchaeus.

They were critical of Jesus’ choice to favor him. The text says that they all complained that he had gone in to be a guest of a man who was a Sinner. They thought that Jesus had made a wrong choice. But what Zacchaeus did showed that Jesus did not make a wrong choice. Zacchaeus made a vow to give half his possessions to people experiencing poverty. He also vowed to repay all the money he wrongfully took from people. He was showing true repentance. But the crowd did not like Zacchaeus. They did not consider him worthy of Jesus. They could not understand how Jesus could accept Zacchaeus.

They were ignorant of his potential for change. They had made a value judgment based on their prejudice. When they saw someone like Zacchaeus, they wrote them off as unredeemable.

Now, here is the point where you and I have to confront a problem we might have. We have to consider whether or not we are like that crowd. To help us consider this, it would be nice for us to ask a few questions about ourselves.

Ask yourself these questions.

If Jesus is seeking the lost, am I? Most of us would quickly say yes, we are seeking the lost. But I wonder if when we really get down to looking at it, we only look for the lost people we want to be saved. Are we like that crowd who immediately dismissed Zacchaeus as a candidate for salvation? Are we seeking the lost but only the lost that we want to come to Christ? Or are we willing to let the Holy Spirit decide who comes to Jesus?

Am I willing to befriend people to share Christ with them? You might notice that in today’s text, Zacchaeus came to Christ because Christ first came to him as his friend. All Jesus said was for Zacchaeus to come down and that he would eat at his house that day. Jesus did not yell up that tree for Zacchaeus to repent for being a Sinner. Jesus did not recite the four spiritual laws to Zacchaeus. Jesus did not quote any Bible text to Zacchaeus. He invited Zacchaeus into his life. I wonder if we would have more people accept Christ through our witness if we first tried to befriend them. Most people I know do not want to talk theology to someone they don’t know. But they don’t mind talking theology with their friends. I imagine the same is true about going to church. They are likelier to attend church with a friend than to appear at a stranger’s invitation.

The essence of friendship evangelism is making friends to reach those friends for Christ. The advantage of friendship evangelism is that people do not want to lose their friends. They are more likely to respond favorably to an invitation from their friends than someone they don’t otherwise know.

Who do I consider unreachable? Probably everyone in the crowd that day thought that Zacchaeus was unreachable for Christ. None of them offered to put Zacchaeus on his shoulder so that he could see Jesus or to bring Zacchaeus to Jesus. He was a hated tax collector, a tool of the Roman oppressors. Most people did not even want to think about Zacchaeus, and they certainly didn’t think about him in the context of religion.

Friends, there are many people like that in today’s world. They are people we might know but not want to be around. They are undesirable. We tolerate them because we have to, but there are people we do not want to get closer to. They are like Zacchaeus. Guess what? These people need Jesus.

Someone told me a story recently about something that happened to them. They were on a road one day, and a long line of cars had pulled to the side of the road. Another car came by. A very popular and famous man drove a costly vehicle. He went by some of the cars, and they all waved at him. He waved back. He drove by more cars, and they all waved at him. He waved back. When it reached the end of the road, everyone heard a tremendous splash. He had driven his car into a large wave of water. He had to exit the vehicle and swim to safety. When he got to safety, he asked the people why they had not tried to stop him. But they all said they did try to stop him — that’s what they were waving for.

I thought about that story in conjunction with today’s text. I wonder if we are like that crowd. I wonder if many people go by us daily, and the signal they get from us is that everything is fine. When, in fact, we know everything is not fine with so many people’s lives. Lots of people need Jesus. They need someone to flag them down and keep them from going into a disaster. But mostly, they don’t hear that from us. It seems as if we are letting everyone drive by. The crowd in Jericho that day was content to allow Zacchaeus to be left behind. They did not consider him to be redeemable. But the message we get from today’s text is that Jesus loves people like Zacchaeus. He came to seek and save the lost; we should be about that business, too. We should make it our business to look for people like Zacchaeus who are up a tree. We need to look for signs that people are looking for salvation. We need to go out of our way to befriend those people. If we dare to do that, we will find that our evangelism will improve.

For further study:

Abbott, Lyman. The Gospel According to Luke. New York: A.S. Barnes & Company, 1878. pp. 118-120.

Adeney, Walter F. St. Luke: Introduction. New York: H. Frowde, 1906. pp. 332-334.

Allen, Ronald J. Preaching Luke-Acts. St. Louis, Mo: Chalice Press, 2000. p. 130.

Ardizzone, Edward, and J B. Phillips. St. Luke’s Life of Christ. London: Collins, 1956. pp. 80-81.

Balmforth, Henry. The Gospel According to Saint Luke: In the Revised Version, with Introduction and Commentary. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1930. pp. 256-257.

Barclay, William. The Gospel of Luke. Edinburgh: Saint Andrew, 1997. pp. 276-279.

Barrell E. V and K. G Barrell. St. Luke’s Gospel: An Introductory Study. J. Murray 1982. pp. 137-138.

Baugher, H L. Annotations on the Gospel According to St. Luke. New York: Christian Literature Co, 1896. pp. 346-351.

Beck Brian E. Christian Character in the Gospel of Luke. Epworth Press 1989. p. 180.

Blaiklock, E M. Luke. London: Scripture Union, 1978. pp. 70-71.

20240317 Let Me See Again

Mark 10:46-52 NET.

⁴⁶ They came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus the son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the road. ⁴⁷ When he heard that it was Jesus the Nazarene, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” ⁴⁸ Many scolded him to get him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” ⁴⁹ Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” So they called the blind man and said to him, “Have courage! Get up! He is calling you.” ⁵⁰ He threw off his cloak, jumped up, and came to Jesus. ⁵¹ Then Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man replied, “Rabbi, let me see again.” ⁵² Jesus said to him, “Go, your faith has healed you.” Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the road.

We have been studying the commands of Christ as they were given initially – in the context of the life of Jesus and his disciples. The commands were not given as bullet points. They were not listed like the Ten Commandments on tablets of stone for us to memorize and seek to understand how they apply to our everyday lives. No, the commands of Christ come to us as part of historical narratives. They come encased in stories that give us the context in which the commands were originally given. Those stories help us understand how we should obey Jesus.

In today’s story, the only command we hear from Jesus is not given to us. It was given to a blind beggar named Bartimaeus. Jesus tells him to go – that his faith has healed him. Interestingly, the first thing Bartimaeus did after he regained his sight was disobey Jesus. Jesus told him to go, but he continued following him on the road. We can understand this disobedience, though. After all, the first thing this blind man saw was Jesus. He didn’t want to take his eyes off Jesus. Who could blame him for that?

Today, I want us to look at this blind man who showed up on the side of the road in Jericho. Then, I want us to look at him again. Then, I want us to look at him a third time. The Holy Spirit has much to teach us by this man’s example.

Bartimaeus, the nobody (46).

A blind beggar was sitting by the road. It was not an uncommon sight. He had heard that Jesus was heading to Jerusalem, so he stationed himself at a point along the journey where he hoped he would be noticed. He was used to not being noticed. He was a nobody. People saw him every day and filtered him out. Every generation has nobodies like that that you notice by the visual signals. Unkempt, hand out, hat on the ground with a few coins in it. A cardboard sign saying anything will help.

Most of us drive by these nobodies today. We hope we don’t get caught by a red light, so we must suffer the indignity of being stared at until the light turns green. Our windows remain up. We look straight ahead. We breathe a sigh of relief when we get to move on.

It was somewhat like that on that day as Jesus and the crowd following him left Jericho. Most people had been familiar with running the gauntlet as they left the city. Stationed along the road would be a line of nobodies — like servants getting ready to receive an important dignitary. Each of them would hope to be noticed by a famous person. All the nobodies were hoping for a coin or two from the crowd.

Yet this nobody did not have his hand out. He did not have a hat on the ground. He could not see the crowd, so he had to judge its location by the sounds it was making. Bartimaeus had only one way to be noticed. He had a voice, and he was determined to use it. He had heard that the famous person was none other than Jesus from Nazareth. So, as soon as he heard the approaching crowd, he let loose with, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

“Shh…” they said. He responded, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” “Be quiet”, they said. He responded, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” “Silence,” they said. He responded, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” “Shut up”, they said. He responded, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” This nobody had become a somebody by becoming a noisy nuisance. This commoner had become a royal pain. He was the one who was blind but everyone else had been blind to his existence. But he had cured their blindness with the annoying sound of his voice.

He had also accomplished his intended purpose by getting the attention of the one man in the crowd who was not blind to his existence. Jesus stopped, and the crowd – like cars at a red light – took turns stopping behind him. Jesus had a purpose for this event. He was now going to heal this man. But healing was only the sign. It showed who Jesus is. He verified Bartimaeus’ assertion that he was the coming Messiah. His healing also showed his character – that he had compassion for the hurt, the sick, and the oppressed.

But this miraculous event contained more lessons than those. The man Bartimaeus himself provided some lessons to the crowd, to the disciples, and us today.

Bartimaeus, the lesson in equality (49).

By choosing to heal this nobody, Jesus provided a visual aid to the previous lesson he had taught his disciples. Last week, we got a glimpse into the hearts and minds of James and John as they requested top billing alongside Jesus in the coming kingdom. Jesus had told them that leadership in the kingdom has nothing to do with who is higher on the totem pole. Citizenship in the kingdom is not broken up into upper, middle, and lower classes. The parable Jesus had taught about the vineyard workers stressed that all the workers in the kingdom would get paid the same wage. The payoff of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23). We are all citizens in the kingdom – a kingdom in which there “is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female — for all of you are one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28).

Knowing that we are equal in Christ should lead to a reorientation of how we think about other Christians. The Apostle James (in his epistle) warns believers not to show prejudice against others based on how their income. He warns us not to make distinctions, preferring the wealthy, prominent people instead of the poor, lowly ones. He says that favoring one group over another violates the command to love our neighbors as ourselves.

Bartimaeus is the visual aid for that principle. He had nothing to offer except his needs. Yet Jesus stopped the train for him. The lesson for all of us is the lesson we read about in the Michael Connelly novels: everybody counts, or nobody counts.

But as I said last week, the church has a terrible track record regarding obeying this command. Instead of showing love for one another, we have made the kingdom about submitting to the people higher on the totem pole. The only thing the church seems to want to teach about submission is that wives should submit to their husbands according to Ephesians 5:22. But we ignore the previous verse, which tells all of us – husbands included – to submit to one another (Ephesians 5:21). If only the wives are submitting to their husbands, that’s a hierarchy – something that Jesus taught against. But if we all submit to and serve each of us, that is the kingdom of God. If only wives submit to their husbands, that is not equality. That’s the way of the Gentiles. But if each member submits to one another, that’s the body of Christ.

It is so easy to ignore the Bartimaeuses. It is easy to brand this group as lesser-than and put them at the bottom of the list. Knowing your place and deferring to the strong is comfortable. On that day as they left Jericho, nobody wanted to stop for the nobody. But Jesus did. He listened to the man that everybody else wanted to silence. He stopped for the man whom everybody else wanted to pass by. The lesson for all of us today is that everybody is Bartimaeus. Everybody counts, or nobody counts.

When we pray together as a congregation, do you sometimes want to pray something, but you stop yourself? Maybe you do not think that you are eloquent enough. Perhaps you think you should let the leaders pray, or let the elders pray, or let the men pray. When the Holy Spirit is speaking to you, do not be intimidated. God wants you to pray. He has opened the doors of heaven and bids you to approach his throne. He has a miracle he wants to perform, and he wants you to initiate that miracle with your prayer. Yes, you. Little, meaningless, nobody you. It is through prayers like yours that the heroes of the faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, gained what was promised, shut the mouths of lions, quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, gained strength in weakness, became mighty in battle, put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead raised to life! Every Christian has the power of God within. We share His Holy Spirit equally. That is an important lesson we learn from this used-to-be nobody, Bartimaeus.

Bartimaeus, the lesson in evangelism (52).

The final lesson we learn from Bartimaeus is explained by the fact that Mark lists his name. Usually, names are given so that the readers can make a connection between the story and people they may currently know or know about. It appears that Bartimaeus not only chose to follow Jesus into Jerusalem, but he also followed him as a church member. His name would be recognized as an early Christian. Like Zaccheus, his encounter with Jesus transformed his life. He not only gained his physical sight, but he gained salvation as well.

So, the lesson for you and me from that fact is that we should not discount anyone as a possible convert. Jesus implied the same thing in his parable of the banquet when the household master told his slaves to go out into the streets and alleys and bring in the poor, the disabled, the blind, and the lame. When they did that, and there was still room, he instructed them to go to the highways and country roads and urge people to come in.

To follow Jesus’ implied instructions here – as having to do with evangelism – we need to reorder our lives. Most of us have a set pattern of living that involves regular interaction with only a few friends and relatives. We are not going to fill the banquet hall living like that. The people we need to invite are not in our social networks. They are not comfortably sitting in here. They are out there. They are like Bartimaeus. We need to bring Jesus to them and to do that, we will need to go where they are.

Whole people groups are ready to give their lives to Jesus. They are just waiting for some missionaries to go where they are and share Christ with them. Whole sections of our town are ready to give their lives to Jesus, but they are not going to casually decide to show up for one of our church services. We have to bring Jesus to them.

LORD, give us the insight to notice the nobodies, the compassion to treat them fairly, and the drive to bring Christ into their lives. He has a miracle he wants to do in their lives. Please give us the wisdom not to stand in the way.

For further study:

Ortlund Dane C et al. Mark: A 12-Week Study. Crossway 2013. p. 56.

Perry Edmund. Confessing the Gospel Mark Preached. National Methodist Student Movement 1957. p. 108.

Plummer, Alfred. The Gospel According to St. Mark. Cambridge: University Press, 1920. pp. 131-132.

Rawlinson A. E. J. St. Mark. 6th ed. Methuen 1925. pp. 148-149.

Riley Harold. The Making of Mark: An Exploration. Peeters; Mercer 1989. pp. 126-129.

Robertson, A. T. Studies in Mark’s Gospel. New York: Macmillan, 1919. p. 125.

Vann Jefferson. The Coming King: a new translation and commentary of Matthew’s Gospel. Piney Grove Publications 2023. pp. 203-204.