Jesus and the Crowds

Luke 18

“As he approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard a crowd going by, he asked what was happening. They told him, ‘Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.’  Then he shouted, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’  Those who were in front sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he shouted even more loudly, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me!’  Jesus stood still and ordered the man 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 see again.’  Jesus said to him, ‘Receive your sight; your faith has saved you.’  Immediately he regained his sight and followed him, glorifying God, and all the people, when they saw it, praised God.” (Luke 18)

I was in the crowd that day and witnessed what you just read. Of course, what attracted the attention of most of us was the healing of the blind beggar. And yes, it was truly miraculous. But you surely understand that we already knew Jesus possessed the power of healing, though he always gave credit to his father, our YHWH God.

Eustache Le Sueur, Christ Healing the Blind Man
French, c. 1650

You see, Jesus had already been preaching and healing for three years, mostly in Galilee. Word of him had eventually reached us here in Jericho, and of course, that explains the crowd following him. And just so you know, we also understood that Jesus was merely passing through our city on his way to Jerusalem where, many of us believed, there would be a confrontation of sorts between him and our religious leaders.

We had no idea, I must admit, that what awaited Jesus in Jerusalem would be nothing less than his arrest, mock-trial and execution. And of course, no one could imagine that he would be raised from the dead after three days in a tomb.

But I am getting ahead of myself.

What I really want to tell you is how the crowds reacted to Jesus and how he reacted to them.

So, let’s go back in time. At the beginning of his ministry, Jesus came to the Jordan to be baptized by John. Crowds were coming out of Jerusalem to hear John and as you no doubt know, his message was one of repentance. Jesus was, at the time, unknown, though John voiced his prophecy of Jesus as the “Lamb of God.”

It didn’t take long for the crowds to shift from John to Jesus. Miracles of healing, of feeding multitudes, and of raising the dead elevated Jesus to a level far above John and also above our religious leaders. That fanned the flames of a heated jealousy on their part: a fire, that, finally, would be extinguished only with the death of Jesus.

Now, back to Jericho. As I said, I was in the crowd that day as Jesus was entering the city. And I have to say that the reaction of the crowd both surprised and chilled me to my bones. You see, we were following Jesus, knowing that he was on his way to Jerusalem. Many were hoping to witness one of his miracles, while others were hoping to hear him preach. But there’s no other way to say it: yes, we wanted to see Jesus heal someone, but clearly not the blind beggar!

You see, no one, myself included, considered the blind beggar worthy of a miracle. Let me say that again: none of us thought the blind beggar worthy of even a minute of attention from Jesus. If we’d been asked, we’d have responded with the hope that Jesus might heal one of our leading citizens, like the time he raised from the dead the daughter of Capernaum’s synagogue leader.

And so, we turned on the blind man, who was shouting toward Jesus. As your gospel says, we “sternly ordered him to be quiet.” But of course, he did not and Jesus gave him the attention that he sought. He was healed and then he followed along, joining those of us in the crowd.

We proceeded on into Jericho, again, hoping to see Jesus perform some sort of miracle. This time, we hoped, he would heal someone more respectable. But then, he did it again. Yes, again, Jesus engaged with someone who was entirely unacceptable to those of us in the crowd.

This time, it was the crooked chief tax collector, Zacchaeus. You remember his story, I am sure. Finding Zacchaeus hiding in a tree, Jesus invited himself to dine with him, a gesture that was extremely offensive to those of us in the crowd. Again, we were horrified, reminding Jesus that he would be dining with the most hated man in Jericho, a traitor to both our nation and our faith.

But you also likely recall that Jesus didn’t listen to us. Again, the crowd turned from an attitude of adulation to one of shock and offense at the behavior of Jesus. Imagine: healing a blind beggar? That was bad enough, but then, following up by inviting himself to dine with the most hated man in town?

Clearly, the mood of the crowd had soured. We were upset with Jesus, who was not turning out to be the man we had expected. And you know what? I don’t believe that Jesus minded that one bit!

Of course, you remember what happened later, in Jerusalem, don’t you? Entering the city on the back of a donkey, Jesus received a royal welcome, complete with cheering crowds throwing down their cloaks and palm branches in his path.

And just five days later? Another crowd was crying “crucify him!”

I am glad that I stayed in Jericho. Why? Because honestly, I don’t know what I would have done. Would I have been swept away by the jealousy of our religious leaders? Would I have been a member of that second crowd, calling on Pilate to release the murderer and kill the Son of God?

I am almost afraid to answer that.

So, now that I have told you this story, let me confess a few things. Please try not to judge me too harshly, and please, if you can, try to put yourself in my place.

First, the blind beggar. I had seen him often, almost every day. But I don’t even know his name. I had never given him a second thought. He was below the lowest level of our society, a non-person whose life was outside any definition of respectability.

And yet. Do you remember how he called out to Jesus? It only dawned on me later.

“Then he shouted, Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” That’s what he cried.

How could he know? What did he know? I mean, the rest of us were simply following along, mostly out of curiosity, hoping that this man, Jesus, might perform a miracle for us. Yet the blind beggar could see what we could not: this Jesus was more than a miracle worker. Actually, he was more than a man! He was the Messiah, the Son of God! Those of us in the crowd couldn’t see that. How could the blind man see what we could not?

And then, these words of Jesus came to me: “Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment, so that those who do not see may see and those who do see may become blind.” (John 9)

And second, there was Zacchaeus. Yes, Zacchaeus the crooked chief tax collector. After Jesus invited himself to dine with him, he was greeted at Zacchaeus’ house by no less than a crowd of tax collectors, all invited by Zacchaeus, their chief.

And do you remember what happened? I surely do. Here is what transpired:

“Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, ‘Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.’ Then Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.’” (Luke 19)

What does it all mean?

First of all, Jesus was not a performer, one who would do miracles to get attention or win popularity. The opinion of the crowd would not silence his message of repentance and mercy, and he would not be dissuaded from engaging with and healing those in our culture who were disrespected and deemed unworthy.

And second, Jesus spoke the truth, even when his listeners did not want to hear it, and even when they opposed him. He would not water down his message. And he would not compromise on the truth as it was given to him. If that meant calling out those of us who put others down, Jesus would not hesitate.

Jesus did not come to please crowds. He came to love them, including the low and despised, and he came to tell the truth, the truth of God’s love and justice.

And me? What does all of this mean to me? What has Jesus taught me?

All I know is that I need to reconsider a lot of my thoughts and attitudes. Jesus, it seems, has turned my life upside down. Maybe for good. I hope for good. Please pray for me, pray that I can bring the words and actions of Jesus into my heart and live as he lived, walking in faith and love.