Please turn to Mark chapter 10. Mark chapter 10 starting in verse 46. Hear now the word of our God. And they came to Jericho. And as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples in a great crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stopped and said, call him. And they called the blind man, saying to him, Take heart, get up, he is calling you. And throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. And Jesus said to him, What do you want me to do for you? And the blind man said to him, Rabbi, let me recover my sight. And Jesus said to him, Go your way, your faith has made you well. And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way. Now when they drew near to Jerusalem to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples and said to them, go into the village in front of you and immediately as you enter it you will find a colt tied on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it. If anyone says to you, why are you doing this? Say, the Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately. And they went away and found a colt tied to the door outside in the street and they untied it. And some of those standing there said to them, what are you doing untying the colt? And they told him what Jesus had said and they let them go. And they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it and he sat on it. And many spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields. And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest! And he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. And when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve. This is the word of our God. The last time that we encountered a blind man in Mark's Gospel was just before the transfiguration. Just before the disciples, Peter, James, and John, got to see Jesus revealed in his glory, just before their blindness, in a sense, was taken away, Jesus healed the blind man. And now, just before the triumphal entry, Jesus encounters another blind man. The Transfiguration and the Triumphal Entry are really the two places in Mark's Gospel where Jesus' identity is most clearly revealed. And both are preceded by the opening of the eyes of the blind. Three times now, Jesus has predicted his coming death and resurrection. And three times, the disciples have missed the point. The opening of the eyes of the first blind man and the transfiguration did not help. For that matter, the opening of the eyes of the second blind man and the triumphal entry will not help them get it anymore. No amount of healings, exorcisms, or other miracles will open the eyes of the disciples. Only the Holy Spirit will open their eyes as the Spirit is poured out after Jesus is raised up from the dead and seated at the right hand of the Father. And yet, There is one who gets it better than the disciples. One whose eyes are still blind when he gets it. Because the blind man sees more clearly than the disciples. Verse 46, and they came to Jericho. Now, Jericho is at the foot of the ascent to Jerusalem. From the Jordan Valley, there is a steep climb of more than 3,500 feet in vertical elevation to Jerusalem, which is only 13 miles away in a straight line. Now, for some perspective on this, the Youngsmas live almost exactly 13 miles from this place where we now sit. 13 miles to the south side of South Bend. Imagine if there were a 3,500, 3,700 foot rise in elevation over those 13 miles a Lot of switchbacks a lot of especially in a dry climate like the one there It's a very dry barren rugged landscape and a very windy crooked path through the mountains But this was actually the preferred route that pilgrims would take, since it gave them a much easier route through the Jordan Valley, and then only the last ascent would be the difficult part. It would give them basically one hard day's climb up into the mountains, rather than the mountainous route on foot through the hill country. But Jericho is more than just the preferred pilgrim's route to Jerusalem. Jericho is also where Joshua began his conquest of the Promised Land. And remember that Jesus' name is simply the Greek form of Joshua. The last time Joshua came to Jericho, the walls came tumbling down. Jericho is also the place where Elijah crossed the Jordan and went out into the wilderness. This is the place where Elijah left the land and went out and was taken up in the whirlwind. And then, remember that after that, Elisha receives the cloak of Elijah, the mantle of Elijah, and comes back and crosses the Jordan on dry land, just like Joshua had done, as Elisha now comes in to the promised land and begins a second conquest. So this is the place where Joshua came. Joshua whose name means Yahweh saves. This is the place where Elisha began his conquest as it were. Elisha whose name means Elohim saves, God saves. And now it is the place where Jesus prepares to ascend the mountain to Jerusalem. For the third time the conquest of Israel will begin at Jericho. and as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a great crowd notice the crowd is traveling with him this is after all the Passover there would have been many pilgrims heading on their way preparing to ascend to Jerusalem and they would want to be doing this together as a group because it's a perilous journey if you're by yourself as the parable of the Good Samaritan reminds us And as they are leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. Now, there's a reason why he identifies Jesus as the son of David. Over the centuries, the legends have developed in Jewish thought that Solomon was an exorcist with power over the demons. And so when Bartimaeus calls Jesus the son of David and asks him to have mercy on him, he is likely thinking of Jesus as the healer king, as the exorcist king. And this is something that the idea of Jesus as the new Solomon, Jesus as the one who would have power over disease, illness, demons, and truly, indeed, the hands of the king are the hands of a healer, and so the rightful king would be made known. But many in the crowd do not understand this. And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, Son of David, have mercy on me! Now you need to understand that no one in all of Mark's gospel, besides Peter, has ever addressed Jesus as the Messiah, as the Christ. Jesus has gone to great lengths that the disciples not let it be known that he is the Christ, the Messiah. And heretofore, what have the people said about Jesus? Some say he's John the Baptist. Others say he's Elijah. Others say one of the prophets. So far in Mark's gospel the emphasis has been everybody thinks of Jesus as a prophet. Nobody thinks of him as the son of David. Nobody thinks of him as the Messiah. So Bartimaeus is the first of the bystanders. He's the only one among the crowds who has gotten it. He understands that Jesus is the son of David. And Jesus stopped and said, call him. And so he called the blind man, saying to him, take heart, get up, he is calling you. Notice all the emphasis on the word call there, three times in that one verse. And throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. And Jesus said to him, what do you want me to do for you? And the blind man said to him, Rabbi, let me recover my sight. And Jesus said to him, go your way, your faith has saved you. That's what this word here means. It can either refer to physical or spiritual salvation. And there's a very obvious reference to the physical salvation as it were. Immediately he recovered his sight. But there is an equally obvious spiritual reference. And he followed him on the way. The language of this passage demands that we see this as the language of discipleship. Jesus calls Bartimaeus. Verse 49, the word call appears three times. Bartimaeus follows Jesus. The same word when Jesus calls people to follow him. Bartimaeus now follows Jesus. On the way. The language of the way, the road, the path. This is the language of discipleship as Jesus calls his disciples to walk in his way. So Bartimaeus, now set free from his blindness, represents those who have found enlightenment and follow the Master, follow Jesus. Now, Think about what this is doing in light of what we've seen in previous weeks. For instance, the rich young ruler, the rich young man who came to Jesus and said, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Now, also think about the fact that this is happening publicly. When the rich young man came to Jesus and said, what must I do to inherit eternal life? I'll bet the disciples who were standing around were like, yeah, we want this guy to be one of us. But Jesus called him the radical obedience. Sell all that you have, give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. And come, follow me. Now we have this blind beggar following Jesus. Well, not blind anymore. But he's still a ragged beggar. What sort of rag tag following is Jesus seeking? He turns away the wealthy and calls the poor. I am convinced, brothers and sisters, that one of the reasons why the Church in America has gotten into the mess that it's in is because we haven't gotten the point about what Jesus is saying here. The Church of Jesus Christ will never succeed in her current attempt to woo and to win the power brokers of society. Or rather, if she does, it will result in her own self-destruction. Because if our goal is to woo and to win the power brokers, then you will subtly adjust the call of discipleship to make it a little easier. If you want to get the wealthy, if you want to get the important, if you want to get the powerful, then you have to find a way of getting them in that doesn't make them break with their lifestyle, with their culture. And so the result will be a truncated Christianity that has nothing left to say to our culture. And if you need evidence for that, visit any mainline church in this area. Because over and over again, that's what the mainline has done. That's what Protestantism has done in trying to seek, to reach out, to get the wealthy, the rich. It's precisely what happened in the 19th century. Charles Hodge expressed his concern that the church was no longer preaching to the poor, and was increasingly focusing on the wealthy. Now, part of that was because Presbyterians were largely Scots, and so in 1800, there were lots of poor Scots. But by 1850, there weren't that many poor Scots anymore. They had done rather well for themselves. And an awful lot of people who had been rather poor in 1800 were now rather wealthy in 1850. They had done well for themselves. But in the process, the Presbyterian Church became synonymous with wealth and power. And the result was described in 1853 by my favorite ruling elder, Stephen Caldwell. This is what he says in 1853. I know some of you have heard this before, but it bears repeating. 1853, mind you. Few seem to perceive what appears fearfully evident to the writer, that our existing Christianity is almost universally corrupt in 1853. You thought this was a recent event. Stephen Colwell saw this 150 years ago. and is becoming more so continually, that unless its present tendencies be speedily reversed, a state of worse than medieval darkness will soon settle upon Christendom. Not a state of intellectual decrepitude and enslavement, but one of intellectual triumph and haughty independence. Not a state in which the Church, like a besotted despot, will drag men in chain gangs behind her body's car, but one in which man will rise in proud supremacy and either trample the Church underfoot, or else Spare her in Gibeonite degradation to become a hewer of wood and a drawer of water about the gorgeous temple of Mammon." And then more prosaically he says, or to say the very least, the church and the world will move on in harmony, neither disposed to assert its own peculiarities. Doesn't that describe what has happened in a vast portion, not just of the main line, even in evangelical churches, even in reformed churches. You see, what's interesting about Colwell is that his prescription, his prescription for the solution to what the church needed to do in 1853 in order to turn this, to turn the car around as it were, he said, the church needs to preach to the poor. Interesting. He didn't say, oh, the solution is we need better programs. His solution was to say, no, we've got to understand that we have to bring the gospel to the poor. And he said, part of it is because the wealthy want their ears tickled. And he warned, he said, look, in Philadelphia today, in 1853, if a Presbyterian minister announces he's going to be preaching on predestination next week, half his congregation is already there was this move away from sound doctrine and the ministers were still orthodox but the congregations were saying we don't want to hear certain parts of it and so the ministers tended to stay away from those topics and the next thing you know nobody believed those topics anymore because they're not hearing sound preaching on it and the next thing you know all you're hearing is what the congregation wants to hear And Colwell understood that what happens when the church ignores the poor is that the church becomes obsessed with power and privilege. Now, it's not that we should ignore the powerful and privileged. Jesus loved the rich young man that came to him. But he did not water down the call of discipleship. When Jesus bids a man come, he bids him come and die. If the wealthy and powerful can accept that message, if they can humble themselves and sell their possessions and give to the poor and come follow Jesus, great! Jesus would gladly have received that rich young man as his disciple. Jesus loved him. But Jesus also calls the least likely, and welcomes those who have nothing to contribute, a ragged beggar who's been blind for the last number of years. This man, Jesus receives and calls him also to follow him, because it is from these that he intends to build his kingdom. He calls the weak, the foolish, the poor, and he bids them come at thy. We are called to preach the gospel of Jesus to all nations. And the Jews thought that wealth and power were a sign of God's blessing. They should have known from the Psalms that that was not always true. Jesus demonstrates that the wealth and glory of this age is nothing compared to the wealth and glory of the age to come. That heavenly treasure is far more desirable than earthly gold. And as we have seen repeatedly in these central chapters of Mark's gospel, is that the only way to that heavenly glory is the way of the cross, the way of suffering, the way of service, the way of humiliation. And now Bartimaeus, the one who was blind but now sees, and indeed he saw long before he saw. He saw long before he had physical sight. He saw the Messiah. He saw the Son of David. He knew this was the one he was waiting for. And he follows Jesus in that way. He follows Jesus in the way of the cross as he ascends to Jerusalem. And in the following scene, as Jesus comes to Jerusalem, we see very clearly who Jesus is, and for one brief moment, so does everybody else. You might say, the Transfiguration was one moment where Jesus' glory was made known very outwardly and evidently. There's another way in which the triumphal entry reveals His glory, not so much, not that He started shining and radiated, but rather His true identity was made known, at least for a time. And when they drew near to Jerusalem to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples and told them to go and find this cult and bring it to Jesus. Why does Jesus send them to get a cult? Only the lame and the sick and the very old would ride into Jerusalem for pilgrimage. When you are on pilgrimage to Jerusalem, when you are coming to the feasts, you walk. That's the whole point. But Jesus says, get me this cult. Why? The only reason why you would want to ride into Jerusalem at Passover is if you want to attract attention. If you want to get people to notice you. One thing we should make clear, the triumphal entry is not a spontaneous outburst of messianic fervor. We should not at all be ashamed of saying that Jesus orchestrates this. He sets it all up. Processions in the ancient world were very, very rarely spontaneous. They are always organized. You start with a group of dedicated followers, and then the onlookers, those around, get drawn into the hubbub and the commotion. And so Jesus deliberately sets up a scene that will look like the coronation of Solomon. In the book of Kings, when Solomon is crowned, he rides David's donkey. Some people have said, ah, Jesus riding a donkey, that's a picture of his humility. No, it's not. He is claiming to be the Davidic King, because the Davidic King is the one who rides a donkey into Jerusalem at the feast. We're told in the previous verses that a great crowd was coming with Jesus from Jericho to Jerusalem. These are the ones who heard Bartimaeus identify Jesus as the son of David. And Jesus responds by opening his eyes. Now, Jesus didn't say at that moment, at least as far as we know, yes, you're right, I'm the Son of David. But, by accepting being called the Son of David, and by opening the eyes of a blind man who calls Him the Son of David, He is saying, you are right, I am the Son of David, I am the King who brings healing to His people. And so the crowd that's coming up from Jericho would have already understood that Jesus has accepted the title, Son of David. So you have a large crowd with Jesus, which is ready to believe that this quite possibly could be the Messiah. You have the twelve, who already know that he is the Messiah. All he needs to do is hop on a donkey, and his disciples, the twelve, Bartimaeus and others who are following him, will start proclaiming, this is the son of David, and then other pilgrims will be drawn into the procession, and next thing you know, you have a huge crowd shouting out Hosanna. This is, which of course, Psalm 118, which is what they're quoting from here, is one of the Hallel Psalms which the pilgrims would have been singing and chanting as they came to Jerusalem on pilgrimage. So this is already something that's on their minds as they're coming to Jerusalem. And so they come, and Jesus is sitting on a donkey just as Genesis 49 has spoken of the scepter of Judah. This is the original prophecy that spoke of Judah being connected with royalty, and it even speaks of the ass's cult that the ruler from Judah would tie to a vine. So already Judah, ass, David, all these things are being connected together. And so they come and the crowd is shouting out, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David. Hosanna in the highest. This is a paraphrase of Psalm 118 verses 25 and 26 which we've already sung. The crowds are declaring that the coming of Jesus to Jerusalem is the coming of the victorious king to his city. Because Psalm 118, if you think back to what we sang, Psalm 118 is the song of the triumphant king. I fought against my enemies and I destroyed them. And now as he comes to Jerusalem, as he comes to his own city, he is hailed as the conquering king. He is hailed as the one who has defeated his enemies and is now coming in glory to his city. And the crowds are singing, Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the coming king. Blessed is the king whom we are singing about as he's riding on his donkey, as he's coming into the city. And in Zechariah 9, the prophet has spoken of this day. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you! Righteous and having salvation is he! Humble and mounted on a donkey! On a colt, the foal of a donkey! Jesus deliberately enacts Zechariah 9 as a picture of the coming kingdom. He has come to Jerusalem in order to be proclaimed king. In other words, Jesus is going to pick the fight. In Mark's Gospel, it's not that the authorities are coming after Jesus. Jesus is the one who picks the fight. Yeah, we've heard earlier in Mark's Gospel that the Pharisees aren't really happy about Jesus and they're concerned about him. But in Mark's Gospel, the emphasis is that Jesus deliberately provokes them. Now, Some people have wondered, why didn't the Jewish or Roman authorities do anything on this day when they hear the crowd shouting, Hosanna, the Son of David is coming, all this sort of thing. Well, with respect to the Jews, to some extent it took them by surprise. Jesus has not been going around the countryside stirring up messianic expectations. In fact, Jesus has been insistent that the disciples not refer to him as the Christ. So while the priests and the scribes do not like this Galilean teaching, they are not yet overly concerned about his political agenda. And the Romans, for that matter, they're used to pesky Jewish noisemakers. So what if there's a big hubbub? So what if everybody's talking about the latest messianic pretender? If they cracked down on every crackpot, it would be a waste of their time and energy, and for that matter, it would only provoke the Jews further. Jesus has no army. He has no known political aspirations. So let the little people blow off steam. It's Passover week. It's the week the Jews are celebrating deliverance from Egypt. Naturally there's going to be some anti-Roman blowhards talking about the coming of the Davidic Kingdom. So what? Let them shout. Who cares? Next week it'll be all over and we can go on with business as usual. For that matter, even a week later, Pilate does not seem particularly concerned about Jesus as a credible political threat. Jesus has not done a very good job of building up an army, building up a political following that's ready to overthrow the Roman army. Pilate, even when he hands Jesus over to be crucified, does so more out of Jewish pressure rather than because he thinks that Jesus is actually dangerous to Rome. Little did he know. And so Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple, and when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the trump. Now, we'll see more about the significance of this next week, but for now it's enough to see that the king has come to his own. He has come to the temple, he has come to his city, and he's reconnoitering, he's looking around and planning his next move. But it's late, so he does nothing but look. But of course, If you know the scriptures, you know that when God looks, something's about to happen. He sees. He knows. He understands what's going on in his temple. When Jesus is just looking around, he is not passive. He sees the disorder in the temple. He sees the dysfunction in his church. All throughout the Old Testament, we're told over and over again, the Lord looked down from heaven, or the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, or for that matter, the eyes of the Lord are upon the wicked. When you hear that God sees something, you expect that the next thing that's going to happen is that God does something. And indeed, we'll hear, as the king comes to his own city, he sees. Now, I want you to think about that in terms of our life together as the city of God, as the people of God. Because our Lord Jesus Christ is head of His church. And he sees. He takes note of the disorder and dysfunction in his church. He sees the disorder and dysfunction in our lives, in our relationships. And the King has come in order to make things right. Now, of course, his way of making things right may not be quite what you expect. Jesus' disciples expect that Jesus has come to make things right. And they know what that means. The Romans will be overthrown, the Kingdom will be restored. Of course, that will happen. 300 years later, Constantine will bow the knee to Jesus, and the Roman Empire will submit to the rule of the Messiah. Now, we saw earlier that Jesus is not especially concerned to water down his message in order to attract the rulers of this age. But what happens is, by not watering down the message, by the radical call of discipleship going forth, eventually that does wind up subverting even the Roman Empire. But that doesn't happen through the politics of this age. There was no war, at least not a war waged with the weapons of this world. Rather, the overthrow of Rome came about through the politics of the age to come. It was because the disciples taught their disciples to follow the way of Jesus. It was because the church was seeking a heavenly kingdom that earthly kingdoms fell before the preaching of the gospel. Now, in the reformed churches today, there are two competing visions about how to think about these things. Some argue that the church should try to transform culture. They tend to focus on the movers and shakers and try to be at the cutting edge of culture. I wonder at times what they would say to that rich young man. Hey, don't worry. You can use your wealth to further the kingdom of God. Others argue that the church and the world comprise two different kingdoms, and so therefore the church should not be particularly concerned about the things of this age. The church should preach the gospel, save souls, and leave the care of the poor to private charity or state intervention. I also wonder what they would say to that rich young man. Hey, you're wealthy, so what? Neither that two kingdoms model nor the transforming culture model adequately accounts for what Jesus himself did for us and called us to do. You see, the church's business is not to transform culture. In that respect, I would be more with the two kingdoms folk. But the church's business is to live as the kingdom of God. We are to be a counterculture that demonstrates to the watching world what the kingdom of God is supposed to look like. If the result of that is that the rulers of this age are humbled and broken, and they repent and believe the gospel, thanks be to God. But that's not why we do it. But we call all those who inquire, what must I do to inherit eternal life? We call them to deny themselves, take up their crosses, and follow Jesus. We are to work diligently to live according to the pattern of our Master, as we deny ourselves, take up our crosses and follow Jesus. Our calling is to be, in that sense, like Bartimaeus. Those whose eyes may have been blinded, but yet, by the grace of our Lord, we see who he is he is the son of David he is the king he is the one who has mercy on his people and therefore we follow him and it doesn't matter that he has this ragtag following that could never accomplish anything by world standards this ragtag following What part are they supposed to do? They can't take on the Romans. They can't take on anybody. When trouble comes, they all run to the hills. Is this ragtag following ever going to amount to anything? Indeed. That's the following that Jesus calls to himself, because the weapons of his kingdom are not the weapons of this world, but rather the weapons of his kingdom are the preaching of the word, prayer, Sacraments, means of great people of God living together as one family, as a new people. Just this afternoon I was reading Cyril of Jerusalem's catechetical lectures, the lectures that he gave to the newly baptized, after they were first baptized. He's doing this about the year 350. In other words, just a few years after Constantine converted, and at a time when Christianity is not yet the official religion of the Roman Empire, indeed it's still, the Church is very concerned to distinguish between the church and the world and at one point Cyril says to his congregation of the newly baptized to those who have just come to the faith he says to them you need to understand that the temptations will come from the Jews and from the Gentiles and from the Samaritans he's speaking in Jerusalem after all and he says You are no longer any of these. You once were Jews, you once were Samaritans, you once were Gentiles. But now, you are a different race. You are now the people of God. You are now a new family. You belong to Jesus. And so, you need to realize that you are no longer part of... You're no longer Jewish. You're no longer Gentile. So often in our day, we tend to celebrate our cultural cultural heritage as it were and we tend to say These are Korean Christians and Dutch Christians and Scottish Christians and English That's not the point The point is that as the Church of Jesus Christ, we are a new race we have been brought out of all these different backgrounds and we have been made one new man in Christ and and we are to live as this new race, this new identity, this new people before the watching world that they might see us as something different and yet so often we forget so often we think that we can be Americans and Christians Cyril of Jerusalem who himself was rather powerful person in the world said you cannot be both a Roman and a Christian. You must be a Christian who happens to sojourn in Rome for a time. This is our calling. We are not called We're called to be a new race, a new people, a new identity that has been bound up with this Jesus. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the coming kingdom of our Father David. Hosanna in the highest. Almighty God, have mercy on us. For we too easily, we too quickly forget that we are no longer what we once were. And we too often return to that old way of life, to that way of life of our neighbors and of our culture. Help us, O Lord, to remember that You have placed Your name upon us. In our baptism, You have claimed us to be Your people. You have washed us and cleansed us and given to us Your Holy Spirit that we might no longer be what we once were. Help us, O Lord, as we live together as Your people. that we might show forth your grace and mercy, that we might live before the watching world as the family of our Lord Jesus Christ, the kingdom of our Savior. Have mercy, O Lord, for we are weak and frail, and we need your grace day by day. Help us, O Lord, to live this out, not only as a congregation, but indeed throughout this region, throughout the South Bend area, that your church might indeed remember these things. And may we, together with all your people in this area, live as those who are called by the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. And help us, Lord, as we seek to put this into practice, that we might encourage one another, that we might build each other up, that we might pray with and for one another, remembering your great faithfulness. O Lord, our God, Grant that we might deny ourselves, take up our crosses, and follow Jesus in the way of the cross. That we might also pass through this exile to that glorious resurrection, that glorious inheritance that you have promised to us, and that you have given the firstfruits of to us in the Holy Spirit. For we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.