The March to The Resurrection Sermon Series - Week 4: Drop It

Let me tell you a really embarrassing story. When I was about thirteen years old, I started going through some, uh-hem, changes. One of these changes was a recognization that when I would workout, I would produce a large amount of sweet. This sweet would then be transferred to my clothes, soaking them. This was a horrific development, because it was at this same time, that I wanted to be more aquatinted with the females around me.

This came to a head one winter night when I attended one of my many baseball practices. This particular practice was inside a large commercial building, where they focused on pitching, fielding, and hitting. I was there for pitching lessons. Now, it was cold both outside and inside the building, so I had a large jacket on. When it came to my turn, as I got up, a cute girl walked into the area, and sat down to wait for her lesson, which happened to follow mine. Instantly, my dread of sweeting in front of this girl came over me like a tsunami, and I decided that for my lesson I would not take off my jacket.

My coach was not happy, and after a little while indulged my stubbornness, but soon he stopped the lesson and told me that unless I took off the jacket, he would not teach me. I was adamant in my stance, and so I left. I cannot remember which parent was with me at the time, but I do remember that they laid into me when we got into the car. I returned to my coach with tears in my eyes, apologizing for my behavior. In the end, I made a bigger fool of myself in front of that girl, than I ever would have by taking off the jacket in the first place. And you might ask, what about that girl? Well, I never met her before that lesson, and I never saw her afterwards.

But it’s this idea that there are things that we hold onto, even at our detriment, that brings us to where we’re at today.

We have already spent three weeks on our March to the Resurrection series, and today we’re going to return to the Gospel of Luke in chapter 19, where we’re going to be picking up in verse 35. And as we open up to Luke 19:35, let’s bring back to our minds, where we’re at in this series.

In our first week we looked at two interactions, with four groups. The disciples were running interference against some parents that sought blessings for children, and as they were keeping some people from Jesus, they were allowing other more prominent people like the rich young ruler to come unhindered to him. Jesus ends up rebuking the disciples for this practice. We walked away from that week with the understanding, that we need to not block others from receiving the blessings of God, but rather make sure that we are following God, wherever he leads.

In our second week, we saw two more interactions, this time with two miracles as a result. The first miracle was a blind beggar receiving his sight back. The second miracle was a hated tax collector receiving salvation. But within these two interactions we saw a crowd rejoice at the first miracle and grumble at the second. It was here that we understood that we need to not allow our personal biases to keep us from rejoicing at the work of God.

Finally, last week we dissected Jesus’ parable of the Ten Minas. In the parable we’re told of a nobleman becoming a king, a group of dissenters who reject his kingship, and three servants with their responsibilities. In this parable there are some hard choices that are made and consequences for those choices. From the parable, we walked away with the understanding that God calls us to realize that the hard things he calls us into are there for us to partner with him to build his kingdom.

With these three weeks now fresh in our minds, let’s turn our focus to Luke 19, verse 35. And it’s here today, that we’re going to look at three sequential events that will help us tie together everything we’ve talked about so far, into what God desires from us now.

This first event, is what is called the Triumphal Entry. We celebrate this event as Palm Sunday which is today. It’s the event where Jesus comes into Jerusalem fulfilling the words of the prophet Zechariah in the 9th chapter and 9th verse of his writing. Let’s read this triumphal entry passage, starting in verse 35.

35 They brought it (a donkey) to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. 36 As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road.

37 When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:

38 “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”

40 “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”

Do you notice the energy of the people? The sense of anticipation that is moving within the crowd? To the people, this wasn’t just an ordinary entrance into Jerusalem, this was the beginning of a new kingdom. A new, more abundant life. To the people, Jesus was there to liberate them from the oppression of the Romans. Jesus was there to establish the Israelite kingdom forever. A beacon to all other nations.

The Pharisees recognize the significance of what is being proclaimed about Jesus. They recognize that the people are calling for the overthrow of the Romans. They see this as a call to take up arms against the government. And they seek Jesus to distance himself from this belief. But Jesus is King and and worthy of this praise, just as we saw in the parable of the Ten Minas.

But as the crowd tops a hill and Jerusalem comes into full view, a drastic switch intone occurs. Let’s read in verse 41.

41 As he (Jesus) approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it 42 and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. 43 The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. 44 They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”

The tone of these two sequential moments in this procession towards Jerusalem are as night and day. The first is exuberant, with people cheering for the coming King and his kingdom. But then, as if someone flipped a light switch, Jesus’ words and actions brings us to a stoic, almost morose feeling.

The mindset of the crowd and the mindset of Jesus seem to be in different places. The crowd desires Jesus to be King, but they and the people of Jerusalem do not know what that means, and Jesus weeps over what they are about to miss. 

I find it interesting that we’re not told here that Jesus weeps over the fact that he will be crucified, but rather he weeps over the people missing the point. In their enthusiasm of Jesus being King, they miss what that really entails. Like we talked about last week, this Jewish crowd wants a kingdom on earth, that reigns over all other people, but Jesus is seeking a kingdom not just of the Jews, but of the Gentiles too.

This is why he weeps, many people miss the point, and because they do, and will eventual reject the King that he actually is, they will miss out on the salvation that is in store. This is what happened with the blind beggar and the tax collector. The crowd rejoiced at the physical miracle of the blind receiving sight, but grumbled at the spiritual salvation of another. Here the people rejoice at the physical kingdom of God, but are about to miss the spiritual kingdom that must happen first. 

This brings us to our third sequential event. Let’s drop down to verse 45, where Jesus enters Jerusalem and makes his way to the temple.

45 When Jesus entered the temple courts, he began to drive out those who were selling. 46 “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be a house of prayer’; but you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’”

Here’s where all this comes together. In the fist two events, we see the mindset of the people vs Jesus’. Here we see the physical reality of what is to happen in the lives of the people who make Jesus King. This is the result of what it means to have Jesus be the physical King that the people wanted. It is a cleansing of the sins in our lives that led to a spiritual decay. 

But the mindset of the people is not on being spiritually right with God. They weren’t interested in fixing the spiritual corruption, that had made it’s way into the temple. No, they were more interested in being greater than the people that were oppressing them. They, like the Hebrews before them, were not interested in following God with all their heart, mind, soul, and strength, but rather only when it gave them victory over their enemies in the here and now.

But throughout the nation of Israel’s history, God had constantly called them back to a spiritual cleansing, and only when they took that spiritual renewal seriously did God restore them physically.

But we’re seeing right here, that the people are not interested in a spiritual cleansing, just a physical victory.  And they become so intrenched in this mindset, that just a few days later, they are swayed to call for Jesus’ crucifixion. And thereby fulfilling Jesus’ parable of the Ten Minas, that we talked about last week, rejecting their God as he has come to save them. 

This is because they have this mindset that it’s okay to hold onto certain things, even when those things are rejected by God. See the people thought they could hold onto their sacrificial system which seemed to allow a way to feel good about their sin. They thought they could hold onto their hate for other nations, they thought they could hold to their desire to be greater than others, and all they had to do was go through a physical ceremony to get by with God. But the reality is they couldn’t. They must reject all of of their sin and embrace a spiritual renewal by Jesus. But because they couldn’t, Jesus had to go to the cross. He had to sacrifice himself for their sins, that they would have another opportunity to be saved by their God.

And this is true for us today. Whether we say we follow Jesus or not, we tend to think that we can hold onto to things that God has rejected, and think it’s okay. We think we can hold onto to hate for a person that has wronged us, we think we can hold onto un-forgiveness, or gossip, or our will, or our desire or a host of other things that God calls us to give up. 

But we are not called to hold onto anything, except those things of God.

This is why at the end of his first letter to the Thesselonica church Paul writes, “16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not treat prophecies with contempt 21 but test them all; hold on to what is good, 22 reject every kind of evil. 23 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it (1 Thessalonians 5:16-24).”

This is what God is calling us to, a time of spiritual cleansing. A time of asking the question do I have the mindset of Jesus to receive a spiritual renewal, or am I looking for what just benefits me physically right now? Look at the world. We’re looking for a cure, a vaccine, and end to this pandemic that surrounds us. But what do we need first? We need a spiritual renewal. We need a great awaking to come back to God. We are moving greater and greater distances from God, as sin becomes accepted as the norm, and even celebrated in our world. We need to be made right before the God who calls us away from sin and into new life.

Today, we celebrate communion, and though we cannot take this together in person together, we can go before God with the elements of the bread and the drink in front of us. 

Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 11:23-32, “23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

27 So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. 29 For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves. 30 That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. 31 But if we were more discerning with regard to ourselves, we would not come under such judgment. 32 Nevertheless, when we are judged in this way by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be finally condemned with the world.”

As take communion in our own homes today, let us take a moment and examine ourselves. Seeking to be cleansed of any unworthy thing in us, and desiring it to be dealt with by the Holy Spirit.

And so my challenge for you is this: in this moment of communion, as you are not taking it in front of others, let us confess to any un-forgiveness that lies in our heart, any hatred that we’re holding onto, any worry or doubt against God, any action or thought that would stand as a road block in our relationship with him. Let us seek God right now, that our lives would not seek the fleeting physical security of the moment, but rather seek the spiritual renewal that God desires us to experience. 

The March to The Resurrection Sermon Series - Week 3: It Gets Harder From Here

Before we moved to Quartzsite, Marika and I were living in Roseville, CA. When I first contacted Pastor Jeff about the position of youth pastor, I shared it with my pastor at the time. He told me that he had been a pastor in Scottsdale for three years and hated it. He never wanted to go back to the desert again.

Two weeks later, Marika and I were flying down to Quartzsite for an interview. It was much smaller than any place Marika had ever lived. Though I grew up in a small town, Quartzsite even seemed small to me.

We spent Friday with the teens, and on Saturday as we were alone in the church provided home, Marika said with tears in her eyes, “We’re going to get this position.” She understood that this was where God wanted us, but for the both of us, it was going be a hard move. We had never lived more than four hours away from our parents, here, we would be over ten. We had gotten accustomed to city life, but here it was nothing like it. The heat, the travel, was all new. And in that moment sitting in that room, the realization that God was calling us here, did not produce tears of joy, but of anguish. Though this was where God wanted us, it was not necessarily where we wanted to be. Sure we wanted to be in God’s will, but I was hoping God’s will would include palm trees and sandy beaches. Instead, we got thorns and rocks.

Over time, Quartzsite has become our home. We have been here for almost thirteen years, and I’m glad that we accept the hard move and came here. Away from family, friends and everything we knew, we are glad that we walked where God called us.

And it’s this idea of doing what God calls us to even when it’s hard for us, that brings us to where we’re at in this sermon series. Where we’ll be picking back up in the Gospel of Luke, in chapter 18, starting in verse 31. And as we open up to Luke 18, verse 31, let’s bring ourselves up to speed on what we’ve talked about so far.

In the first week of our series, we talked about two interactions Jesus had with four groups of people. In this we compared and contrasted a group of parents who were trying to get a blessing for their children, with the disciples who were trying to keep the children away. In this interaction, we talked about how we need to not be like the disciples, blocking people from being blessed by Jesus, but rather seeking on their behalf the blessings of God in their lives. In the second interaction, we saw that of the rich young ruler and Jesus. It was here that we compare and contrasted the children of the parents with this young ruler. We then talked about how even though the rich young ruler had prestige and wealth, he was unable to do the simple task of following Jesus. A task that we saw the children accomplished as they followed their parents to their blessing. It was here that we understood that we must be willing to give up whatever Jesus asks us to give up in order to follow him.

Then last week we saw two more interactions, where two miracles happened. The first miracle was the blind beggar. In this interaction, the blind beggar cried out for Jesus, who he understood was the Messiah. But like the disciples in the first week, the crowd that surrounded the blind beggar, tried to keep the him from getting to Jesus. But Jesus himself called on the beggar and restored his sight. It was then that the crowd rejoiced at the miracle. But their rejoicing didn’t last long, because the next interaction we saw was with Zacchaeus, the hated tax collector. In this interaction, we saw a contrast between the rich young ruler, and Zacchaeus. Both were rich, both possibly young, but where one had honor in his town, the other did not. Yet, it is the tax collector Zacchaeus, not the rich young ruler, that gains the miracle of salvation. And yet, we don’t see the crowd rejoicing at Zacchaeus’ passing from death to life. It was here that we understood that we need to have our biases stripped from us, so that we may rejoice in the work of God.

Now, as we jump into today’s passage, we’re going to be focusing on a parable that Jesus gives after the interaction with Zacchaeus. But before we get to the parable, I want us to see it in the context of everything we’ve talked about in these last two weeks. Because this parable isn’t necessarily directed at a particular group, like the crowd or the disciples, but instead, the parable is directed at the mindset of all the people. They believe Jesus is going to Jerusalem to overthrow the Roman government. This parable is to help people understand what is really happening. And this isn’t the first time that Jesus has had to do this. Within the passages that we have covered in these last two weeks, Jesus has spoken to this mindset that thinks he will be liberating Israel from Roman occupation.

Last week I said we were skipping a small set of verses in-between the two sets of interactions that we’ve talked about. Let’s return really quick to those skipped verses. Take a look with me to chapter 18, starting in verse 31. It reads like this, “31 Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, ‘We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. 32 He will be delivered over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him and spit on him; 33 they will flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again.’ 34 The disciples did not understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what he was talking about.”

It’s in this flow of thought of Jesus going to Jerusalem to be killed and rise again, that Jesus tells the following parable to the people. The people that think Jesus is coming as the conquering Messiah, but in reality, his prize is greater than the nation of Israel.

With these two weeks now fresh in our minds, and the context now set, let’s dive into the Gospel of Luke, chapter 19, starting in verse 11.

11 While they were listening to this, he went on to tell them a parable, because he was near Jerusalem and the people thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear at once. 

12 He said: “A man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then to return. 13 So he called ten of his servants and gave them ten minas. ‘Put this money to work,’ he said, ‘until I come back.’

14 “But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, ‘We don’t want this man to be our king.’

15 “He was made king, however, and returned home. Then he sent for the servants to whom he had given the money, in order to find out what they had gained with it.

16 “The first one came and said, ‘Sir, your mina has earned ten more.’

17 “‘Well done, my good servant!’ his master replied. ‘Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities.’

18 “The second came and said, ‘Sir, your mina has earned five more.’

19 “His master answered, ‘You take charge of five cities.’

20 “Then another servant came and said, ‘Sir, here is your mina; I have kept it laid away in a piece of cloth. 21 I was afraid of you, because you are a hard man. You take out what you did not put in and reap what you did not sow.’

22 “His master replied, ‘I will judge you by your own words, you wicked servant! You knew, did you, that I am a hard man, taking out what I did not put in, and reaping what I did not sow? 23 Why then didn’t you put my money on deposit, so that when I came back, I could have collected it with interest?’

24 “Then he said to those standing by, ‘Take his mina away from him and give it to the one who has ten minas.’

25 “‘Sir,’ they said, ‘he already has ten!’

26 “He replied, ‘I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but as for the one who has nothing, even what they have will be taken away. 27 But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them—bring them here and kill them in front of me.’”  

Now this seems be some pretty harsh language Jesus uses, but let’s break down what each of these pieces of the parable represent. The first character we meet is the nobleman. This person represents Jesus himself. He is the one that has rule over one area, and is receiving full rule over all.

So what do these kingdoms represent? Let’s talk about the first one. If Jesus is the ruler of this first land, then we’re talking about the people or the nation of Israel. In other words, this land composes the Jewish people themselves. Jesus is saying, I am the God, or the nobleman who rules my own people Israel. But then the nobleman, or Jesus, goes to receive the full reign as king over all. If the first are the Jews, the second then are the Gentiles. 

This represents what the cross and resurrection does. It opens the way for both the Jew and Gentile to come to God, to come to Jesus himself. To have Jesus as their king, with Jesus ruling over all. This is what is talked about in the book of Revelation chapter 7 verse 9, where John writes, “After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.”

This is what is referenced Philippians 2:9-11, where Paul writes, “Therefore God exalted him (Jesus) to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

These two kingdoms that this nobleman is gaining, is Jesus gaining a group of people that are not separated by Jew and Gentile boundaries, but are instead ruled by one King. They are his people, drawn from both groups.

The next group of characters, are the servants, and we’ll talk about them more in a little bit.

Instead, let’s look at the third group, which are the citizens and the delegation. If the first kingdom that the noble rules over are the Jews, then these citizens are the Jewish people. And this delegation are the ones that do not desire the nobleman to reign over them. Let’s read verse 14 again, “14 But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, ‘We don’t want this man to be our king.’”

Did you notice that there was no reason for the subjects rejecting the nobleman? They simply didn’t want his rule. This is Jesus pointing to the Jews, saying “you don’t want my rule. Sure you think that I am your Savior who will overthrow the Romans, but you don’t want me as your King, or Messiah, or God." In this simple parable, we get the whole of the history of Israel. Israel, who has lived in this constant cycle of accepting God, then rejecting him, then crying out to him, just to reject him once again.

This is what Jesus is telling the people, you really don’t want me to overthrow the Romans, because then you would actually have to follow me. And instead, a group of the citizens try to tell the other kingdom, do not accept him as your king. We see this play out in the rest of Jesus’ earthly ministry, when the Jewish leadership of the Sanhedrin call on the Roman governor Pilate to crucify Jesus. They are the delegation seeking the Gentiles to reject Jesus as their king, just as the Jews themselves have done.

But this request doesn’t work, both in the parable, and in history. The nobleman receives the kingdom, just as Jesus receives the kingdom of the Gentiles. 

And it’s here that we come back to the servants, and where the rubber hits the road for us. We’re told that there are ten servants called, but we only see three. These three represent all of them, because we’re given a descending order of use and reward.

One servant takes his minus, or about $1,500 dollars today, and expands it to $15,000. The second servant, takes his $1,500 dollars and increases it to $7,500. And to each of these the nobleman gives a portion of the kingdom to them that reflects what they have done for him.

It’s then we’re brought to the final servant. This servant says to the nobleman, “Sir, here is your mina; I have kept it laid away in a piece of cloth. 21 I was afraid of you, because you are a hard man. You take out what you did not put in and reap what you did not sow.”

This servant accuses the nobleman of being too harsh and too severe in what he asks of people. This servant accuses his master of not doing anything, why the servants do everything. And so, the servant takes what he was given and does nothing with it, because he doesn’t want to lose what he had.

This is the mindset of how the Jews perceive God. For them, all the regulations, the ceremonial cleaning, and all the sacrifices they are to perform, makes it seem like God is a ruthless task master. Even today, a lot of people, even Christians, look at the God in the Old Testament and see him as a wrathful, vengeful, mean God. But up to this point in the parable, we haven’t seen that. This nobleman isn’t any of these things, in fact, he has given generously to those that he entrusted money to. Even the citizens and delegation had no reason for not wanting him as their ruler, they just simply did not. 

It is at the end of the conversation between the nobleman and the last servant, that Jesus says this, “Take his mina away from him and give it to the one who has ten minas.”

The responses of the other servants are surprised, “25 ‘Sir,’…’he already has ten!’”

I think we would be shocked too. Wouldn’t it be better that the servant with five get the minas? I mean, he does have less. But that’s not Jesus’ reasoning, he tells us in verse 26, “I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but as for the one who has nothing, even what they have will be taken away. 27 But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them—bring them here and kill them in front of me.”  

This is some harsh stuff. For the servant, and for the citizens that would reject Jesus. Everything they had, even their lives are taken away. By rejecting Jesus, he is telling us, that we will be left with nothing. Everything, that we think we have will be gone. 

This is the harsh, but the reality of what it means to reject Jesus. The rich young ruler has done this very thing, the crowd looks as if they are doing this very thing, even the disciples are teetering on the edge of doing this very thing. And Jesus is calling all of them to follow him, as he receives, a greater kingdom than that of the nation of Israel.

And he is calling us to the same today. 

See, it can be easy to fall into the mindset of this last servant. It’s easy to think that God is asking too much of us. He is asking that we trust him in the hard things he calls us into, that we must give up things to follow him, that we use what he has given us, not for our glory, but for his. Not for our comfort but for his goals. And we can cry out to him, saying, please make it easier. 

But God wants us to understand that through these things he calls us to are hard, his kingdom is being built. People are moving from death to life. Salvation is coming to those that we wouldn’t expect it to. We are called to seek the blessings of others above ourselves. We are called to rejoice in the work that he is doing. And we are called to use the gifts we have been given and not hide them away. 

And God doesn’t leave us to do this in our own strength, but rather he has given us the Holy Spirit to rely on. We are not called to try desperately to do everything on our own, God knows that we cannot do that. But rather we are called to seek the Holy Spirit in all these things. To face the hard times, to reach out to those we might not want to, to rejoice when we see God move, to seek blessings for others, and to maximize what he has already given us.

We are called to rejoice over God’s building his kingdom with those that we might reject. We are called into hard things for his glory. And we are called to use the gifts that God has given us by relying on the Holy Spirit to guide us. 

This week I want to challenge you to first recognize the thoughts or actions that you’ve take that have said to God, you’re asking too much of me. Take those thoughts or actions, repent of them and ask for forgiveness, that they would be captured and brought before Jesus. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 10:5b, “…we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” Let’s do just that with anything that would keep us from recognizing our role in the call of God on our lives.

And second, let us seek the movement of the Holy Spirit this week. Asking him directly, “Holy Spirit reveal the gifts you have given me, and the purpose behind those gifts, that I might use them for the glory of God.” You are here for a purpose in God’s kingdom. You are here at this time, to be utilized for a purpose. Jesus has called you to participate in bringing others into his kingdom, and that one day he will return and call us to account for what we have done with our calling.

Let us be like the servants who grew what was given to us, that we might hear those wonderful words of the Master, “Well done, good and faithful servant!” Amen.

The March to The Resurrection Sermon Series - Week 2, More Bias, Less Work

One of the great things about being a parent is that sometimes you can be amazed at what your children can do. Each of my children have amazed me at least a dozen times in their lives. And when I say amazed, I don’t mean looking at them and thinking they’re cute, or who they just had a milestone, like talking or walking, or going potty correctly. What I mean is this: With my oldest daughter, she has had deep theological insights and question that she has brought up to me, and then she can be the most destructive person in our family. This amazes me, not the deep theological insights, or the destructiveness, but rather, how I can do the same thing. My second oldest, has amazed me, because he has the mind that is so analytical, that he can see patterns, like puzzles, chess, and building blocks. Finally, my youngest amazes me when she is able to respond to criticism, or discipline with a loving attitude that I wish I had. 

And the reason they amaze me, is because I don’t expect these things from them. I have a little bit of a bias towards my, in thinking that they can’t teach, or be better at me in areas. But the reality is, they can do both.

It’s this idea of bias that that brings us to where we’re at in the March to the Resurrection sermon series. Where we’ll be returning to the Gospel of Luke, and picking up from last week in chapter 18, starting in verse 35.

And as we open up to Luke 18, verse 35, let’s catch up to where we’re at in this series. 

Last week, in the first week of this series, we talked about four groups from two interactions that Jesus had as he made his way up to Jerusalem. As we looked at these two groups we saw that they could be compared and contrasted with each other. The first group were the parents and we compared and contrasted them with the third group of the disciples. We saw that the parents wanted their children to be blessed by Jesus, while the disciples didn’t want them to come to him. We saw Jesus rebuke his disciples for not allowing the least of the people to come to him, in this case the children. We walked away from these two groups understanding that we need to be people who want God to bless others. The disciples should of desired everyone to be blessed, not a chosen few.

The second group was the children themselves who were following their parents, and we compared and contrasted them with the fourth group, which was the rich young ruler. In this compare and contrast we saw that, unlike the children who followed wherever their parents led, the rich young ruler could not follow wherever Jesus asked him to go. It was here that we walked away with the understanding that God calls us to follow him wherever he made lead. And where he leads, he may or may not ask us to give up things along the way.

Now, with understanding these two interactions, we can move onto two more interactions, that follow close behind these. Let’s read in Luke chapter 18, starting in verse 35.

35 As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. 36 When he heard the crowd going by, he asked what was happening. 37 They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.”

38 He called out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

39 Those who led the way rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

40 Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him. When he came near, Jesus asked him, 41 “What do you want me to do for you?”

“Lord, I want to see,” he replied.

42 Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has healed you.” 43 Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus, praising God. When all the people saw it, they also praised God.

This seems like a common scenario for Jesus. Someone wants to be healed, they ask Jesus, Jesus heals them and we move onto the next person.

But let’s take a couple of minutes and look at this interaction, because we’ve been here just recently.

Does this sound familiar? Someone is looking for a blessing, but there are people who are trying to keep him away? Now there are different people here, but it’s the same situation as we saw early in chapter 18 with the disciples and the parents.

Sure there are some differences, like the parents were seeking the blessing for their child and not themselves, and in this case it’s not the disciples keeping the man away but just the greater entourage that Jesus is traveling with. But the root is the same: someone who is least in the society is trying to get to Jesus, and others are keeping him away.

Now, let’s talk about the blind beggar himself. In verse 41, Jesus stops and asks the man, “What do you want me to do for you?”

Now, the NIV that we just read, gives the blind beggars reply as, “Lord, I want to see,”

But the Greek word that is used anablepó (an-ab-lep’-o) might lead us to translate his response as, “Lord, let me recover my sight.” If this is the case, then the man had once been able to see, and now he cannot. 

I think this is interesting because, it would mean that either over time or through an accident he lost his ability to see. He therefore would have experienced sight, and truly known what he had lost.

One final thought on the blind beggar before we move on. The way in which we address people tells us what our relationship with that person is. Growing up I always knew my parent’s friends by their first names. None of them ever asked me to calling them Mr. or Mrs., but when I transferred to a new high school for my junior and senior year, you had to call the teachers, brother or sister followed by their last name. At the end of my senior year, I was told by my home room teacher, that upon my graduation I still had to call him brother, but now I could use his first name afterwards. The way in which we address someone let’s other people know our relationship with them. 

When the blind beggar asks who is coming, the people in the crowd reply, “Jesus of Nazareth”. But when the blind beggar addresses Jesus, he says, “Jesus, Son of David”. To the answering crowd, Jesus was the itinerant Rabbi from Nazareth, but to the blind beggar he was more. By addressing Jesus as the Son of David, the blind beggar was calling him his Messiah. The title Son of David was a reference to the fact that the Messiah would be from King David’s, lineage. To the blind beggar, Jesus was more than just a man from Nazareth, he was the one who would save Israel.

Yet, through his lost of sight, this blindness lead him to call on the Messiah. And we see God do a great work in front of people that thought Jesus was just a man from Nazareth.

Let’s stop here, to make some comparisons to last week. Last week we had children being brought to Jesus to be blessed by him. These were the least of society in many people’s eyes. We can see this social attitude in the disciples’ actions. Jesus rebukes them and calls for the children to be brought to him. Here we see a similar situation. The blind beggar is seen as less than the others, and yet Jesus comes to him and heals him. And when Jesus heals the blind beggar, the people that were around him praise God for it. But hold onto the people in this crowd, because we’re not done with them yet.

Instead, let’s move down to verse 1 of chapter 19, and the second interaction on the road to the city of Jericho.

1 Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. 3 He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.

5 When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.

7 All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”

8 But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”

9 Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

Now, if you’ve ever been in Sunday school, you should have heard the the name Zacchaeus and instantly started to sing, “Zaccheus was a wee, little man, And a wee, little man was he…”

That’s this Zacchaeus, and from the passage we can know a couple of things about him. First, he was the chief tax-collector of his area, that means he was the IRS for the Romans. And of course no one liked because of that. Second, because he was the chief tax collector, he was really wealthy. He got this way, because in addition to taking taxes from people, he had to up those taxes for his personal commission, this is how tax collectors gained their living. Obviously this type of tax structure made it really easy to corrupt, with many tax collectors taking more than a person should from the people. Third, he must have not known much about Jesus, because in verse 3 is reads, “He wanted to see who Jesus was…” In other words, he was curious about who was this Jesus that everyone was talking about. One final note, the word that we translate as short in stature, is this Greek word hélikia (hay-lik-ee’-ah), which can also mean that he was young.

And this brings us to him being in a tree as Jesus approaches him. Jesus calls Zacchaeus by name, and tells him that he will be eating at his house. I love this interaction because we can see that God had already been working in Zacchaeus’ life, by showing us how a simple curiosity about Jesus can lead to salvation. But notice again the people in the crowd. Jesus had just healed a blind beggar, and was now calling on a person everyone disliked. Instead of crowd responding with, “What wonderful things are going to happen now?” They respond with grumbling that Jesus would eat with such a man. That’s important, and we’ll come back to it in a little bit.

But while Jesus is at Zacchaeus’ house, the tax collector tells Jesus, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”

With Zacchaeus’ words, Jesus responds with, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

Now it’s here that I want us to compare and contrast from last week, with the rich young ruler. Both these men were rich, they might also both be young. But rich young ruler was highly esteemed in his town, most likely Jericho, while Zacchaeus was not. Yet when Jesus called upon the rich young ruler to sell everything and follow, he couldn’t do it. But here, Zacchaeus willingly gives up his wealth and purposefully seeks to make amends for what he has done. 

And it’s really not about the amount of wealth here, but rather the willingness of the person. The rich young ruler was unwilling to do as Jesus commanded, but Zacchaeus was willing to give up wealth without the command of Jesus.

In the end it was the social outcast, but willing Zacchaeus that gained eternal life, instead of the socially accepted rich young ruler.

And I think it’s here that we can come to two conclusions. First, let’s talk about the crowd. They tried to silence a blind beggar from getting to Jesus, yet they saw a miracle when his sight was restored. Then the crowd grumbled at Jesus eating with Zacchaeus, yet it led to a man entering into salvation and him giving up some of his wealth.

I think there can be times when we can be like the crowd, thinking we know whats’ best for the situation, but being in opposition to God through it. It’s easy to see someone and grumble that they get access to God’s work, or getting more blessings than us. Yet God wants us to seek after him. We need to be looking for the people around us that need Jesus, and get them to him as fast as possible. The crowd blocked the blind beggar, if they had it their way, they would have blocked Zacchaeus. If we’re honest about ourselves, who do we want to block? Who in our lives do we look at and say, “Nope, not them. They’re not on my political side. They’re not on my racial, social, economic, or whatever side.” 

This is the first conclusion, it’s really easy to fall into this mindset of not allowing people to get to Jesus, and it might not even be an intentional block. Maybe Jesus was teaching, and the people near the blind beggar couldn’t hear over his yelling. Maybe the people knew Zacchaeus and in the past he had made claims that he was going to reform, and he never did. 

But God reveals to us that we are not to let personal problems with people stop us from letting them get close to Jesus.

Here’s an example: In this time of social upheaval with the Coronavirus, we can’t let people being stupid stop us from reaching out to them and pointing them to Jesus. They might be hoarding, they might be sending panic through the streets, and they might be really stupid for doing so, but most likely it’s because they’re scared. Their hope is in what they can physically control. They are blind, and their using their wealth to comfort themselves. We as disciples of Jesus must show grace to these people. We must show them the assurance we have in Jesus. We must show them the path to him, and not block them along the way.

That brings us to our second conclusion, it’s only when we get past our own personal biases, that we get to rejoice in the work of God which is the salvation of people. The crowd rejoiced with the blind man receiving back his sight, but when salvation came to Zacchaeus, no one but Jesus was rejoicing. The bias towards the tax collector was too much for the people to overcome, and though someone had his physical problem fixed, what greater work is it when a person passes from eternal death to eternal life?

Yet the crowd was not able to rejoice in this. But we can, when we give up our biases, we get to rejoice in God’s work.

My challenge this week is two fold, first, pray for the people that you would rather not. Someone who has hurt you, or hurt your family, or is being an idiot during this time. Pray for them, that God would help you show them Jesus, and that you wouldn’t stand in God’s way in reaching them for eternity.

The second part is to reach out to a person who seems to be struggling with what’s happening in our society right now. Ask them what you could do to help. Develop a relationship with them through this, that shows them your assurance in Christ. That through this, you can face the unknown of what’s happening because you know the One who holds it altogether. 

The last two aspects of the vision that God has given us here at the Alliance Church is to locate and meet the needs of people, all the while pointing them back to the life Jesus has for them. Let us be a people this week who do just that. Locating and meeting needs, and pointing people back to Jesus’ life. Amen.