Life Project Blog

As Jesus and his disciples were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed him. Two blind men were sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was going by, they shouted, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!”

The crowd rebuked them and told them to be quiet, but they shouted all the louder, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!”

Jesus stopped and called them. “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked.

“Lord,” they answered, “we want our sight.”

Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed him.

Matthew 20:29-34

The old Roman road, which was almost certainly the route Jesus took from Jericho to Jerusalem, would have been a tough climb for anyone going up to Jerusalem as it winds its way through a steep canyon, climbing several thousand feet in elevation as it goes. I’ve been up that road in a bus, and I can tell you that many on the bus were afraid as we crept along, many looked away from their windows; even our driver who had taken this route many times before was visibly nervous. As for me, being a little crazy as I am, I moved up to the front of the bus and sat on the step next to the driver for a better view; there are points along the way where the road is so narrow, and turns are so sharp that it appeared as though the front of the bus was protruding out over the edge of the cliff (with a direct drop of several hundred feet) as we slowly negotiated hairpin turns. Oh did I have fun on that trip!

As much fun as I had in a bus that day, I wouldn’t really want to hike up that road, even though the scenery is spectacular, for that would be a hard climb for anyone: This is the setting in which our story takes place. Jesus, the disciples and a large crowd are heading up into the mountains from one of the lowest points on earth, interesting to keep this in mind.

Right away, we have a contrast between the crowd, the blind men and Jesus; the crowd treats the blind men like outcasts, and by the standards of the times, they were outcasts since the prevailing thinking of that time would have been that they must have been serious sinners for God to have made them blind. Thus, the crowd rebukes them for trying to approach Jesus, but Jesus takes compassion on them. The contrast here is greater than just the crowd’s attitude as opposed to Jesus’ attitude, for there is also a distinction between the blind men’s attitude toward Jesus, and the way the crowd viewed Him, for the crowd was excited by the sight of the son of David going up to Jerusalem, for like so many others, they were expecting Him to restore old Israel and destroy the Roman occupation, while the blind men saw Jesus and His ability to give them sight so they might see His truth. Thus, we have two entirely different views of Jesus’ Messianic mission in Jerusalem, views that will come into sharp and definite conflict in the next section starting in chapter 21.

Jesus gives sight to these two, and as the scene closes, what is their response to this? They followed Him, and when we receive our sight, what do we do? We follow Him: “He, who has ears, let him hear; he who has sight let him see.”

As we will shortly discover, when Jesus arrives in Jerusalem, He will encounter many who have ears but do not hear, and many who have sight, but do not see.

Matthew 20:20-28

Jesus took the disciples aside on the road to Jerusalem to tell them in very explicit terms what would happen when they arrived in the city, and before we could hear their reaction, the mother of James and John, the sons of Zebedee, comes up to plead for her sons’ position around the glorious throne of Jesus in “your kingdom”.

Can you believe her timing?!

In the last section I mentioned the contrast between the earlier discussion of the disciples’ rewards in the Kingdom, and the real mission of Jesus in Jerusalem; immediately this woman interrupts the conversation for this. It is simply too much, that is unless we remember what is going on in this section, in which the dialogue in every scene is for the instruction of the disciples concerning the real messianic mission of Jesus. No, the messianic purpose of Jesus was not to re-establish the glory days of old Israel as an earthly Nation, nor is it the purpose of God to do so in the future, for the Kingdom of heaven is not of this world.

Jesus makes this clear in His answer, telling the woman that she doesn’t know what she is asking. Then He counters with a question to the disciples, asking if they can “drink the cup I am going to drink.”  Naturally, thinking that their position in the new Israel is on the line, they say they can. I must say that I wonder if they were even listening to what Jesus was telling them before the interruption. Jesus tells them that they will indeed drink from His cup, and that drinking of it won’t determine their position at His table, for His Father would make the seating chart.

Hearing this, they were indignant, for even now they seem to have been clueless about His real mission. It was at this point that the crux of His teaching comes to the fore; it would do us well to pay attention too:

Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (20:25-28)

Notice how Jesus taught them, using the Gentiles as the example to show them what they were looking like at this juncture, demanding to have high positions. The Kingdom of heaven is not of this world, and thus, the way to be great in the Kingdom of heaven is not a worldly journey, but a journey of service and putting others first, which is the exact opposite of what is considered great in this world. Jesus’ mission as Messiah was not to be hailed as a conquering hero, as it would be in this world for a great King, for He had come to be humiliated and tortured for the sake of all humanity; such was the degree to which His service would go in the service not only of Mankind, but of His Father. Implicit within these verses is something Jesus would say elsewhere, that the servant is not greater than the Master, and if the Master is Himself a servant, then so shall His disciples be servants. Sadly, not everyone who considers himself as a Christ follower today has learned this lesson, for if we are to follow Christ, we are to be servants, and if we are to be leaders in the congregation of followers of Christ, then we are to be the servants of all.

Matthew 19:23-30

Jesus was fully aware that the disciples would be confused after His conversation with the rich young man because, as we noted last time, He had blown up a major cultural expectation of the time that the rich were more favored by God than others were. As a result, He begins to teach them…

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” (19:23-24)

The rich young man hadn’t been overly enthused at the prospect of giving up all of his wealth, and Jesus underscored the difficulty that many have in entering the Kingdom and leaving the priorities of this world behind. Looking at His example here of putting a camel through the eye of a needle, I think we can safely say that He was engaging in a touch of hyperbole to make the point. The reaction of the disciples speaks volumes about the prevailing assumptions of that culture: “Who then can be saved?”

If you notice, Jesus in His answer blows up a second predominant assumption of that time:

“With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (19:26)

There are two cultural teachings that are being corrected here: First, that the rich are most favored by God, and the second is that a person can attain righteousness by reliance upon their own ability to keep the Law; both of these are false. This second teaching is still with us, sometimes it is obvious, and sometimes it is more subtle, we call it “works”. You cannot earn your way into the Kingdom by following the rules, “doing church right” or by doing good deeds, for you can only enter the kingdom by faith in God through Christ. Can the rich enter the Kingdom? Yes, they can, by placing their faith in God, and not in their earthly possessions and positions.

Peter is beginning to comprehend: “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?” (19:27)

In His answer to Peter’s question, Jesus shows them that there is both good and bad news, so to speak, for they have left their “stuff” behind for the most part, but it may not be only possessions that get in the way:

“Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.” (19:28-30)

Notice the relationships that may also need to be left behind, notice also that they are in the same list as “fields”, which is to say material possessions. The real point is that the follower of Christ must be willing to leave anything behind if it interferes with following Him, for with the Kingdom, you are either all in or all out. Aren’t these things that we all struggle with at one time or another?

This is one of those cases when the theology of the teaching is very simple, but living it can be difficult, yet with God, all things are possible. Consider this: The man who wrote this Gospel was a tax collector. He was rich, he also had a family, friends and associates, but by the grace of God, he was one of the Twelve, and he wasn’t the only one. Remember Zacchaeus? Joseph of Arimathea? Saul of Tarsus?

With God, all things are indeed possible!