Who Truly Sees?

Who truly sees?

Big Idea: Jesus Messiah saves the needy who call with faith

Introduce me

Car petrol gauge - empty

My car is getting on a bit and it has some features as you’ll know if you’ve ever driven in it

One of the more tricky ones is my petrol gauge - looks like you’re fine but you’re not.

Discovered this the hard way and every now and then I doubt I’m right - one time ended up stuck as a result!

Now I know it, see it, believe it - means I can do something about it (fill up early!)

Transition

Reading Luke 18:35-43

The blind man who sees

So what do we have here? The story revolves around a life-changing encounter between a blind man and Jesus. And what I want us to get our heads around first is the situation that blind man was in - helpless and desperate.

First, he’s helpless: he’s blind and there’s absolutely nothing he can do to change that no matter what: No medicine which will help. No doctor who could fix it. No robotic implant to try out. No money could ever buy a solution for him. The situation is hopeless and unchangeable. He’s just a victim of circumstance, totally powerless.

Second, that leaves him dependent: there’s no Jericho welfare state, no disability payment coming his way. There’s no provision, so it seems, even from his own family or friends because we meet him begging at the side of the road, totally dependent on the generosity of those passing by in order to get through life at all.

And just for a moment I want us to think about where this sits in the wider story of Jesus that Luke is telling in his gospel. Just a few weeks back, if you were here, we saw Jesus’ encounter with a rich ruler, held captive by his many possessions. And next week, all going to plan, we’ll see Jesus’ liberating encounter with the wealthy but vertically challenged tax collector Zacchaeus. Sandwiched between those two rich, influential and powerful people we find this helpless dependent blind beggar. That’s some contrast - and it’s meant to be.

This guy is a nobody with nothing just sat there helpless at the edge of the road. And while he’s sitting there, ears sensitised perhaps to make up for what he lacks in sight, he picks up that something has changed. Suddenly there are people - lots of people. There’s excited chatter, and air of expectancy. What’s happening? What is he not seeing? “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by” the crowd tells him.

Jesus of Nazareth? The Jesus who comes from Nazareth? He must have heard that name before because he makes a quick connection. “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” he cries out. See, the crowd call him Jesus of Nazareth - but the blind man sees something no-one else has: “Son of David”, he says. And in Luke’s telling of Jesus’ story, this blind man is the very first to use that title for Jesus, to make that connection. Jesus is the Son of David.

So what? I mean for starters, if you know your Christmas story, you’ll probably know it was Mary and Joseph with that baby in the manger. So why’s he being called the son of David? Does he have Jesus confused with some other Jesus?

Well, there’s a very famous David in the story of God’s people, Israel: David the giant-slayer, victorious over Goliath who went on to become King David. The highpoint of Israel’s whole history, their greatest ruler, one who united the twelve tribes, who was victorious over all their enemies. One who was chosen by God himself to rule, one whose closeness to God was unequalled.

That’s the David we’re talking about. And when this blind man calls Jesus “son of David” he’s saying more than just David was Jesus’ dad. Well, actually, that’s one thing he’s definitely not saying, that David was Jesus’ dad. He means Jesus sits in the family line of David - that “son-of” relationship was more flexible so you could use it to connect to someone much further up in the family tree without upsetting anyone. Jesus is in the family line of David - and we know that because his family genealogy, his family history, is laid out for us in Lk 3 - and you can trace that line all the way back to this great David - and beyond.

But by calling Jesus “Son of David”, he’s saying something bigger again. He’s identifying Jesus as someone who’s been hotly anticipated for generations, someone God’s people have been waiting for and longing for: the promised king who will come from David’s line who will establish God’s kingdom and rule God’s people forever. See, way way back in David’s day, he was given an extraordinary promise from God through the prophet Nathan: 2 Sam 7:12-13

2 Samuel 7:12–13 NIV

When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

David’s immediate son, King Solomon, saw some of that prophecy fulfilled about a thousand years before Jesus: he built “a house for my Name” - that is, a famous temple for God in Jerusalem - and he ruled a great kingdom for many years, enjoying wisdom and wealth. But then he died and things went south: the kingdom was torn in two after Solomon, then one half destroyed, and then the other half exiled and oppressed. God had promised that one of David’s descendants would establish and rule God’s kingdom forever - but that couldn’t be Solomon. So God’s people looked ahead and dreamed and hoped for the day when finally that true Son of David would come.

How ironic, then, that this blind man is the first in Luke’s whole gospel to see that Jesus is that promised Son of David. He would finally rescue God’s people, establish God’s kingdom, and rule over it forever. The crowds travelling with Jesus don’t know. Jesus’ own disciples don’t understand - like we saw last week. But this blind man sees.

And seeing who Jesus truly is, he’s not going to let anything stop him from seeking Jesus’ help. When the crowd try to silence him and his unexpected cry, he shouts all the more, calling Jesus, as the Son of David, to show mercy on him. Helpless and insignificant he may be - but he’s not hopeless - his hope is set on the Son of David.

The King who sees

The question for us now is how Jesus will respond. And here’s an encouragement for us all: Jesus, Son of David, promised eternal king, sees the needy and insignificant. Although Jesus has places to go - in particular he’s set his face towards Jerusalem, knowing what’s waiting for him there - although Jesus has so many people clamouring for his attention, although others don’t want him to pay any attention to the shouter, he stops. He stops in his tracks and calls for an audience with this insignificant blind beggar.

It’s a short conversation, a brief encounter, but it’s totally life changing. The blind man’s faith - faith which helps him see who Jesus is, faith which helps him pursue Jesus through obstacles, faith which makes him dare to believe - his faith opens the door for the impossible. “what do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asks? “Lord, I want to see.”

Do we dare tell Jesus what we truly want? Do we dare to believe he just might do it? When it comes to taking that first step of faith, to becoming a Christian, I think it can be scary enough to keep us back from the edge. Could this really all be true? Could everything I have been hearing, everything I have been reading, actually be true? Dare I believe that Jesus is real, that he would hear me, would help me, would save me, would change me? I think it takes guts to dare to believe and to dare to ask - to take that step of faith and reach out to Jesus.

Maybe you’re at that door right now, not sure whether you’re really ready to step over the edge? Let the transformation in this story encourage you - see how Jesus listens, cares, and acts. Reach out to him today. In fact, why not do it right now? Here’s an odd thing for a speaker to do: let me encourage you, if that’s you, to stop listening to me. I’ll say some more stuff yet but you have things to do. Why not right now reach out to Jesus?

Seeing and believing

“Receive your sight” says Jesus - just one word of command in the original language. But that’s all it takes. Jesus’ word is so powerful it can change reality. Of course, Jesus’ words are so powerful they created reality in the first place.

With this one word of command comes healing - but more than that, when Jesus says “your faith has healed you” he uses a word which has a double meaning. That word “healed” is the Greek word “sozo” whose primary meaning is saved. It can seem odd when other languages have one word meaning two things - don’t people get confused? how do you figure out which meaning is in view? It’s a right pain when you’re learning another language. But of course English does that too - I mean, which witch is which?

Context often decides which meaning is in play. But sometimes you want both senses of a word in one place. Like when you tell an effective dairy farmer “you can really milk cows” - and that’s what I think is going on here. The blind man’s faith has led to him being healed with a single word. “your faith has healed you”. And his faith has has saved him, made him come to God’s promised King as helpless, dependent and needy - the only way to come, like Jesus has been teaching us over the last few weeks - believing he welcomes people like that into his kingdom.

You see this blind man isn’t just healed - his whole life is turned upside down right here. v43 - just as immediately as he receives back his sight, also he immediately begins following Jesus, joining Jesus’ disciples as a committed follower in thankful response to his deliverance, watching and learning how to live. He’s been healed and, I think, he’s been saved.

Cool story, huh? If you’ve been with us before, you’ll know we like to think each week about what this has to say to you and me, here and today, though. If you’re not blind, if Jesus isn’t walking right by, what does this story have to show us?

First, I think it shows us how critical it is to see ourselves as needy

Having this story back to back with the rich ruler we looked at two weeks ago invites us to compare. The rich ruler who seemed to have everything he needed: power, resources, even a lifetime of good behaviour, found it’s not enough - he was still lacking; he doesn’t even see his true need - an impossible change of heart. The poor beggar who knows he has nothing except faith - he finds that faith is enough.

It’s easier to see clearly, to see that we’re needy when we have less, when things are less comfortable. But most of us in the prosperous west live deadeningly comfortable lives, busy most of the time, and distracted when we’re not. In those moments we are conscious of our need, we’re all too easily hooked on the false promise a new iphone, a new job, a new relationship, a new car - as if that would fill it. When I’m alert and thinking and clear, I know that’s not true. But you’d still see me on black Friday looking for happiness in a shop.

Do you know that you have a need, a need so vast and so deep that nothing at all seems to be able to fill it? That’s what the Bible tells us is true - that we were made for God, that our own wrong hearts have separated us from him, and that there’s no solution apart from desperately reaching out to him for help to come home.

Perhaps you’ve seen your need and called out to Jesus like this beggar - and now you’d love to see those around you find Jesus too. How can you help them see their need? Particularly in our generally comfortable world here in Edinburgh?

I’ve been thinking about this and the obvious place to start is trying to show them how they have been separated from God by not living his way, and how they face his anger rather than love because of that. But that’s also something which is hugely undermined by our post-modern culture because that culture tells us everyone gets to find their own right way to live: what’s right for me might not be right for you and vice versa. The only thing that’s definitely wrong is you trying to impose your “right” on me.

So we can tell people we think God has a particular way to live which we and they don’t measure up to, but culture has spent years teaching them that’s just our private idea; it has nothing to do with them and we’ve no right to impose it on them. It’s not that no-one ever hears this or it could never get through - just that most people don’t feel intuitively that they are in the wrong, guilty, and need to be made right with God - because they don’t feel they could be wrong with him in the first place, and it’ll be a seriously uphill battle to change that.

Perhaps it’s worth thinking about other ways to show people that we’re in need too - because there are other ways. In this story it seems like the suffering of this blind man have made it clear to him he’s in need and I think that’s often true in our own experience too: hard times and difficult things we would never choose for ourselves do help us to see how much we need God and his help. So should we wish hard times on the people around us who we want to reach out to Jesus? Certainly not - but life will often throw hard times at our friends anyway - and we can be deliberate about walking with them through these things, praying for them and telling them we’re praying for them, encouraging them to reach out to a Jesus who so deeply cares as they find themselves in need.

Perhaps if you’ve suffered too, you could use your pain: share some of your story - if you’ve found comfort in knowing God is in control, or that Jesus knows what it is to suffer, or that Jesus cares about the detail and difficulty of your life, sharing that might help them in their need.

There are other kinds of need that people feel too which we can use to call them towards Jesus: many people feel the need for a purpose. Why am I here? What’s life about? Why bother carrying on? What do I do that really matters? Will my life make any difference? Perhaps needs like this are covered up, buried in busyness and distraction, but sometimes a question can unearth this: “why do you keep going? why does that matter?” I watched one of my hedge fund friends trying to argue there was real value and purpose in his job because he was delivering market liquidity one time - but he and I knew that was a long shot.

Sometimes people hide from the need for a purpose by building their life around what is ultimately pointless activity but it’s big enough to hold them for a while: climbing all the Munros; collecting stamps; being able to take a ski trip every weekend. Could a careful question like “what’s the point?” plant a seed of doubt at the back of their mind? Or perhaps speaking about why you do what you do, how you have found real purpose in Jesus and his call to follow him in making disciples, in working to bring to birth his good and right kingdom in the midst of our broken and hurting world. You see, followers of Jesus, you do have a purpose. You are a part of the greatest and most important project going on in this world ever. You are truly a world-changer. That’s a life worth living.

What about the need for significance? Especially in a world that’s so global and big and connected now, I think it’s easier than ever to doubt we have any real significance. In a world where we’re so often just a tiny cog in a giant and unfathomable machine it’s hard to believe we have any significance. Does my work make any difference? Does my vote make any difference? Does anyone care about me at all? Would anyone even notice if I wasn’t here?

We have a need for significance and that’s because we are significant. You’re not just a collection of chemicals, a long set of DNA, an accident in an unimportant part of a vast galaxy. You are sons and daughters of God, made in his image, made as the summit of all creation, made to rule over it and bring out its vast latent potential. You are loved by the Lord of the universe himself - you have his ear and his care. Crikey. So how do we help the world around us dare to ask the question of their significance? How do believe this truth about our significance in God’s eyes enough to live it out? And how do we speak about it in a way which can help others to see their need? “It’s amazing for me to know that God actually cares what I’m doing today even when it seems like no-one else on earth does. How do you manage to carry on?” “Even though I’m single it’s amazing for me to know how deeply loved I am by God - and my church does try to be like a family to me. How do you cope with being so alone in this world?”

We’re all in desperate need. Do you see it? How can you help others see it? But we can’t finish on our need. Let’s close with one last thing: see you need - see the one who can meet it, the son of David, the promised eternal king.

See the solution

Two weeks ago we saw the rich ruler call Jesus “good teacher” and that’s what a lot of people today would say Jesus was - just a good teacher, someone with some good ideas about being nice to each other. Hard to see how that could have gotten him killed - but anyway. The blind beggar sees his need - and he sees the solution too - he sees the “Son of David” not just a “good teacher”

Do you see who Jesus is? Perhaps this whole Son of David thing doesn’t make any sense to you? Then can I invite you to talk to someone about who Jesus is. Perhaps you know someone here? Then you could talk to them. Perhaps not - then you could talk to me. I try not to be too scary. I’d love to help you explore who Jesus is - who he says he is, who the bible tells us he is - what all that means. Come grab me and I’d love to chat.

If you know who Jesus is - or at least some of it - help other see who he really is: not just a good teacher but the son of David, the son of Man, the living word, the son of God, God with us - Immanuel, the lamb who was slain, the saviour of the world. There are books here which can help people see Jesus couldn’t just have been a good teacher - free to take away, to give away, to share. The bible is a great book to take away, to give away, and to share too; you can take these and we’ll get more - why not ask a friend to take a look at who Jesus himself says he is through reading his story in the bible together? We have books which can help you do that too.

See your need. See the solution. Call out to him.

don’t let your stuff stop you

don’t let others stop you

he will hear you

let’s pray.