Blind Eyes See

START OFF MENTIONING ABOUT PASTOR DAVID’S SENIOR BIBLE STUDY CLASS THAT MEETS WEEKLY ON TUESDAYS. (They meet at 10:00 am on Tuesdays, but the second Tuesday of the month, they meet at 11:00 am with a covered dish dinner. These are in depth Bible studies led by Pastor David and not your typical light topical studies. These are more deep expository teaching classes!)

This morning I want to turn our attention to where we would have found Jesus, at this time in His life, while He walked this earth, some 2,000 years ago.

In we read the following,

Luke 9:51 ESV

51 When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.

In Luke’s gospel record, starting in chapter 9 with this verse and going forward, the rest of the Luke’s gospel is dealing with Jesus’ journey back to Jerusalem and the culmination of His earthly ministry, awaiting Him at the cross and then His glorious ressurection.

So basically, over half of Luke’s gospel, is focused upon this time period where Jesus’ heart and mind are focused on completing the very reason that He came to this earth.............paying the price for our sin and ransoming us back!

And so, as we move forward from chapter 9 in Luke’s gospel, we see the events that were taking place within this narrowed down time period in the life of the Christ.

I find it interesting in this same passage of , that as soon as Jesus sets His face and attention towards heading back for Jerusalem, He is instantly met with rejection!

Let me read to you verses 51-55 of that chapter. “When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make preparations for him. But the people did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” But he turned and rebuked them. And they went on to another village.”

So, as soon as Jesus starts back to pay the price for all of mankind, He is instantly met with rejection by mankind.

And why? Why did they reject Him and not let Him come in and stay at their village?

We know that the people of Samaria had not collectively and ultimately rejected the good news of Jesus, because we read of Jesus reaching out to the Samarian woman at the well in and ultimately to her entire village.

The reason that He was rejected in this instance, is because He didn’t meet their agenda and their particular wants.

You see, the Jews didn’t care for the Samaritans and the Samaritans did care for the Jews. (It was a feud, much like that of the Hatfields and the McCoys! Bad blood!)

The people of this village in Samaria rejected Jesus’ passing through, because they heard that He was on His way to Jerusalem and they found that offensive; kind of like they weren’t getting His special, undivided attention!

How sad, that they could have spent time with the Son of God. Especially since He, on His last journey through that region and on His way to the cross of Calvary and ultimately His death for them, He chose to be with them and share those last days with them and yet, they rejected Him!

It was His desire to spend part of His last days on earth, with them and because it didn’t look like they wanted, they rejected Him!

Do you know and understand how relative and pertinent this same image is for today and for God’s children all around the world?

The Savior, the Messiah, Jesus the Christ, desires to spend time with His children and He is right where you are, you don’t have to go after Him and find Him. He is right where you are and wanting you to let Him share time and fellowship with you.

And because it doesn’t meet our agenda and our wants and time slots, we reject Him, by closing out our hearts and minds to Him and giving them to someone or something else!

HOW VERY SAD, that He is right here, in this very room this morning and yet many of us will keep our hearts closed and leave here in the same condition that we came never heed His call!

So, moving on with the message!

We are going to turn our attention all the way up to chapters 18 and 19 of Luke, which will be our prime focus for this morning’s message.

By the time that you reach the end of chapter 18, you have now officially entered into the last two weeks of the life of Jesus, before He goes to the cross!

I though about this in terms of my own life. If I knew that I had two weeks to live, how would I spend my remaining time?

And we are not just talking about having two weeks to left live due to some illness, but rather, if I knew that I was about to be tortured and violently killed, as an innocent man in two weeks, how would that knowledge alter the use of my time for that last two week period of my life?

I assume that I would be petitioning to higher authorities and seeking some legal precedence that would acquit me and remove me from any guilt or possible harm!

I would surround myself with my family and loved ones for all of the moral support that I could get.

I would probably be devoid of very much, if any at all concern for others and have little to no peace and joy in my heart, due to the worry and concern of the fate that lie before me!

Does this sound about right to most of us here, or of those who may be watching this video?

Well, it’s here, at the end of Luke chapter 18, that we find Jesus, as He is now officially on the home stretch to Jersualem.

And in the last 9 verses of and the first 10 verses of , we will put our focus on what transpires in these passages, for today’s message.

In both passages, we find Jesus healing the blind eyes of two different men.

Of the first man, Jesus heals his natural, physical eyes. And of the second, Jesus heals and opens his spiritual eyes!

In , we read of Jesus approaching the city of Jericho. As He is approaching the city, a blind man was sitting there, seeking assistance from passer-byes, as was customary for the lame and blind to do.

Jericho was about 18 miles outside of Jerusalem, which is how we know that this is into the last two weeks of Jesus life.

Now although I am pulling this account from Luke’s gospel, I am also using some of the other details from Mark’s account of this same miracle.

In , we read of this same account. Except that, Mark gives us the man’s name, to make it more personal.

This man’s name was Bartimaeus.

Between Luke and Mark’s records of this same miracle, we find out that as Jesus was approaching the city, there was a large crowd coming with Him. (Which was pretty common. Crowds were always drawn to Jesus, to see what He would do and to hear what He would say next. The paparazzi will always follow people of notoriety, because where these people are, there will somehow be a form of money and/or opportunity!)

So, as they are approaching, the blind man Bartimaeus, hears the commotion and asks someone what is going on.

How many of you know that when you are blind, your sense of hearing becomes much more acute and your mind is more attentive to the sounds and alert to any difference that may occur!

So, Bartimaeus asks someone what is going on, and they tell him that Jesus of Nazareth was nearby.

As soon as Bartimaeus heard who was approaching, he began to yell out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

By calling Jesus, “Son of David”, Bartimaeus was acknowledging that Jesus was the Messiah, as the Old Testament had prophesied and said that the Messiah would come from the lineage and throne of David.

This shows that Bartimaeus was already spiritually able to see and not blind, because he was saying that Jesus was the Messiah. Just as Peter had spiritual sight and stated who and what Jesus was, wen he said, “ You are the Christ/Messiah, the Son of the living God”, so too did Bartimaeus have this spiritual sight!

The thing that Bartimaeus lacked and wanted restored, was his physical sight!

And Bartimaeus knew that his chance of getting healed, was rapidly approaching and would soon be rapidly departing!

You see friends, when you know that Jesus is near and you have need of His touch and forgiveness and total healing in your life, you had better run, scream, jump flop wail, or whatever it takes, to get there in faith and belief and let Him cleanse you from all unrighteousness by His perfect and pure blood!.

Because, the Bible says that we are not guaranteed a tomorrow and for this very reason, you had better respond while Jesus and His offer of salvation for your life is there before you and while Holy Spirit is drawing you to the Lord!

So, as Bartimaeus starts yelling for Jesus, some of the people start telling him, “BE QUIET!”

It’s like they were saying, “You’re embarrassing us dude; stop it!”

Let me tell you something right now! When you’re the one who is broken and hurting inside and you have tried all of the drugs and alcohol and sex and every other thing that the world has to offer as a numbing agent to the very pain that it is responsible for; you would begin to do the exact same thing as Bartimaeus!

You would begin to SCREAM at the top of your lungs and cry out for Jesus to come and heal and restore and save you!

That is the very reason why I say, when the altar is open for people to come down here and to pray and have others gather around you and pray and you know that Holy Spirit is calling you, you had better run and answer that call at all cost and forget about the people are saying, because the people who are saying it, can’t heal you, they can’t restore your brokenness and they most definitely cannot forgive your sins and give you salvation!

You need to cast everything aside and run into the arms of Jesus!

Bartimaeus knew this and the Bible says that he began to yell and shout louder, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

Jesus, upon hearing his cries stops and says, “Tell him to come here.”

So, hearing that Jesus wanted Bartimaeus to come to Him, the people changed their song and dance and started saying, “Man, cheer up vato! Jesus wants to you to come to Him. Come on ese, let’s get a move on, ¡Ándale, ándale!!”

Upon hearing this, Bartimaeus slings off his coat and jumps up to get to Jesus!

In other words he is laying aside anything that may hinder or limit the speed by which he can get to Jesus!

Jesus looks at Bartimaeus and asks him, “What do you want me to do for you?”

Although Jesus already knows, before we even ask, He still wants to move in faith and belief and ask Him!

Bartimaeus doesn’t even pause, but says, ““Rabbi, let me recover my sight!”

“RECOVER MY SIGHT”! You see, it’s one thing if you have never seen, but it is another matter altogether to have had your site and then to lose it!

To recover has the understanding that it was held once before. You cannot recover that which you never had!

This also applies to those who have tasted of and know the TRUTH of the gospel message and then return to the former desires of this world.

You once saw through spiritual eyes and then became blind again!

Would you like to “recover your sight”? He is hear today and waiting for you to return to Him!

Jesus said to Bartimaeus, “Recover your sight; your faith has made you well” and immediately he recovered his sight.

As soon as he recovered his sight, the Bible says that Bartimaeus followed Jesus and glorified God!

That is truly what happens when you have encountered the Christ and He touches your life! You follow Him and your life begins to glorify God!

How many here today can say that your life glorifies God?

The Bible also says that when the people saw it, they began to praise God!

The reason is, when people see a life changed, by the hand and the touch of Jesus, it elicits praise from them!

What about you today? Does your life show the touch and changing power of Jesus, to where it elicits praise to God by others?

Now let’s move on with Jesus, as chapter 19 of Luke says that He has now entered Jericho. At the end of chapter 18, Jesus was approaching Jericho, where he encountered blind Bartimaeus and now He has entered the city. Jericho was a fairly wealthy city with a lot of commerce and trade coming through it, as Jericho had a vast wealth from its sale of its balsam trees.

Luke introduces us to a man that is not recorded elsewhere in the scriptures and his name is Zacchaeus.

The name “Zacchaeus” is a Hebrew name and its derived meaning is, “pure” or “righteous”.

Luke also uses a description for this man, which is not found elsewhere in the scriptures and that description is that Zacchaeus was the “chief tax collector”.

Now understand this, the scriptures make it very clear, that tax collectors were hated by the Jewish people, because they were, themselves, Jewish people who became Roman employees and who took up taxes from the Jewish people to be paid to Rome.

And a tax collector was given a certain autonomy by the state of Rome to collect above and beyond what was required by Rome and to keep it as their own. And because of this, many of the Jewish tax collectors made a good deal of ill-gotten income off of their fellow Jewish brothers and sisters.

In this case, Zacchaeus was a “chief tax collector” which would have been a position where the Roman government had allowed him to be over other tax collectors in that area.

So, if a normal tax collector received a fair amount of income from collecting taxes for Rome, this man must have made a hefty sum!

And in fact he did, as Luke tells us that Zacchaeus was RICH!

It is very interesting that Luke records this account for us, in the Bible, where the other writers do not.

And the timing and placement of this account, in the last days of Jesus’ earthly ministry, is amazing, because it shows us a few things.

First, this account comes shortly after a run in that Jesus had with another “rich” man, earlier in the previous chapter 18.

This rich young ruler of chapter 18, sought out Jesus to find out how he might “inherit” eternal life. And according to Matthew, he more specifically asked Jesus what “good deed”, or works could he complete to secure eternal life.

And most people know the story of how Jesus knew this man’s heart and of how this young rich man loved his money, more than his desire to serve God, because his money had become his god that he idolized.

Just like a spoke last week about the law of coveting and idolatry, this young man was guilty on both accounts.

And because of this he walked away from Jesus and back to his money, his god.

Jesus then made the comment after the young man left of, “Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”

And upon hearing this, the disciples asked Jesus, “Who then can be saved?”

Because the Jewish people, especially the religious leaders, believed that wealth was a sign of God’s blessings and favor upon a person.

Jesus then said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

This account with Zacchaeus in chapter 19, as we encounter, yet another rich man serves to prove the point that, “with God all things are possible!”

The next thing of this account that Luke records for us about Zacchaeus shows an interesting contrast in the two types of healing, (physical and spiritual), that Jesus brought into the world.

We just read of Jesus calling out a physically blinded man, who, “spiritually”, could see, as he knew Jesus to be the messiah.

And Jesus healed his “physical” blindness.

Now, we are getting ready to see Jesus heal a man who can see physically, but who is “spiritually” blind!

Jesus transformed Zacchaeus into the very meaning of his own name, “pure” and “righteous”!

And the last thing about this account that I find beautiful is how it shows the great LOVE and MERCY that our Lord Jesus has for us.

Here, as I mentioned at the beginning of my message this morning, we find Jesus, well within the last two weeks of His life, before His arrest and torture and crucifixion and all of these things that had to be weighing on His mind, and yet He makes it a point to stop on His return journey to Jerusalem just to touch and restore a blind beggar’s eyes and then to purposefully SEEK OUT a seemingly insignificant coveting sinner, so that He could touch this man’s “spiritually” blinded eyes and heal and deliver him!

“Oh how He loves you and me, oh how He loves you and me. He gave His life, what more could He give; oh how He love you, oh how He love me. Oh how He loves you and me!”

In we read,

Luke 19:1–6 ESV

1 He entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. 3 And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. 4 So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. 5 And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully.

** POINTS TO MAKE ON THIS PASSAGE**

Zacchaeus wanted to see this, “JESUS”, that everyone was always talking about and who was now coming his way!

And you must understand that Zacchaeus, although he had all of money that life could offer and he had authority and power, as he represented the nation of Rome, HE WAS LONELY and ISOLATED, because his own people hated him and regarded him as a sinner and a traitor! So all of his riches that he had amassed, could not offer him solace or companionship!

“What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul?”

Zacchaeus ran ahead of the crowd and climbed up into the sycamore (mulberry fig) tree, so that he could see Jesus. (sing song of Zacchaeus was a wee little man…)

Jesus spotted him out and called him down saying, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.”

Zacchaeus came down and received Jesus into his home JOYFULLY!

He must have been like, “YOU, want to spend time with me Jesus, in my home? No one EVER wants to talk with me, or spend time with me. Most people avoid me and say hurtful, horrible things to me and about me!”

You see, Jesus said that the healthy don’t need a doctor, but rather the sick do!

reads,

Luke 19:7–10 ESV

7 And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” 8 And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” 9 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

** POINTS TO MAKE ON THIS PASSAGE**

“The people were displeased and they grumbled!”

How many times have the judging eyes of the “religious” in churches, caused a lost sinner to shy away and not come forward to ask of how they could find and see this JESUS?!

I like to think that maybe the disciples, or at least one in particular, Matthew, went into Zacchaeus’ house with Jesus. Matthew was a tax collector, “a sinner”, when Jesus sought him out and called him.

You see, that is what Jesus does. He goes after us and calls us out and bids us to come to Him!

Jesus sought out the hopelessly lost demoniac of Gerasenes.

Jesus sought out the woman at the well in Samaria.

Zacchaeus may have been like, “Is this guys for real man?” and Matthew would have been like, “Oh yeah, he’s totally real bro. I’ve been where you’re at and trust me, He’s worth everything that you will ever let go of in this life!”

Jesus sought out Saul on the road to Damascus.

Jesus sought out, on this day, Zacchaeus.

And remember friends, Jesus sought you out, on that day when you came to know Him as Lord and Savior! HE SOUGHT YOU OUT!

Upon coming to the truth of who Jesus is and being set free, Zacchaeus says, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.”

The law of Moses, only required someone to give back to another person that they had stolen from, the amount plus 20%.

Zacchaeus had been set free and no longer desired to serve mammon, but rather now, he desired to serve God.

His SPIRITUAL eyes had been opened and he could now see the TRUTH!

He who has eyes, let him see!

Jesus said “Today salvation has come to this house!”

Zacchaeus had his spiritual eyes opened and he came to know the TRUTH of who Jesus was and still is today. The MESSIAH, the Son of God!

Jesus transformed Zacchaeus into the very meaning of his own name, “pure” and “righteous”!

Jesus made it clear, just as Paul also did, that a true son of Abraham, was not linked to lineage, but rather, to someone who enters the kingdom through their FAITH!

Jesus closes out this passage by saying, “ The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

Jesus said several things about why He had come to this earth.

He said that He didn’t come to be served, but to serve and give His life as a ransom for many!

He didn’t come to bring “peace”, as men thought, but rather He came to bring division. Because loving and serving Him, would bring and even demand us to divide and separate ourselves from this world and the things of this world!

Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.”

Jesus came to condemn sin, so that the spiritually blind, like Zacchaeus, may see. And the antithesis of this, is that those who deny the truth of who He is, may remain lost and blind to the truth.

He said, “For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth.”

Do you know the TRUTH today? Have you met the WAY, the TRUTH and the LIFE?

And Jesus said that He came to seek and save the lost!

You see, that is what Jesus does. He goes after us and calls us out and bids us to come to Him!

Jesus sought out the hopelessly lost demoniac of Gerasenes and saved him.

Jesus sought out the woman at the well in Samaria and saved her.

Jesus sought out Saul on the road to Damascus and saved him.

Jesus sought out, on this day, Zacchaeus and opened his spiritually blind eyes and saved him.

And remember friends, Jesus sought you out, on that day when you came to know Him as Lord and Savior! HE SOUGHT YOU OUT and He SAVED YOU!

Do you remember that day? Do you remember what it felt like when Jesus opened your blinded eyes and set you free from your bondage to sin and when you knew, that He had SAVED YOU?!!!!!

I will close with this:

D.L. Moody, the famed evangelist, told this story at one of his meetings: One evening just before Christmas, a man was walking through the streets of an Eastern city. The store windows were all beautifully decorated, and he observed three little girls intensely interested in one of them. He discovered that the girl in the center was blind, and the others were trying to describe the beautiful things in the window. “Why,” they said, “can’t you see that Teddy bear and that doll? Just look at that pretty pink bow!”

But the poor little girl stood with a blank expression on her face and could not appreciate the beautiful things before her. “Now,” said Moody, “this is an illustration of the effort we Christians are making to arouse the unconverted to an interest and delight in spiritual things. The reason we can’t do so is because the sinner is spiritually blind.” Moody had scarcely concluded when a reporter was on the platform asking him where he had heard that story. “Oh,” said Moody, “I read it in one of those daily papers. I have forgotten which one.” Then the reporter said, “I’m the one who wrote the story because I was there and saw the whole thing. I see now that I’m just like that little girl, spiritually blind.” That man was converted then and there.