not unless i open up my heart
& how am i supposed to do that
Jericho is the last stop before Jerusalem. And Jerusalem is ground zero. Everyone knows it, too. In fact, as Jesus heads to the capital, a crowd gathers. Everyone wants to be there for the big confrontation.
Everyone can feel their heart welling up in their chests as the crowd swells. This is the moment they’ve all been waiting for. Finally, someone has arisen to come and take back their nation. Someone who will lead them to triumph. Jericho, and then Jerusalem itself. And then all that will be left are the spoils of victory.
Before they can even march into Jericho though, a blind beggar is making a scene! Not cheering the crowd on, but crying out for mercy.
And if there ever was a time for mercy, it’s not now. Now is the time for vengeance.
Some in the crowd let the beggar know as much, too. “Quiet,” they hiss. “Don’t you know? Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem, and he’s almost there too. He’s got bigger things on his mind that you and your problems. Hush up.”
But the beggar won’t. In fact, he just shouts all the louder.
All the momentum the crowd has been building starts to lose steam as people look around to see where the commotion is coming from. Even Jesus has to stop.
And just like that, all the momentum the crowd’s been building is lost.
Jesus calls the beggar over.
And you know there’s more than a few in the crowd glad Jesus is calling the beggar out to tell him to knock it off, be quiet, get in line or get out of the way.
No one could have seen what Jesus did next, though.
Instead of telling him to be quiet, Jesus doesn’t just ask the blind man what he wants —he gives it! Telling him his faith has saved him. The blind man, who can now see, glorifies God and joins the crowd.
And just like that, the crowd is really whipped into a frenzy!
More determined than ever, they march into Jericho. Nothing can stop them now. And in Jericho too, a crowd gathers. The citizens there want to watch as Jesus goes to march on Jerusalem. Thinking how they’ll tell their kids they were there the day Jesus took back their country from the Roman oppressors.
the crowd is so boisterous no one notices the grown man up in the tree. Or, if they did see him, they pretended not to. Zacchaeus was the kind of person you try not to see anyway.
An ancient payday-lender loanshark. And one who’s little too good at making ends meet, too.
He’s the kind of guy with enough held back for a deposit on a house on the right side of town, but who never gets invited to the Neighborhood Association meetings. No one can stand him, or his money.
No one could have seen what Jesus did next, though.
Not only does Jesus see the guy, he holds up the entire procession for him! “Zaccheaus,” he shouts. “I’ve been looking for you.” And not to tell him off either, but to have supper…
The crowd really gets restless as everyone realizes the fireworks won’t be happening today afterall. And the fact that Jesus is holding up everything for a sleazeball like Zaccheaus, only makes matters worse.
When the muttering from the crowd grows too loud to pretend you can’t hear it, Zaccheaus tries to defend himself with a bunch of platitudes. Not that anyone is having it. Too little, too late, as far as they’re concerned.
Before he can finish with the pledges no one believes for a second anyway, Jesus says something no one could have seen coming, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is one of us. For the Son of Man came to seek out and save the lost.”
And hearing that, all the momentum that had been building is now gone. Never to be regained, either. Jesus will go to Jerusalem, but without much fanfare. A little, but not nearly enough to sustain the momentum.
Not long after Jesus marched on Jerusalem, he was arrested. The Romans occupying Jerusalem, handle his case. Wonder of wonders, Jesus is found guilty.
After publicly humiliating him, they finish the job and execute him…
…And life has a way of doing that, doesn’t it?
Of riding roughshod over all your hopes. Making you feel foolish for even hoping in the first place. Giving reason enough to resolve never to be letdown like that again. Of letting all the air out of our momentum once and for all.
The thing about what momentum isn’t that it ended so tragically, just that it took so long to snuff out…
And that’s the way it feels to be a Christian plenty of days, isn’t it? Wondering how long you can keep this up. How long the church can last. What disappointment will be the one we couldn’t bear…
After that day the crowd put as much space between themselves and Jesus, when all that momentum seemed like a dream, the disciples remembered something.
The moments before all that momentum built up. How Jesus had pulled them aside and to tell them something. Something he’d actually told them twice before.
That in Jerusalem he wouldn’t emerge the hero.
Rather, he’d be handed over to foreigners; who would mock, insult and spit upon him. They’d have him publicly beat. Then, they would kill him; and on the third day, he would rise again.
At hearing that dire prediction, that day. When it really felt as if they could not only take on Rome, but the entire world; the disciples hadn’t understand a word Jesus was saying. In fact, what he said was hidden from them. They didn’t grasp what he said.
And most days, it’s still like that, isn’t it?
We can’t see what Jesus is up to, either. We don’t understand what he says…
…Later on, Jesus’ word came ringing back. And they saw what they hadn’t before.
The blind beggar wasn’t a distraction from Jesus march on Jerusalem. It’s what his mission was all about. Not to give the enemy a black eye, but to bring recovery of sight to the blind.
Or Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus who could afford to live anywhere he wanted, but could never find the belonging he was really after. Jesus’ mission wasn’t to come and topple Rome, but to come and make a new people. A people not held together by national allegiances, but love. A people strong enough to include not only the best, but the worst too.
And that, that’s what’s really hard to see today, isn’t it?
We do all we can to get what momentum we have left, going. Turn this place into the kind of outfit folks want to join. Get out there and make a difference for Jesus.
But Jesus keeps stopping at all the wrong places, at the wrong time, and for all the wrong people. Before long, our momentum is lost too.
“Jesus, we've got pressing matters. Important business.”
The disciples couldn’t see what Jesus said until he healed their sight, too. Until they found themselves under the same label as Zacchaeus, traitors.
But when that happened, they heard the Good News like they never had grasped. That Jesus comes not to give marching orders, but to bring news of salvation.
So hear this news, there are times in all our lives when there’s nothing left to say, except to cry to God for mercy. When there’s nothing left to lose, and the riskiest thing turns out to be to keep respectably sitting there and risk missing Jesus as he passes by.
Times when you can’t hold back the tears, when the risk of looking foolish doesn’t matter.
Make no mistake, today as Jesus comes, he hears your cries for mercy. He sees the hurt no one else does.
You who can’t see past the tears, past the hurts or the fears, let me tell you something you’d never see coming, “your faith has saved you. Today salvation as come to this house.”
Jesus of Nazareth comes not to kill the enemy, but raise the dead.
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