Pastor’s Table Blog

Maps Don’t Choose The Destination

In Luke 18:35-19:10 we read two stories, both taking place as Jesus is walking the Jericho Road to Jerusalem. He runs into two people … who are lost. Jesus takes this opportunity to declare his mission; the reason he came to earth. It ends, you may recall, with the theme verse for our whole Luke series:

For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. (Luke 19:10, ESV)

Have you ever been lost while traveling? Some of us are directionally challenged. Others of us will never admit we are lost because “we know where we are going! Honey, I don’t need to ask for directions!” Now, when you are lost, there is a handy tool that can help you: it’s called a map!

Maps help us navigate life. They show us the turns, the landmarks and how to most efficiently reach our destination. However, ultimately, we have to choose a destination. We must desire someone or something you desire to see. A map helps you get to the destination; we choose the destination.

 The Blind Man On The Road

Our first story begins in Luke 18:35. We immediately meet our first player:

As he drew near to Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. (Luke 18:35, ESV)

You may remember that this is not the first time we have heard about the Jericho Road in Luke’s Gospel. Back in chapter 10, Jesus tells his famous parable of “The Good Samaritan.” In that parable, the characters were walking the Jericho Road to and from Jerusalem. Now, Jesus is walking the road in real life.

In Jesus’ time, the road from here to Jerusalem was about 25 km, and it was notoriously dangerous and difficult. It was not safe. People were lost and left for dead. And this is the road that Jesus travels. Here, he finds this blind beggar. How does the beggar hear of and respond to Jesus?

And hearing a crowd going by, he inquired what this meant. They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” (Luke 18:36-37, ESV)

The man can’t see … but he can hear! God gave him five senses. His eyesight is dark, but he hears this loud noise and asks—“what is happening?” The crowd around him says, “The famous Jesus of Nazareth his here!” I want you to notice the title the crowd gives Jesus: “Jesus of Nazareth.” You may remember that Nazareth was where the riff raff come from. It was not a distinguished title. It was like say, “he comes from the wrong side of the tracks.” This is contrasted, interestingly, with what the blind man says.

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!” (Luke 18:38-39, ESV)

This is the first time in Luke that someone uses this royal title, “Son of David” for Jesus. The first person to recognize Jesus Kingly authority is a blind beggar. This man couldn’t see, but in faith he cries out to Jesus, trusting he is the Messiah with the power to heal him. In desperate faith, he raises his voice—shouting, hoping that Jesus will hear him. And how does the crowd respond? “SILENCE! BE QUIET! We are trying to get a selfie with Jesus.” This is what’s going on. Everyone in the crowd thinks this man is a nuisance. They are wondering, “What is wrong with him?” Maybe they even kick him to keep him in his place. Now watch what Jesus does in verse 40:

And Jesus stopped and commanded him to be brought to him. (Luke 18:40, ESV)

Wow. Church, I want you to circle … to underline … to highlight that phrase: Jesus stopped. Some us in this room right now resonate with the Blind Man. People overlook us. People tell us to be quiet. People act like we have nothing to offer. And I want you to see today that, for us, like the Blind Man, Jesus … stops. He says, “bring … him … to … me.”

The Short Man In The City

Now we are in the city and we meet ZACCHAEUS. Everyone who grew up in church learned all they need to know about Zacchaeus from a very famous song.

Zaccheus was a what kind of man? “A wee little man …” Which, by the way … what does that even mean? When I think of a wee little man I picture him fitting in my pocket. “Zacchaeus was a weeeee little man … A wee little man was he …”

What did he do? “He climbed up in a Sycamore tree … for the Lord he wanted to see …”

What did Jesus Do? “And as the Savior passed that way, he looked up in the tree …”

What did he say? “Zacchaeus … YOU COME DOWN!”

Why? “I’m going to your house today … I’m going to your house today!”

Was there more to Zacchaeus? Does the song miss some parts? As we look at the text, we’ll see that Zacchaeus follows a similar recovery pathway as the Blind Man. He has a NEED; there is an OBSTACLE; he has an ENCOUNTER with Jesus; finally, there is a transformative RESULT. The details are slightly different but remarkably the same.

Let’s read this story and see what the SHORT MAN in the City teaches us.

He entered Jericho and was passing through. And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. (Luke 19:1-2, ESV)

So Jesus is walking along the road and he enters the city. What’s interesting about the first scene is that the blind beggar clearly has needs. However, this next part with Zacchaeus is meant to show us that people who don’t seem to have needs … they do. Remember, Jericho is a wealthy city. What do we learn about Zacchaeus immediately? (1) First, we learn his name. We don’t know the blind man’s name … but many people over the ages have learned Zacchaeus’ name. (2) He was not just a tax collector … he was a chief tax collector. Remember I said that Jericho was situated at an important crossroads in the nation? Tax collectors were more like “toll collectors” in the ancient world. This fact leads to the last point we learn: (3) Zacchaeus is RICH! He is charging people LOTS of money to travel through his city. He is a swindler and he takes advantage of people. He is the tax collector of tax collectors. He probably has the biggest house in the city … but he has no friends.

What is the theme of Luke’s Gospel? Jesus Christ came to seek and save the lost. In many cases, he runs after, he chases down those who do not know him. One sheep out of 100 goes astray, he leaves the 99 to chase them down. For us, God’s goodness and grace are running after us too. When we meet Jesus, he turns our lives upside down. He reverses, not just our eternal destiny, but our very outlook on life. He invites us into his upside down kingdom. This is what we see in Luke. He reverses our expectations for the rich and poor. He reverses the conventional wisdom on insiders and outsiders. He challenges the religious elites, the Pharisees … and he dines with “sinners.” SCANDLOUS! Here, in Luke 18, he challenges our hearts. I want to read the second half v. 14 to close. Jesus, the storyteller, the judge, the atoning sacrifice, shows us another reversal:

For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 18:14b, ESV)

I said earlier, many of us resonate with the tax collector, but we live like the Pharisee. Here, at the end, Jesus is calling us to embrace the reversal. The one you thought was righteous was not. The one you thought was condemned was saved. It was reversed. How do we embrace the reversal?

Examine what you exalt. What are you exalting in your life? And if it is not Jesus, allow the Holy Spirit to change your heart.

Stay low before the Lord. Do you regularly allow the mercy of God to humble you? And if not, fix your eyes on Jesus and embrace the goodness of God in the Gospel.

Zacchaeus is the short man in the city. What does he do? Does he shout? No … he climbs! He climbs to see Jesus.

So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. (Luke 19:4, ESV)

Now, I want you to notice Luke is putting a lot of details in this story. We learn Zacchaeus’ name. We learn his height. We learn what specific type of tree he’s climbing. I’m waiting for Luke to drop his ANE social security number! Why does he do this? He his telling us intentional detail about Zacchaeus. He is an important tax collector … but he’s small. Maybe he feels inferior. He senses something is wrong … so he decides to check out Jesus, but unlike the blind man … he wants to be discreet.

And this is why he climbs up in the Sycamore Tree. This type of tree had low branches, so it was easy to climb. But it also had wide thick leaves … so if you climbed up high, you could hide from sight. And that is what Zacchaeus is doing; he wants to see Jesus, but he doesn’t want to let anyone see him doing it.

Friends, is that like anyone here today? Some of us are up in the tree right now—we are interested in Jesus … but we are hiding behind the leaves. Maybe you’ve been watching us on YouTube—and the reason you have not come to church, is not because you can’t, but because you are afraid of being publicly seen and known. I’d like to challenge you today—come down from the tree. We’d like to know you!

Others of us, right now, Jesus may be doing something in your life, but you don’t want to tell anyone because they might judge you. You don’t want anyone see you coming to church, because of your reputation. What tree are you hiding in? If we are not like the blind man on the road … many of us are like the SHORT MAN in the city.

The Blind man had an encounter with Jesus … and now, so does Zacchaeus.

And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” (Luke 19:5, ESV)

Wow. Wow. I want you to notice again the same spiritual recovery pathway as the blind man. Zacchaeus senses a deeper need. He was an obstacle … the crowds. And, the crowds not only keep him from seeing Jesus, but his fear of being seen by the crowds keep him from fully seeing Jesus.

But Praise God … Jesus STOPS … AGAIN. He stops at the bottom of the tree and, even though Zacchaeus is trying to hide, Jesus sees him and calls to him. “Get down here!” And then, he invites himself over to his house. Even more, he says, “I MUST stay at your house—TODAY!”

Now, how would you react if Jesus invited himself over—today? You might say, “Uhhhhh … today …. like right now? Ooofff I don’t know Jesus … it’s kind of short notice.” In fact, for some of us, Jesus is trying to invite himself to our house right now … and we are denying him entry. Some of us are saying, “hold on Jesus … my house is mess! I have to clean it up before I will let you in.” Is that you today? “Jesus, my house is not big enough, my house is not in order, my house is embarrassing … let me work on that and then I’ll invite you in.” Too many of us are trying to CURATE our lives so they look perfect. Our social media world has influenced us more than we think. We don’t want Jesus in our house … because we don’t think we are good enough.

Friends, that is the wrong attitude. That is a works-righteousness attitude. Jesus does not need you to clean up your life; he is the one who washed you clean by the Word. He JUSTIFIES you … Then he SANCTIFIES you. Our holiness is not a pre-requisite to come to Jesus; it is a response to the glorious grace of his Gospel. When Jesus says, “Let me in ...” we need to respond like Zacchaeus.

The Climb of Salvation

These two stories are a type of conclusion the ones that came before in chapter 18. They are the capstone of the spiritual lessons we have already learned. Last week, we learned about the humble infants that came to Jesus. Like them, Zacchaeus needed also to humbly come. Just as the persistent widow cried out day and day for help—so too did the blind man. Like the tax collector in the temple, both Zacchaeus and the Blind Man have no hope but to cry out in mercy for Jesus. Unlike the rich ruler, Zacchaeus responds with repentance and joyfully gives his money away to follow Jesus.

This is what happens when you know our true destination. The map makes sense. Jesus is the goal. And when you fall in the arms of Jesus … life changes; you are found. Which brings us back to the beginning of the message. Jesus concludes this section by stating his mission, and the theme of this whole series:

For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. (Luke 19:10, ESV)

Friends, all of us, at one point, were lost on our own Jericho Road. The treacherous terrain of life can push us toward Jesus, or away from him. We can hide in the tree, or when Jesus calls to us we can come down like Zacchaeus.

And don’t miss the profound implication here. Jesus asked Zacchaeus to come down from the tree … as he was on his way to climb another tree. Jesus essentially says, “Come down here, so I can go up there.” That’s the majestic reversal. Jesus says, “I’m going to climbing another tree … so salvation can come to your house.”

And in just a few short chapters, we will all see what Jesus was talking about.