Luke 18:35-19:10
We’ve heard a lot about this Jesus of Nazareth, going through the countryside teaching and healing people. He’s gathered quite a following. So when we heard that he was coming to Jericho, we prepared to give him a proper welcome. That would, of course, include going out to meet him and then, once he was in town, invite him to a proper feast. As one of our town’s important people, I had my servants prepare a nice meal. We were excited to see what the one they called the Teacher would do here. We had plenty of sick people for him to heal.
When the watchman spotted a small group coming up the dusty road, I led a group of dignitaries out to meet them.
A short distance before we reached the group, a blind beggar was sitting beside the road. Since we were on a mission, we ignored him and went on. Oh, I tossed him a couple of coins, of course.
It wasn’t hard to determine which of the men in the group was the leader. I approached him.
“Welcome to Jericho, Rabbi. We are so glad to have you visit our community.”
He didn’t exactly ignore me, but all he said was, “Thank you,” and kept on walking. I walked beside him, explaining the feast that was prepared for him. He nodded occasionally and kept going.
As we passed the blind man, my friend Jeremiah was closest to him. The beggar asked what was happening, and Jeremiah told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” [2]
At that, the blind man began shouting, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” [3]
We didn’t need that kind of disruption for our welcoming procession, so several of our people told him to be quiet. They weren’t exactly polite about it, but he ignored them.
“Son of David, have mercy on me!” [4]
For someone who was supposed to be a quiet beggar, he had a very loud voice.
Jesus stopped, looked over in the man’s direction, and waved his hand. “Bring him to me.”
I started to object, but Jesus ignored me and then turned back to the beggar. Jeremiah, who only a few seconds ago had been shushing the man, led him over to Jesus.
When the beggar knelt before Jesus, the healer asked, “What do you want me to do for you?” [5]
Now I would have thought that was obvious, but maybe not. How long had he been blind? Did he have a trade before he went blind? Would he be able to work again if he had his sight? Being blind gave him a decent income as a beggar. People felt more pity for a blind beggar than for the others.
The blind man raised his hands, turned his face up to Jesus, and replied, “Lord, I want to see.” [6]
Jesus touched him on the top of his head and said, “Receive your sight; your faith has saved you.” [7]
The man immediately jumped up and kept jumping, dancing in the small area around Jesus. The healer smiled, took his hand, and we headed for Jericho. Somewhere along the way, the beggar dropped back into the crowd. Several of them patted him on the back and talked with him, joining him in his praise to God.
When I told Jesus, “That was amazing,” he just walked on.
We had only gone a little way into Jericho when I told Jesus, “Just up there around the corner, we’ll turn to the right, and the feast should be ready for you.”
He shook his head. “I’m sorry, but I’m not stopping. I’m headed for Jerusalem.”
“I know,” I replied, “but we have a feast prepared to welcome you here, and you can spend the night—you and your disciples—at my house. We will be glad to have you as our guests.”
He shook his head again and walked faster.
“But … but … it’s all ready,” I complained, as he walked away from me.
Now that was an insult in our time and culture, but nothing like what followed.
Jesus went on through town. He didn’t stop anywhere, until he reached the trees outside the city gates. We didn’t allow trees, especially big trees, inside the city walls. It had to do with ceremonial uncleanliness, related to the leaves that fell and cluttered the area, and the fact that trees obstructed the view around town. [8]
I’m not sure why, but I followed, not right beside him, but still close. And I was fuming. I could feel the heat in my face. How dare he reject our invitation, MY invitation?
Then … then Jesus stopped under a sycamore tree, a tall, leafy sycamore. I saw him look up, so I looked up too. At first, all I saw was the leaves, big leaves. Then I saw a color, the color of something not a tree. Looking more carefully, I realized it was a robe, the robe of that short tax collector Zacchaeus. What was he doing up in a tree?
Tax collectors in general were not popular anywhere in the Roman Empire. I imagine he was afraid to join the crowd of people watching as Jesus marched right on through Jericho. He would be right on that account. In a crowd, someone might slip out a knife and nobody would notice until the people left. But why would a tax collector want to see Jesus?
Jesus and I weren’t the only ones who saw him up there. The crowd began to laugh and point at him. “Treed! Zacchaeus is treed!”
Nobody, no respectable adult, would climb a tree for any reason! It simply wasn’t done. Grown men didn’t run and grown men didn’t climb trees! And I laughed with the rest of them.
But Jesus didn’t laugh. Instead, he called up, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” [9]
I shook my head to clear my ears. What did he just say? He was going to stay at Zacchaeus’ house? After he refused my invitation? After he rejected my feast?
I started to grab his arm, but he pulled away and greeted the tax collector who now stood in front of him. The two walked through the crowd and went back into Jericho, back to the house of … No, I couldn’t even think it, let alone say it! If I had been fuming before, that was nothing.
My fists clenched, my face hot, I looked around for support. I spotted Jeremiah, who looked at me, shook his head, and mouthed, “I don’t believe it!”
Together we followed the crowd following Jesus to the tax collector’s house. We watched Zacchaeus and Jesus and his disciples disappear through the door.
Jeremiah shouted, “He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner!” [10] Others picked that up and began to chant, “The guest of a sinner!”
Eventually the crowd quieted somewhat, with only an occasional “Guest of a sinner.” I’m not sure why we stayed there, just standing in the street. I don’t know what we were waiting for, but what happened was another surprise.
Zacchaeus came out with Jesus, held up his hand for quiet, and announced, “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.” [11]
He could have told this to Jesus inside, but there would have been nobody to hold him to account. Instead, I give him credit for coming out and making this as a public announcement. We would make sure he kept his word.
To be honest, I don’t know what I thought of that. A tax collector who would give his money to the poor and repay people what he took wrongly? But Jesus apparently believed him.
Jesus looked at him and then out at the crowd. “Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek out and to save the lost.” [12]
I spent the rest of the day trying to figure Jesus out. He healed a blind man, an outcast, and he “healed,” in a different sense, a tax collector, a sinner, a different kind of outcast. Both were lost in one way or another. By the time the sun set, I wondered who else Jesus considered lost.
For consideration:
General questions:
1) How does this story follow its Scripture?
2) How does this story expand its Scripture for you?
3) What is the message of this story?
4) How does the message apply to us today?
Specific questions:
5) Right in the middle of their ordinary lives, Jesus came along and brought them a new life. But even Jesus, in a human body, could not heal all the lost, all the sick and disabled. He could only heal the ones he could find. What is our responsibility?
6) How are the blind man and the tax collector alike? How are they different?
7) Would the narrator recognize himself among the lost?
8) Who would Jesus consider lost among us today? Would you agree?
[1] I saw a little plaque hanging on the wall. It said, “Once in a while, right in the middle of an ordinary life, love comes along and brings you a fairy tale.” The gospel of Luke offers two such situations in the end of chapter 18 and the beginning of chapter 19.
These are not fairy tales but rather two scriptural stories, told from the viewpoint of a citizen of Jericho, about what the love of Jesus can do.
[2] Luke 18:37
[3] Luke 18:38
[4] Luke 18:39
[5] Luke 18:41
[6] Luke 18:41 (Some translations, like the Amplified Bible, the East-to-Read Version, the English Standard Version, and the New Revised Standard Version, add “again” or use the phrase “regain my sight.”)
[7] Luke 18:42
[8] Kenneth E. Bailey, Jesus through Middle Eastern Eyes: Cultural Studies in the Gospels, (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2008),178. “Whether the issue was the ‘beauty of the town’ or the ‘health of its citizens’ cannot be determined. What is clear is that this large tree, with its spreading branches, was outside Jericho on the road up to Jerusalem.”
[9] Luke 19:5
[10] Luke 19:7
[11] Luke 19:8
[12] Luke 19:9
