Blind But Now I See? (Luke 18:31-19:10)

Scripture Introduction:

Luke 18:31-19:10 is what we have listed as the Scripture for this am. But we’ll only dip into the story of Zacchaeus in 19.

As you’re turning there…have you heard of John Newton? You’ve likely heard of John Newton. He’s known as the guy who was an atheist and the captain of a slave-ship, is caught in a violent storm. He cries out to God for rescue. The ship is delivered and so is a young John Newton. Upon hitting the shores of England, Newton gives up his career as a slave-trader and becomes a preacher—laboring not only to proclaim the gospel but also the abominable slave-trade in which he was involved. Oh, and somewhere in there he also wrote a song called Amazing Grace about the whole thing.

I think that’s how most people imagine the life of John Newton. But it was far from this. The storm on The Greyhound was in 1748. His slave-trading days didn’t end until 1754. His “conversion” helped him to be nicer to the slaves but he did not consider it to be an abominable practice. Newton, in his Authentic Narrative, doesn’t even list his participation in the slave trade on his list of grievous sins. As one of his biographers notes, “participation in the cruelty of the slave trade did not yet seem even to trouble his conscience”. (58)

It was not until 1788 that Newton wrote out his Thoughts on the African Slave Trade. Now that wasn’t the first time he considered it to be a horrible practice. His embracing abolitionism was a slow movement.

But here is what I want you to picture for just a moment so you can feel the weight of this...

Remember that line in Amazing Grace… “I once was blind but now I see...” I’ve been saved. I now see things as they are. I view the world the right way now. I no longer view Jesus wrongly, or my sin the wrong way, I’m on the right side of heaven. He saved a wretch like me...

“Hey, buddy, let’s tighten those thumb screws that slave looks like he’s about to try to run away.”

Friends, Newton is but a slice. Read this week of George Whitefield. Known as one of the greatest preachers ever. Once was blind…now he sees. Goes to preach in the Bermudas—one of the key places where the British would steal men and women for the slave trade—and he feels the difficult of this. Here is how Whitefield said it:

“I wanted to touch the negroes, yet not to give them the least umbrage to slight or behave imperiously to their masters". He wanted them to hear the gospel but not in such a way that made them want to really be free. And then he says that his text led him to speak against the Masters as well…but listen to what he says, “

Blessed be God, that I was directed not to say any thing to masters at all, though my text led me to it

The text of Scripture, if he’d have let it speak would have spoken to the slave masters. And it would have spoken of freedom for captives. But Whitefield, muted that, and came away with a message that slaves were supposed to be certain to obey their good masters.

I once was blind but now I see...

Last week we left off with the story of the rich man who walks away from Jesus. And we have the disciples astonished because they thought if anybody got the kingdom, if anybody was going to be saved, then it was certainly going to be this dude.

At the end of those verses Peter, the spokesman for the group, says, “See....

That’s him saying look at this. I’m seeing something…do you see it everyone…would you look at that? He says, “we’ve done what that guy didn’t…we left everything.” We once were blind but now we see...

And then Jesus says, “There is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.”

It ends on a high note. Do the disciples see?

Listen in as the story continues...

Luke 18:31–43 ESV

And taking the twelve, he said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise.” But they understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said. 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!” 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 and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.

Sermon Introduction:

Did the disciples see?

What Luke is doing here is contrasting the disciples with a blind beggar. Who can really see here? Even before he can recover his physical sight the blind beggar can see better than the disciples.

What do we do with this? What do we do with someone like John Newton being saved by God and then continuing to be a captain on a slave-ship? What do we do with Whitefield, preaching revivals and yet being one of the leading causes of slavery coming to the US?

I think it’s a little like this...

A guy is driving on the interstate. He needs to merge. So he checks his rear view mirror, checks his side mirrors, nothing. No cars around him. He wakes up in the hospital because he hit a car as he tried to merge into the next lane. What happened?

There was a car in his blind spot. He didn’t check his blind spot....he just trusted his mirrors…and so it was costly. The same thing, I believe, was happening with Whitefield and Newton. It was a massive blindspot. It’s such a big blind spot that it causes us to ask things like, “How in the world could you talk about freedom in Jesus, think you’d been redeemed, and then steal men and deny them freedom?”

That’s the same thing happening in our text here today. I read verses 31-34 and it is baffling. Notice the wording here that Jesus says...

Peter had just said, “See....we’ve left everything..”

Now Jesus says, “See....we are going to Jerusalem and everything that is written about the Son of Man (they’d have agreed at this point that he’s talking about himself…they got that) by the prophets will be accomplished.”

When they first hear this…when they “see” this one they get all excited. All that the Scriptures said are going to be accomplished…you’re gonna be made a king!!!! Woohoo!!!

But that’s not what Jesus is talking about. He proceeds to say that he is going to be “delivered over to the Gentiles…mocked…shamefully treated…spit upon....and then after being flogged…he will be killed…and on the third day he will rise”.

Is that not incredibly clear? Like, if you close your eyes as I read through that you can probably picture something like this. You could rehearse this. You could maybe see the scenes in The Passion of the Christ or the Jesus movie playing through your mind.

But they are hearing this for the first time…and they cannot comprehend it. Verse 34 says, “But they understood none of these things”. The word there for understood means “to bring together”. It’s the light bulb moment. When finally it all makes sense…but they are hearing this kind of how I hear directions…you can give me 3 things…after that I just go blank. Go this way, turn left, then turn off on the ol’ Johnson farm…that’s as far as you’ll get me…my eyes glare over and I don’t hear anything you say after that. This is what is happening to them.

In fact, Mark tells us a little more about this story in Mark 10. He has James and John coming to Jesus kind of cornering him. The word that Mark uses is one that indicates they aren’t asking a question but more like cornering Jesus—getting him off to the side quietly whisphering not letting the others in on the secret…and basically asking, “Dude, if this goes really south and something happens to you…can we have your stereo”.

They start by asking Jesus to write them a blank check. He doesn’t do it but his response is incredible. “What do you want me to do for you?” Clearly the Son of Man did come to serve as he will say a few verses later. He probes a bit more into their question and what he says is brilliant. His question to them has a tendency to lay them bare. What do you want me to do for you?

“Let us sit at your right and left in your glory”.

There is some good in this. They seem to be acknowledging Jesus as the Messiah. They believe he is coming into His kingdom. They are dependent upon Jesus…they know this has to come from His hand. And it’s not like they want to rule instead of Jesus…they just want a little slice of that glory pie.

But there is also some ugliness to that request too.

“The brothers hope to honor Jesus while honoring themselves. How easily worship and discipleship are blended with self-interest; or worse, self-interest is masked as worship and discipleship.”

They once were blind but now they see.....sort of. They are seeing Jesus as a backdoor means to getting what they really want—prestige, power, and position.

It seems that James and John are Jesus-centered but they are Jesus-centered in the hopes that Jesus is going to be James and John centered. They radically misunderstand the nature of the kingdom. For them going to Jerusalem is going to end with them ruling and reigning alongside their buddy Jesus. Somehow they are missing this whole suffering thing. Notice that they say, “in your glory”. For them the kingdom of the son of David = a kingdom of ruling. Again a place where they’ll receive power, prestige and position.

When the other disciples find out what James and John did they are upset. Not because they think “wow, you guys really missed what Jesus was saying…nope they were mad because they didn’t get there first”.

And so this is why Luke just summarizes it by saying “but they understood none of these things”.

It’s almost like a father says to his kids “we’re going to a theme park, but when we get there it’s going to be taken over by a gang and we’re going to be trapped, and they are going to take us on these rides—but they won’t run them properly and we’ll end up plummeting to our death.”

Sweet…can we get ice cream at the theme park?

So it’s clear that they don’t understand. They don’t see…not really. Because as it says in verse 34 of Luke 18, “This saying was hidden from them and they did not grasp what was said.” They just couldn’t see yet.

They had this massive blind spot. They look in the mirrors and only see glory…but suffering is in their blindspot. It’ll eventually smack them…but as for now…they can’t see this at all.

The Blind Man

Contrast this with the blind beggar. Again, Mark gives us a bit more detail. He gives us his name. This is Bartimaeus. He hears that Jesus is coming and so he cries out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Let’s stop for a second and ask a bit about the theology of one who says such a thing.

· He is calling Jesus the Messiah. By calling him the son of David he is saying that he believes Jesus is the Messianic rescuer who was foretold. So, just as the disciples, Bart gets the “who” question correctly.

· He also realizes that Jesus alone can help. You sense this in the desperation when he hears Jesus of Nazareth is coming. And in this is also a humble admission that I need help. Bartimaeus is reliant on Jesus’ mercy. He knows that he isn’t owed a single thing. If he is to receive help it will be because of the grace of Jesus. No other reason. And so Bartimaeus know that is hope is in the Lord’s mercy and in no other place it is here that is banking. And boy is he…

He is so desperate that a crowd full of people telling him to be quiet doesn’t deter him. He must have Jesus. This blind beggar has seen what so few people throughout the gospels can see—that Jesus Christ is the promised Messiah that is overturning the works of darkness. Now unlike the disciples, he isn’t striving for a seat of honor in Jesus’ kingdom, blind Bartimaeus just wants a seat.

I’m convinced that Mark placed these two stories together to highlight Bartimaeus as an ideal disciple: one who is desperate and sees Jesus as his only refuge. When you don’t realize how utterly inadequate and miserable your condition is, you say wrong-headed things like, “make me epic”. Or, “yeah, we can drink the cup of suffering—we’ve got what it takes, Jesus”. And then you go back and fight with the other disciples about who Jesus loves the most.

But Luke seems to be a little more concerned with this theme of seeing. And that’s where I said we’d only dip our toes into Luke 19. The story of Zacchaeus.

He’s a short guy in a big crowd. He wants to…catch this…SEE Jesus…but he can’t and so he climbs up a sycamore tree to see him. He is blinded by the crowd, the hustle and the bustle, the fervor around Jesus, but he needs to get a look for himself…and so he does something so he can see.

He turns his head and looks with his own eyes…he doesn’t just trust his mirror…he looks into his blind spot.

Luke wants us to know that there is a way of looking straight at Jesus and missing him. There is a way of seeing that isn’t really seeing. It’s a way of proclaiming, “I once was blind but now I see....see Jesus we left everything to follow you...” but then at the same time, the same people throughout this narrative are rebuking Bartamaeus…shutting out the kingdom to him.

Here you’ve got the crowd shouting at this man to be quiet. Now why is that happening? Because he is insignificant. We all know Jesus is going to Jerusalem to claim his kingdom. He can’t be stopped by some blind beggar. He’s got business to take care of.

Blind and calling it sight. God help us. Oh, Lord, rip this heart out of us. A heart which would turn a blind eye to the suffering and somehow convince ourselves that we are nobly about the work of the kingdom!

There is a type of blindness as well that hears the story of Zacchaeus and says “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner”. What kind of man is this, Jesus? He’s not doing things the way they ought to be done.

But Luke also wants us to also know that there are those who DO see Jesus. The ones who are desperate, the weak, the vulnerable, the ones who understand their need and they know that they MUST see Jesus. Who like Zacchaeus…get out ahead of the crowd and climb up a tree. I must see Jesus.

And I want you to notice what happens in this story. Look at what happens with Bartamaeus and how Jesus responds to this.

Now look at verse 40. “And Jesus stopped…”

Luke wants us to notice that Jesus “stops” for the forlorn. When you read something like, “And Jesus stopped…” you ought to stop as well. His face is set like flint to Jerusalem. Stopping Jesus at this point is like stopping a jet cruising down the runway ready for flight—if it stops it is for a good reason.

Why does he stop? Because God wants us to know that He stops for desperate people crying out for rescue.

And then Jesus asks Blind Bartimaeus the same question he asked the disciples. What do you want me to do for you? Bartimaeus just wants to see again. What’s going on here? Friends, this narrative is screaming a question out to us, “which type of disciple are you?”

In reality we are Bartimaeus; desperate, destitute, with no hope to be found except in Jesus. But do we recognize it? Does our prayer life reflect the cries and panting of an impoverished beggar or the smug request of a fool that only sees Jesus as a means to making my name great?

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So what do we do with this story? What do we do with these lessons about seeing and blindspots?

Let’s go back to where we started. John Newton. It’s interesting to see how his views on the slave trade changed…and even how his involvement changed.

In 1794 Newton really began speaking about the abominable slave trade. He published his Thoughts on the African slave trade—and in it he said this was entirely too late—he should have seen this all sooner. But in 1794 he said this, “I do not rank the African slave trade among our national sins”. Why? Because he believed that for many this was just a blind spot they didn’t see. He thought that once they were educated they would very quickly come on board.

He said, “petty and partial interests prevail against the voice of injustice, humanity, and truth.” They were distracted by other stuff. But Wilbeforce, Newton and other labored for the next few years to help people see. To put this blind spot out in front of them…and what happened?

Well listen to Newton in 1797:

Enough of this horrid scene. I fear the African trade is a national sin, for the enormities which accompany it are now generally known; and, though perhaps the greater part of the nation would be pleased if it were suppressed, yet, as it does not immediately affect their own interest, they are passive. (

They did see. But they didn’t care. At one point Wilberforce said,

“You may choose to look the other way but you can never say again that you did not know.

I say all of this to make this main point—that kind of has a couple subpoints.

We must be dedicated to always seeing Jesus, and seeing Jesus alone.

This means that we must be aware of our tendency to have blind spots. We must be bold enough to not just trust our mirrors but ask hard questions, turn our head, look at things. Question whether or not we are seeing things accurately. How do I know that this is true? Have I put it under the microscope? Does it square up to God’s Word or am I just assuming that it does. Lord, I see…help me to see.

We have to be like Zacchaeus and climb some sycamore trees so we can actually see Jesus. What are you telling me Jesus.

And if we turn our head and look at our blind spot and we see something there that we don’t like…we need to face it. There comes a point when you can no longer say that something is a blindspot—it’s just willful rebellion.

Be bold enough to look at blind spots and trust Jesus enough to change when you see them.

Why?

Because we must be dedicated to always seeing Jesus, and seeing Jesus alone.