The Coming of the King

As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard the crowd going by, he asked what was happening. They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” He called out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 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!” 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.

Outcasts had no names that anyone knew

NO station in culture, no options, no family that could afford to care for them. But he knew who the son of David was....

The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary Bartimaeus (Person)

BARTIMAEUS (PERSON) [Gk Bartimaios (Βαρτιμαιος)]. A blind beggar whom Jesus healed while on his last journey to Jerusalem (Mark 10:46–52). Throwing his outer garment aside, leaping to his feet, and rushing to Jesus when called demonstrated his faith in Jesus and his eagerness to be healed. Since Mark records the name of only one other person whom Jesus healed (5:22), the occurrence of the name “Bartimaeus” here implies that he became a full-fledged disciple who was well known in the early church (Cranfield Mark CGNT, 346).

As the title “Son of David” suggests, Bartimaeus thought of Jesus in messianic terms. This title expressed Jewish nationalistic hopes for a Davidic king to come as the deliverer of the Jews from foreign domination (see Pss. Sol. 17:21; Ezek 34:23–24; Taylor 1966:448). This interpretation of the address fits well with the multitude’s association of Jesus with the coming Davidic kingdom in his triumphal entry into Jerusalem (see Branscomb Mark MNTC, 192).

Rewards Faith Without Sight

Jesus Gave a Blind man Sight; and A NAME, A PLACE, A COMMUNITY

A Son of Honor

Luke 19:1-10

“Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. 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. All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a ‘sinner.’ ” 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.” Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.””

Everyone Hates a Collaborator

Jesus through Middle Eastern Eyes: Cultural Studies in the Gospels Commentary

The tax-collector was despised in rabbinic literature and in the New Testament, and he and his family were considered unclean. Lying to him was condoned.6 The system naturally produced graft and economic injustice. It was bad enough that Zacchaeus was a tax collector, but he had become rich in the process. In the vocabulary of the day “tax collectors” and “sinners” were often paired. The town naturally hated its chief collaborator

A Crowd is Forming

Scene 4

Scene 4 (Lk 19:4) records Zacchaeus’s first action with the words “So he ran on ahead.”

Middle Eastern adults do not run in public if they wish to avoid public shame.

Furthermore, powerful, rich men do not climb trees at public parades anywhere in the world.

Zacchaeus knew this only too well. So he ran ahead of the crowd and, trying to hide, climbed into a tree with dense foliage hoping no one would see him.

Sycamore fig trees have large leaves and low branches. One can climb into them easily and just as easily hide among their thickly clustered broad leaves. Both of these features were important to Zacchaeus.

Additionally, such trees were only allowed some distance from town. Zacchaeus chose to climb a tree growing outside Jericho, assuming the crowd would have dispersed by the time Jesus reached the tree

What Jesus Could have Said (Shaming Him) (Justice)

Zacchaeus, you are a collaborator! You are an oppressor of these good people. You have drained the economic lifeblood of your people and given it to the imperialists. You have betrayed your country and your God. This community’s hatred of you is fully justified. You must quit your job, repent, journey to Jerusalem for ceremonial purification, return to Jericho and apply yourself to keeping the law. If you are willing to do these things, on my next trip to Jericho I will enter your newly purified house and offer my congratulations.Such a speech would have provoked long and enthusiastic applause. Instead, having signaled that he does not intend to spend the night in their town, Jesus changes his mind and invites himself into the house of the town collaborator! This is both unthinkable and unprecedented. For more than forty years I was entertained in countless Middle Eastern towns and homes.

As is typical anywhere, the community selects the form of hospitality, not the guest. Jesus assumes the divine right of kings, but for a holy purpose.

The former naturally chooses a host who can provide a level of hospitality that will bring honor to the community. The Talmud notes that a king and his servants enter a town by the same gate, but each is given hospitality “as befits his honor.”13 No guest selects his own host, nor does any guest (especially in a situation of oppression) invite himself in public into the house of a despised collaborator!

Jesus aligns himself with a collaborator, with an outsider.

This is the King, coming into his Kingdom.

Honor Instead of Shame

SIGHT TO THE SIGHTLESS

NAMES TO THE NAMELESS

HONOR TO THE DISHONORABLE

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