Resources

A while ago a friend of mine was coming along to church services regularly. He even joined a Bible study group we were doing designed to help people look into the Christian faith, and time after time he heard helpful talks, and he saw for himself the Jesus of the Bible. And, more than once, I remember thinking to myself "This is it! This will be the day he finally gets it and wants to follow Jesus". But time went by, and so did great gospel talk after great gospel talk, and that day never seemed to come. And, I remember thinking "How does anyone ever believe in the gospel?!" Do you ever ask yourself that; “How does anyone ever believe the gospel?” My friend had all the opportunities in the world to "get it" but he just never seemed to.

In these morning services we're in a part of Luke's gospel where Jesus is on the road to Jerusalem, where he will eventually suffer and die on the cross.
And it's a section full of contrasts and surprises because there are some people in Luke 18 we might expect to follow Jesus or people we might expect Jesus to want to follow him. But those expectations are completely flipped upside down because it's the people who seem the most unlikely to really get who Jesus is that do. And one of those people is the beggar we read of in Luke 18.35-43. He was blind – he couldn't see! He'd never even met Jesus before. He is a social outcast. Yet, he is an example of faith, and his story is an illustration of what Jesus needs to do in any of us to get us believing in him. Firstly, this passage shows us:

1. The need to see (Luke 18.35-39)

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!” 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!”

You can imagine this scene, can't you? It's vivid! The crowd five or six deep, straining to catch a view of Jesus. There weren't those metal barriers or lines of policemen that maintain crowd control today. People would have been moving in every direction. And there's the blind beggar sitting, unable to see what's going on. A swirl of noise he can't make sense of. He's right in the middle of it – he's sat by the roadside, and yet he's completely on the periphery, but he's desperate to know what's happening. The crowd tell him, "Jesus of Nazareth is coming…" They knew about the carpenter from Galilee who's become famous for astonishing teaching, and miraculous healings. Jesus' fame had spread far and wide. But the irony is it's the blind man who best sees Jesus for who he really is, not the crowd, or even the disciples who've been with Jesus the whole time.

A blind beggar sees more of who Jesus really is than anyone else. So, Luke 18.37, he calls out Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me! Not Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus Son of David. Our author, Luke, surely included this contrast so we’d spot it. Jesus was of the family line of David – the great king of the Old Testament. This was the family line where a promised Messiah would come to save the people. And this blind beggar would have known that the miracles Jesus had done already were what the Old Testament prophets said the Messiah would do – and he’d put two and two together. So, he was saying this isn't just Jesus of Nazareth. This is Jesus the Messiah, the Christ, the forever King we've all been waiting for. This man is the one who will save us! This is what he believed. No wonder he couldn't help but shout out! But, the crowd well they aren't having any of it. "Shut up!" they say. They think the beggar is irrelevant. "He's not interested in you! Don't disturb Jesus!" But, if the beggar shouted loudly before, this time he screams (Luke 18.39):

Son of David, have mercy on me!

The beggar knows that if he can just meet Jesus it could change his life forever. No opposition was going to get in his way because he knew he was in great need. He knew what was true about himself: He was jobless, homeless, poor and (perhaps at the root of it all) he was blind. So, he cries out to Jesus (The King, he believed had the power to heal him), and he begs him for mercy. And this is a picture of what our attitude to Jesus should be, and can be. It shows us today, on the other side of Jesus' death and resurrection, that being a Christian involves going to Jesus with your great need and asking him for mercy to deal with it.

We all have all sorts of needs, don't we? Physical, mental, emotional. They are all important to God. They can all be brought to Jesus. What are your unmet needs right now? Cry out to Jesus with them! But, we see again and again in the gospels that Jesus is most concerned with our spiritual needs because the issue at stake spiritually is our relationship with the one true God starting now, and lasting into eternity. So, without Jesus, spiritually speaking, we are all poor and blind beggars. We're just as desperate and we're just as helpless.

As some of us may know all too personally, being blind is miserable. So is life without Jesus. Whether we see it, or not. Because without Jesus, we're cut off from the God who made us, and we're left ruling ourselves and ignoring God and that leaves us in need because we're made with an inbuilt need to relate to our creator. So, if you're not yet trusting in Jesus – your greatest need is Jesus, and the forgiveness and relationship he offers, through his work on the cross. Because it’s the only way to get back into relationship with God. The question is: will you recognise that great need in yourself?

The majority of us here have recognised it, and we'd call ourselves Christians, but do we still remember our great need for Jesus? Or have our hearts grown cold to it? Maybe, beneath everything we think "I've already cried out to God for mercy, and I've already received it. So, what's next?" But, as is often said about the Christian life: the way in, is the way on. If you've asked Jesus for mercy once you'll keep receiving it - forever. But, we never "move on" from saying "Jesus I don’t deserve it, but please will you have mercy on me?" We never move on from seeing our need for Jesus. Otherwise, what would we be trusting in? We’d run the risk of trusting in ourselves, and moving on from Jesus altogether.

The beggar didn't just see what was true about himself. He saw what was true about Jesus. Jesus is mercy personified. He is unconditionally merciful, to his core. And he offers us his mercy. He won't be walking down Northumberland Street. And it's good that he isn't, otherwise some of us would miss him. But he is alive and ruling over everything from heaven, and he hears us when we talk to him in prayer. So, ask Jesus for mercy. You can do that this morning whether for the first time, or the millionth time, and Jesus will hear you. Call to him for mercy. Be aware of your need. Secondly, we see:

2. The Jesus who opens eyes (Luke 18.40-43)

And Jesus stopped and commanded him to be brought to him. 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…

The crowd must have been all around Jesus, dozens and dozens, maybe even hundreds of people, but Jesus hears the man calling and he takes the initiative to meet this blind beggar. It's hard for us to comprehend the social stigma of being poor and blind in the ancient world. This man would have been on one of the bottom rungs of social society; disregarded, overlooked, uncared for, an unclean outcast. Jesus could have gone to the man himself, but my guess is he wants everyone to see just what's about to happen. So, he stops dead in his tracks and he commands the man to be brought to him. The crowd falls silent, as the beggar is brought before the loving and compassionate Jesus. We saw two weeks ago how the little children were coming to Jesus and, the disciples told them to go away. Surely, they weren't important enough to bother Jesus. Jesus said, no, let them come to me. And, remember the rich man? He was wealthy and religious. He had everything going for him but he wouldn't give it up to follow Jesus. Once again, Luke is showing us that Jesus has torn up the rulebook when it comes to who we think will be in his Kingdom, and who we think won't be. The wooden spoon contenders are in, and the grand slam contenders are out!

This blind beggar was another nobody. Yet it’s the nobody who really saw who Jesus was. The beggar came with nothing – all he could do was beg for mercy. Yet he is the one who gets everything (salvation) from Jesus. Do you see? Wealth won't get you into Jesus' kingdom. Success or status won't get you in. Neither will being religious, or trying to follow all the rules. So, it doesn’t matter where we're from, how much money we have, how clever we are, or what our job is, or what our postcode is. What matters is coming to Jesus and begging for mercy. And, in the end, this is pretty much all that matters because Jesus shows us that it's the only criteria for relationship with him.

Do we believe this? Or, do we tell ourselves "They won't understand the gospel". Or, "I'm not sure they'll quite fit in". Jesus turns all of that on its head and he exposes it for what it is – nonsense and pride. Jesus turns all our expectations and perceptions upside down. We see it again, and again, through Luke's gospel. Who does Jesus show mercy to? The poor, the humble, the lowly, the nobodies. Why? To bring home to us our utter dependence on Jesus for membership of his kingdom, and to get rid of any sense (any bit of us) that thinks it’s got anything at all to do with us -anything to do with our human pride, or success, or values.

Friends, you can't bank on anything but Jesus to get into God's kingdom. So, save yourself a lot of trouble – don't even try. Bank on Jesus. And let's be a church that lives like we really believe that, when it comes to sharing the gospel with other people. Jesus looks at this poor, blind, helpless beggar and he asks him (Luke 18.41) what do you want me to do for you? i.e. "How can I help you? How can I (the King of everything) meet your need?" The beggar wants to see and he truly believes that Jesus can heal him. So, he replies, Lord, let me recover my sight. And, with no hesitation at all, Jesus says Recover your sight; your faith has made you well. Literally that means "your faith has saved you". And like the flicking of a light switch – the man's sight is restored.

The blind man wanted physical healing but Jesus tells him he's also been healed spiritually – because his "spiritual eyes" were open to seeing who Jesus was. And Jesus had the authority to save him based on who he is – God's son. And based on what he would go on to do – die on the cross, to get everyone (people like you and me) back into relationship with God. And the cross is the guarantee to us that he is still merciful. So, if you turn to Jesus, and ask him for mercy then he will heal you spiritually by forgiving you on the basis of what he has done on the cross for you. You see, it doesn't matter what situation you're in, or who you are, what your background is, what you've done, or how many times you've done it. If you come to Jesus and humbly ask for his mercy, you will receive his mercy, and he will accept and forgive you, and get you into a lasting relationship with him. This is wonderful gospel news!

Maybe you're here this morning, and you're not ready to ask Jesus for mercy, you're not sure about all of this. If so, that's ok, but why not ask Jesus to help you see who he is, and why he's worth following? Surely it's at least worth asking him that? For those of us here who are Christians, remember that question I asked at the beginning; "How can our friends and family ever understand the gospel?" Have you ever asked yourself that? Well only Jesus can open blind spiritual eyes to him. Only he can save people. Even the disciples couldn't work it out for themselves. We're running a Christianity Explored course at the moment – helping people discover more about Jesus. We've got an invitation service this evening aiming to do the same thing. Both our universities in this city have recently finished a week's worth of events. But any faith as a result of that is given by Jesus. Not us. It's based on his initiative, his compassion, and his power. Jesus is the one who gives sight to the blind. So, we need to ask him to do what only he can do. We need to pray to the Jesus who opens eyes. And, finally:

3. The right response to seeing (Luke 18.43)

And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.

The blind beggar could have shuffled off to try and begin a new life on his own. His newfound sight could have lead to new opportunities (a job, an income, perhaps an escape from poverty) but faith in Jesus transformed him. So, instead of heading off to become master of his only life, he submits himself to Jesus and follows him. And again, this is a picture of the Christian life; following the one who has helped you see, following the one who has saved you, and letting any other ambitions, or desires, fall secondary to that.

When I was preparing on this sermon, I thought through how so many of us do this already. What examples you are to me. I know that some of us could have more prestigious careers, or more money, or more time, or more energy, but we've long given up those things (and more) to serve Jesus and to serve each other. Many of us hold our ambitions lightly, because our greatest ambition is to follow the one who saved us. Praise God! And, let's keep on encouraging one another to keep following Jesus, to keep obeying him, and to keep seeking to serve him better. And true faith also means we'll glorify (or praise) God. If we understand that we've done nothing, but Jesus has taken the initiative to heal us, we'll be full of praise. Because we'll know that he has done something miraculous in our lives, something that we were utterly helpless to do for ourselves. If we understand that Jesus is capable of saving anyone, whoever they are, whatever their life looks like (rich or poor lowly or impressive), we’ll be full of praise because we’ll know that he has done something miraculous in their life, something we could have never persuaded them to do, something that must be utterly of God, and completely from God. And if we're slow to praise God for what he's done for us, we need passages like this to remind us of the right response to seeing his saviour, King Jesus because it's all based not on who we are, not on what we've done for God, but on what Jesus has done for us. It's based on what King Jesus offers us, if we haven't received it already; mercy and healing and the opening of our eyes to see who he really is.