again i've lost my strength completely
Before they can march into Jericho, though, a blind beggar starts making a scene! Not cheering the crowd on, but crying out for mercy.
If there ever was a time for mercy, it’s not now. Now is the time for justice. Some in the crowd let the man know as much, too. “Quiet,” they hiss. “Jesus is marching on Jerusalem. He’s got bigger fish to fry than you and your little problems. Hush up.” But the beggar won’t. In fact, he shouts all the louder.
The momentum the crowd has been building starts to lose steam as people look this way and that to try and see the cause of the commotion. Even Jesus himself stops.
With that, the momentum that’s been building is gone. Jesus calls the man over. And you know there’s more than a few there who are glad Jesus is calling the beggar to the carpet to tell him to knock it off, quiet up, and get in line or get out of the way.
No one could have seen what Jesus did next, though. Instead of telling the man to be silent, Jesus asks the man to tell him what he wants! And no sooner are beggar’s long-ignored cries off his lips than they’re answered! The man's sight is restored! Just like that, the crowd is really whipped up into a frenzy!
More determined than ever, they march into Jericho. Nothing can stop them now! In Jericho, the crowd continues to swell. The citizens there all want to be able to tell their kids they were there the day Jesus stormed through on his way to Jerusalem. So boisterous is the crowd no one notices the grown man up a tree. Or, if they do see him, they pretend not to.
Zacchaeus is the kind of person you try not to see, anyway. An ancient payday-lender loanshark. And one who’s a little too good at making ends meet. He’s the kind of guy with more than 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 dinner with him!
At this, the crowd grows restless. Not only will the standoff have to wait, it’s going to have to wait for a sleazeball like Zaccheaus!
When the crowd’s muttering grows too loud to ignore, Zaccheaus tries to defend himself with a series of platitudes. Not that anyone is having it, though. Too little, too late, as far as they’re concerned.
Before he can finish with the pledges, 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.”
Hearing that, ALL the momentum that’s been gathering is gone. NEVER to be regained again. Jesus will go to Jerusalem, but without much fanfare. A little, but not nearly enough to sustain the momentum.
…Life has a way of doing that, doesn’t it? Of riding roughshod over all your hopes. Of making you feel foolish for hoping in the first place.
After that day the crowd put as much space between themselves and Jesus; the disciples remembered something. The moments before all that momentum, when Jesus pulled them aside to tell them something. Something he’d actually told them twice before.
In Jerusalem, he wouldn’t emerge the hero. Rather, he’d be handed over to the occupying forces who would mock, insult and spit upon him. They’d have him publicly beat. They would even kill him. But, on the third day, he would RISE again.
At hearing that dire prediction that day, when it really felt as if all their momentum was inexhaustible, the disciples hadn’t understood a word Jesus said. In fact, what he said was hidden from them.
Most days, it’s still like that, too. Isn’t it? We can’t see what Jesus is up to, either. We don’t understand what he says…
After those three harrowing days, Jesus’ word came ringing back to the disciples, and they saw what they couldn’t before. Heard what they didn’t hear before. The blind beggar wasn’t a distraction from Jesus’ march. 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. Including our own.
And Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus, who could afford to live anywhere he wanted but could never purchase the belonging he was really after. Jesus’ mission wasn’t to come and topple Rome, but to make a new empire. One held together, not by national allegiances, but love. Love strong enough to include not only the best, but our worst too.
That, that’s what’s really hard to see, isn’t it? We do all we can to get what momentum we have going, but Jesus keeps stopping. Stopping at all the wrong places, and all the wrong times, and for all the wrong people, too.
Blind as we are to God’s ways, we fail to see what Jesus is up to. It’s not until Jesus restores our sight that we can see what he is doing. It’s not until we find ourselves under the same label as Zacchaeus, sinner, that we can hear what Jesus is saying. That he comes, not to give marching orders, but salvation.
So hear this, you who have nothing to say for yourself but a cry for mercy. You who have nothing left to lose and suddenly the riskiest thing has become to just respectably sit there and miss Jesus as he passes by. Make no mistake, Jesus comes today, and he hears you. He sees you. He hears your cries. He sees the pain 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 has come to your house,” for you too are a child of God. For the Son of Man comes, not to kill the enemy, but raise those who are dead, dead in their trespasses. To seek out and save the lost. The lost like you and me.
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