FAITH THAT PERSEVERES
March 25, 2007
Luke 18:31-19:10
Text: The Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost (19:10).
"You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
I will be found by you," declares the Lord (Jer. 29:13-14a).
INTRODUCTION
Gary Player is one of the great golfers of the late 1950's through early 1970's. He is one of only five players to win a Career Grand Slam, winning all four of golf’s majors in their lifetime. A comment he often heard from fans was, “I’d give anything to hit a golf ball like you.” One day, upon hearing that comment, he responded:
“No you wouldn’t. You’d do anything to hit a golf ball like me, if it were easy! Do you know what you have to do to hit a golf ball like me? You’ve got to get up at 5:00 every morning, go out to the golf course, and hit a thousand golf balls! Your hands start bleeding, and you walk to the clubhouse and wash the blood off your hands, slap a bandage on it, and go out and hit another thousand golf balls! That is what it takes to hit a golf ball like me!”
While it is dangerous to use an illustration like that since I’m sure these spring days have some of you golfers itching to get out there and start golfing, PLEASE don’t let your mind go to golf. This morning I want to talk about our commitment to seeking the Lord. What Gary Player understood about golf, I’d like for us to apply to reaching out to Jesus.
Our Scripture is a timely one for this season as we approach Holy Week. It may well have taken place about a week before Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem we celebrate next Sunday. Luke’s gospel makes it clear the end is near. This is Jesus’ final journey to Jerusalem. Jericho is about 15 miles east and a little north of Jerusalem– not far from the Dead Sea. Here we have two wonderful examples of men serious about getting to Jesus.
Please stand for the reading of God’s Word, Luke 18:31-19:10
I’m coupling this last verse with a challenging verse from Jeremiah:
"You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
I will be found by you," declares the Lord (Jer. 29:13-14a).
I want to start with that phrase, with all your heart. Just how serious are we about seeking Jesus?
“WITH ALL YOUR HEART”
I expect all of us here this morning have some desire for Jesus or we wouldn’t be here. And, if we can imagine for a moment, Jesus, in the flesh, actually coming through Omak, we and most of the rest of the residents of the area wouldn’t let anything stop us from trying to be where we could see Him and hear what He says. Perhaps that’s how it felt in Jericho that day. Our Scripture focuses upon two people that couple that desire with a commitment to do whatever it takes to come to Jesus. Each one is unique in their approach, demonstrating different personalities. Yet each persists in overcoming barriers, revealing a heart seeking after God.
First we encounter the blind beggar. Mark, in his gospel, gives us his name, Bartimaeus (Mk. 10:46). He was probably not the only beggar there. City gates were prime spots for begging because they were like funnels, concentrating the numbers of people as they passed through. Today, visiting any walled city in Israel, you still see beggars lined up at the gates. We can see Bartimaeus has done his homework and is ready should there ever be an opportunity to get to Jesus. "Son of David" was a Messianic title. So, in using it, he is stating he believes Jesus is the Messiah. He has listened to the stories about Jesus and knew the Scriptures and had come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah. As he cries out, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" the crowd is irritated, rebuking him. Jesus is perhaps doing some teaching as he walked, as was often done, so you can see why they are telling Bartimaeus to shut-up. He is creating a disturbance and he is not being considerate or polite for those wanting to hear Jesus. But, he shouted all the more. He would not be put off by public opinion, or by the fact he that couldn't get to Jesus. Being blind, he’d need some help to get to Jesus and apparently he had no one to take him to Jesus. But, he had a voice, and use it he did. The more they told him to be quiet, the louder he shouted, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” And, we are told, (in the words of our text):
Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him. When he came near, Jesus asked him, "What do you want me to do for you?"
"Lord, I want to see," he replied.
Jesus said to him, "Receive your sight; your faith has healed you." Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus, praising God. When all the people saw it, they also praised God. (Luke 18:40-43)
Zacchaeus was another man hindered from getting to Jesus by the crowds. He had two barriers to overcome. First, he was short, or as I’ve heard it expressed, he was vertically challenged. Second, he was considered the scum of the earth because he was a hated tax collector. Now tax collectors have never been popular, but in Israel, there was a special hatred for them. They were looked upon as traitors, for they were Jews who sold out their brothers and sisters to the enemy, the occupying Roman government, for a profit. Also, most tax collectors were cheats, lining their own pockets generously. A devout Jew would not even let the hem of his robe touch the robe of a tax collector. Not only was Zacchaeus a tax collector, but Luke informs us he was chief tax collector. He’d climbed the ladder in a hated profession making him even more hated than a regular tax collector. He was probably in charge of a district with other tax collectors under him.
Crowds line the streets where Jesus is passing by. Since Zacchaeus is short, he can’t see over the people, and certainly no one in this crowd is going to open up a place for him to be in front! But, he was resourceful. He figured out the route Jesus was traveling and ran ahead and climbed a tree. He wouldn't be stopped. (Short people learn to be resourceful). While he had no one willing to help him, he found a way. Now boys climb trees, but grown men? Are there any grown men here who would climb a tree in public, if they were able, just to see a parade– or to see Jesus? I expect Zacchaeus didn’t really want to be seen. Pulled by desire to see Jesus, yet known he was unworthy, unfit, unacceptable, he settled for a kind of secret seeing. From the safety of his hiding
class=Section3>place in a tree, he could check things out without fear of rejection or commitment. Then we read,
When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today." So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. (Luke 19:5-6)
I imagine this is beyond anything Zacchaeus could ever have hoped for. He is not singled out for ridicule or for condemnation but for acceptance and inclusion. How does Jesus know his name? I’m sure it is by special revelation through the Holy Spirit to Jesus, a word of knowledge. Zacchaeus’ name is spoken, not just a “Hey you, up there!” "Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today." We can puzzle at the “must” in this proclamation– but it seems to indicate there is divine necessity here. To us, it sounds like things are a little backwards here socially, where Jesus is inviting himself over. But in that day, hospitality was considered such an honor, in Jesus selecting Zacchaeus’ home to stay instantly elevated Zacchaeus to a place of huge acceptance. Luke tells us that the people muttered, He has gone to be the guest of a ‘sinner.’ (7)
We often wonder what makes a man do what he does, especially when it is a horrible, disreputable thing. Perhaps Zacchaeus was picked on by other children, made fun of for being small. As a result, he had little self-esteem– but he was smart, really good with numbers. And that may have made him even more a target by the bullies. At some point he must of given up trying to be accepted and fitting in with the social order and he chose making money over being liked. Zacchaeus had grown used to people not speaking to him, looking the other way when they saw him, and I expect also enduring insulting remarks.
What a message of acceptance and grace is here! We might expect Jesus to say something like, “Zacchaeus, if you clean up your life and quit your job as a tax collector and make restitution for everything you’ve stolen, I’ll come to your house.” But no, Jesus extracts no promise. He only offers words of acceptance, welcome, and inclusion to this man who in everyone’s mind would have been among the chiefest of sinners. And that grace is not without effect as he stands up and publically declares: Luke 19:8-10
"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." (8)
Then, we have Jesus’ bold proclamation:
"Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. (9)
“This man too”– even those we judge as hopeless, as ones certainly beyond saving, are looked at quite differently through the eyes of Jesus. He follows that declaration of salvation with the most succinct purpose statement we have from Jesus, a verse that is often considered the key verse of Luke’s gospel:
For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost." (10)
“Son of Man” is a clear Messianic title from Daniel used only by Jesus. Here without ambiguity, Jesus is declaring He is the Messiah and His mission is to seek and save us.
Notice that Zacchaeus is still the accountant, promising half his possessions to the poor and paying back four times the amount cheated. But the coming of Jesus has replaced greed with generosity. Under the Old Testament law, someone who cheated another out of money was only obligated to pay back the amount plus a penalty of 20%. Now the 20% turns into 400%. A heart change, indeed!
In Bartimaeus and Zacchaeus we have quite different personalities. But both push past that which would keep them from coming to Jesus. Bartimaeus is bold, loud, insistant. Zacchaeus I picture as more shy, seeking secretly, fearing rejection if found out. Each one came in his own way, yet each one showed preparation and perseverance and they both received an incredible gift from Jesus.
PERSEVERANCE
When you think through the life of Jesus, usually those whose needs were met by Jesus displayed this tenacious desire to get to Him. Remember the woman with the bleeding problem pushing through the crowd to touch the hem of his garment? Or think of the four men bringing the paralytic to Jesus on a stretcher, and when they couldn't get in through the door, they went up on the roof and made a hole to lower him through. There are many other instances where persistence and desire that keeps on seeking gets rewarded. And, Jesus tells us that prayer needs to be persistent, warning us not to give up easily, but to keep on praying.
Are there barriers we need to push past in our lives to meet Jesus? Does what others might think of us hold us back? Bartimaeus offended the crowd of people. Zacchaeus I'm sure felt foolish up that tree. It often seems easier to make excuses than to seek solutions. Blind Bartimeaus could have wallowed in hopelessness or self-pity. Zacchaeus, I’m sure, had a lot of painful rejection throughout his life that he could have held onto to nurse an anger and resentment toward the world. Also, Zacchaeus could have let feelings of guilt and unworthiness hold him back from coming to Jesus. Along with opening his home to Jesus he gave up much of his wealth. But none of it stopped Zacchaeus.
Sometimes our laziness keeps us from pressing in to Jesus. Maybe it’s some of the secret sin we enjoy and are unwilling to give up. Is there a habit you know is displeasing to the Lord? Or it could be a possessiveness of what we consider "ours" like our rights, our time, our things, or our money that holds us back? Perhaps it’s a person we treasure more than having Jesus. There’s any number of things we can hang onto at all costs and they are like chains keeping us from moving toward Jesus. Yes, reaching out to Jesus, seeking Him with all our heart always costs us something. But when we get to Jesus, the reward makes the sacrifice seem insignificant.
Persistence, desire, pressing past barriers are good for us. Things that are too easy tend to be wasted on us, aren't they? Sometimes we comment, "They've had it too easy." By that we mean the person hasn’t learned the value of things. They didn't work hard at college because their parents paid it all and they didn’t value the opportunity. Or they didn't take care of their car or some other possession because they didn’t have to work for it. Those things that cost us some serious effort are valued.
The very act of pressing on when we encounter resistance is refining to our character. In the struggle, in the difficulty, much of our heart and motivation is revealed. We are forced to confront sinful desires, and we discover things that have our souls held in bondage. Let everything you discover in this struggle increase your determination to meet the Savior. Keep on until you are in His healing, delivering, saving presence.
This is not that God is playing hard-to-get. And there is no idea here of “earning” anything spiritually or making ourselves deserving. It is more the refinement of desire and a seeking God with our whole hearts. It is getting to the place where having Jesus and pleasing Jesus is more important than what other people think of me. If I need to make a fool of myself to get Jesus to help– I will. While MY WAY may be nice, quiet, private, dignified and in my time, I’m willing to let go of that. There can be a lot of pride God deals with in all this. It is His way, His time and not mine.
This Scripture is also interesting in presenting two sides of the coin of our seeking God vs. Him seeking us. Certainly Bartimaeus and Zacchaeus express the truth of the Jeremiah text,
"You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the Lord (Jer. 29:13-14a).
But, in the same story, Jesus makes it clear the initiative is always with God,
For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost (19:10).
So, He seeks us, but we also need to seek Him with passion. But we need to always humbly acknowledge we would be incapable of seeking Him unless He first sought us out. 1 John 4:19 reminds us, “We love because He first loved us.”
We are also reminded of the three parables Jesus tells in Luke 15 of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son. In the lost sheep, we see Jesus, the Good Shepherd leaving 99 sheep to go in search of the one lost sheep. With the lost coin, we see the woman sweeping, seeking what she lost. And with the prodigal son, we see the Father waiting until the prodigal son comes to the end of himself and returns to His warm embrace. Seeking and being sought. Finding and being found.
CONCLUSION
Jim Denison, a pastor in Texas, tells of serving as a summer missionary in East Malaysia. Working there, he attended a small church. At one of the worship services a teenage girl came forward to publically announce her faith in Christ and her decision to follow Him and she was baptized.
During the service, Denison had noticed some worn-out luggage leaning against the wall of the church. Out of curiosity, after the service, he asked the pastor about it. The pastor pointed to the girl who had just been baptized and said, “Her father said that is she was baptized as a Christian she could never go home again. So she brought her luggage.”
Mark’s Gospel, in telling this story of Bartimaeus he records quite a change in the crowds. When Jesus stops and tells the people to call Bartimaeus, the people who have been telling Bartimaeus to shut-up, now speak to Bartimaeus, Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling for you. And, what does Bartimaeus do? With his characteristic passion and energy we are told,
Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus. (Mk. 10:50)
This morning, if you feel the slightest interest, a twinge of desire, it is Jesus calling you. Respond as did Bartimaeus and receive what you need. Throw off whatever might hinder you and come to Jesus!
Faith That Perseveres
For Further Study and Reflection on Sermon for 3/25/07
Reread the scripture Luke 18:31-19:10
See Luke 18:42
you were desperate for Jesus’ help? Did you have
faith that He would intervene? What happened?
Try to imagine you were there in the crowd. How do
think you would have reacted in both these encounters
(Bartimaeus & Zacchaeus)?
5. How were both men alike? How were they different?
Bartimaeus would have had a very short time to be
noticed by Jesus. He jumped on the opportunity. Are
you eager to seize “Jesus’ Moments” in your life?
Why?
Do you think you’ve missed some?
mission. In Luke 15, Jesus has a few parables about
seeking and finding the lost. List them:
Do you notice the great persistence they all showed in
finding the lost? Do you think Jesus has that same
persistence in seeking you and your loved ones?
How does that make you feel?
you want me to do for you?” What would you say?