Kris Cooper Preaching: Luke 18:35-43

Good morning, Christ the King. I've already been introduced, but let me introduce myself again. My name is Reverend Christopher Cooper. I am the campus minister at North Carolina Central University in Durham, North Carolina. Go Eagles. And I am grateful to be here to speak to Christ the King this morning. Super grateful for your support. Super grateful for the prayers that you have been given to us. It's been a lot of adjustments, but guess what? God is faithful, and as the song said, he is able, right?

So I'm going to do what I'm here to do today, which is bring the word of God. First and foremost, I'm going to read the scripture, then I'm going to pray, and then we're going to dig right into the word. Amen?

We're coming from Saint Luke chapter 18, and we're starting at the thirty-fifth verse.

As he drew near to Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. And hearing a crowd going by, he inquired what this meant. They told him, "Jesus of Nazareth is passing by," 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." And Jesus stopped and commanded him 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 recover my sight." And Jesus said to him, "Recover your sight; your faith has made you well." And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God. — Luke 18:35-43

We're so grateful that God tells us that we shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Let us pray.

Father God, grateful for your word this morning. Grateful for the fact that you allowed us to come together in fellowship with one another. Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit, do what you are designed to do. Lead us and guide us into all truth when it seems like we're walking off the beaten path. Be a light and a lamp unto our feet, Father God, because this dark world can guide us in so many different directions. Holy Spirit, soften the hearts of men, Father God, so that the word of God may be firmly planted and rooted in our hearts, Father God, producing a tree for your glory and not our glory alone. Father God, put Chris Cooper behind the cross. Hallelujah, and allow your glory to show forth. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen.

The Blind Beggar and the Crowd

Can you imagine this blind beggar, right? As we look into the scripture, Jesus is coming by. He's walking on a common road. You know, a common road for us probably be I-40, it probably be the Beltway—it probably somewhere where we drive down all the time to get to our jobs, to get to our workplace, to get to our houses, to get to our families. And as he's walking down this common road, there is a crowd. I wonder why it's a crowd. Well, maybe it's because this man named Jesus, as you comb through Saint Luke, this man is performing miracles. This man is preaching the gospel. The kingdom is at hand. This man is challenging the Pharisees, the Sadducees. He's giving wise advice, and guess what? Everybody wants to be connected to someone who seems like they have it all together.

Now, I don't know about you, but you can look on Instagram, you can look on Facebook, you can look on a multitude of multimedia sites—if somebody seems like they got some good advice, they have zero to a million followers, and everybody wants to talk about what they're talking about. So imagine the following that Jesus had. Imagine the following that came across to Jesus, that walked with him, because this man is just making stuff happen. Some believed he was the Messiah, some didn't. Some rode with Jesus—I believe the disciples were with him—some didn't, but everybody wanted to be involved.

As Jesus is walking, then you come to focus in on a blind man. This blind man, he's on the street begging, and he's just trying to figure out, "Hey, what is going on? I hear all the steps. I hear something happening. Can somebody tell me what is happening on this road?" So he finds out—somebody tells him, "Hey, man, Jesus of Nazareth is here." So this man automatically switches. He figures out that Jesus is here. He said, "Oh, Son of David, have mercy on me." Some people quiet him down, but he says, "Oh, Son of David, have mercy on me."

Why would he have a cry of desperation? Why would he be so forceful to keep yelling? Why would he get to the point where it didn't matter if people were trying to silence him or not, where he would just scream out, "Jesus, have mercy on me"? Maybe it's because this blind beggar is seen as the lowest of the lowest. He's seen as the disenfranchised. He's seen as the individual who was not worthy to walk into the crowd.

He can't go into the temple because he is blind, and many times, blind people had to sit outside of the city walls because they were seen as the ones who were voiceless. They were seen as the minority. They were seen as the one where people just walked by and give no notice to. See, he was used to people just looking at him and walking by and not caring what state he was in, not caring about what his needs were, not caring about his very soul.

So when Jesus came, I'm pretty sure as people walked down this road, people talked about the man named Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth who was doing something and he said, you know what? This is my opportunity. Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me.

Maybe that's you. Maybe you're in this state where you're all alone, where you feel like the minority, maybe you're in the state where you feel voiceless, maybe you're in the state where it seems like you just can't get to Jesus where people are blocking you. Maybe you're disenfranchised. Maybe you feel like your story can't be told. Maybe people are blocking you, but what you need to do is have no shame in calling to Jesus.

See, this scripture makes it intentional to us that no matter where you are in life, no matter how beat up, no matter how upon, no matter how much you feel worthless, it is always okay to cry for Jesus. You know what's amazing to me? Christians, man, if you put us in a good musical show that we like, if you put us at a concert that we enjoy, right? We be thumping to the songs. We be doing all of that. Right? But when we come to the church and we are hurting and we are down, we tend to be silent. We tend at our darkest moments, we don't want anybody to know. We don't want to put this vision out that we just don't have it together, that we're not relying on Jesus.

But many times, we're like the blind beggar. Many times, we're in the state where we feel alone. We feel like we don't have a voice. Many times, we feel like Jesus is not near. Many times, we feel like we need to let something out, that we need him a little more, but we come in here and we just sit down.

But don't you know when we come with the fellowship of the brethren, when we need prayer, when we need to get to him, we should come in here, we should be crying, we should be like the beggar. Oh, son of David. Have mercy on me. Jesus, I need you. Jesus, I need you because we're encouraged by the saints. We're encouraged by the brother. We're encouraged by them. So we should be comfortable enough that when we feel like the presence is, Jesus, I need you. Preach it.

See, a beggar understood. No matter who he was, no matter if he was a covenant kid or not at that very moment, when Jesus passes by, I'm willing to cry out for him because I know Jesus fulfills my needs. Because I have a desperation for the person who I can call on, who can actually help me, who can actually be there for me.

For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. — Luke 19:10

Listen to me. What I'm saying here, it's always a good time to cry out to the Lord because the Lord is looking to seek those who feel lost, to seek those who feel downtrodden upon, to seek those who feel disenfranchised, to seek those who feel alone, to seek those who feel like they don't have a say. Jesus is looking for you. He wants to come see about you.

Jesus Stopped

Let me tell you what's crazy. And this is the second thing. Jesus could've easily been like the crowd. Hush. Be quiet. Don't say anything. They willing to tell you Jesus is around but they don't want you to really know Jesus. Ain't that funny? Hush. He could've kept walking. He could've just heard his cry and been like, you know what? I don't have time for this. But you know what Jesus did? Jesus stopped. He heard the blind beggar crying and he stopped. Everybody is in a rush to go to Jerusalem. He stopped everybody and he looked upon this blind beggar and guess what he did? He said, hey, what do you need? He told them to bring this blind beggar forward.

Listen to me. When you cry, Jesus always has time for you. He's not the person who only deals with you when they want to. He is not the person who when he hears you crying, he ain't waiting for you to get desperate a little bit more. He ain't the person that says, I need them to learn their lesson just a little bit more. So I'm going to ignore it because I need to make sure they're humbled a little bit more. He is not the type of savior who just says, I come when I feel like it. No.

When he hears your cry, he's the type of savior that loves you enough to say, look, crowd, I know this is what the majority wants to do, but I don't care. Somebody is crying out to me. He stops the crowd, says, look, you bring them forward. Now, you hear what I have to say.

You hear how I approach them and I need to let you know that I have time for the crowd just like I have time for the one who seems like they're not in the crowd. And I need to know what do you need? What do you need, sir? I know people overlook you. What do you need, sir? I know it seems hopeless. What do you need, sir? He is personal. He is personal. Think about that. Billions of people in the world. He's in control of the moon, the stars, the galaxy, the universe. Who am I that you would be mindful of me?

He is personal. He's willing to come to you face to face. He's willing to meet you in the scripture and he is willing to say, what do you need? See, many times we ain't like the blind man because we're scared to tell Jesus what we need. Like, it's bad. Right? I was a prideful dude. I was good at school, get a couple projects or whatever. My pride, my mind used to tell me all the time, no man is an island. But I just didn't want help. I'm going to figure this thing out. I would rather get a C and know I did it myself than have somebody help me a little bit and tell him what I needed. I probably would get an A because now I was enlightened to know, man, that's all I needed to know and figure this thing out.

And many times we take the same approach with Jesus, right? Jesus is saying, what do you need? We'd be like, man, I just want to do this myself. Maybe I don't need Christ in this area of life. I'm a little messed up but my pride is telling me I'm a good person. So I'm not going to go to Jesus. I only need Jesus for this real messed up part of my life. When in all actuality, you need Jesus in everything. When in all actuality, you should be crying to Jesus in all areas of your life.

He is personal enough and my parents, my mom and dad were personal enough to come to me and say, son, I don't care how you feel. I don't care if you feel like you don't need help. What do you need? And eventually I will have to break. I need this. Jesus has time for you and when he has time for you, he's not only there to listen and ignore, he's there to listen and ask you, what do you need?

He Fulfills the Need

As the scripture goes on, the third thing you realize is he fulfills the need. He listens to this guy. He hears his cry and then the guy says, man, I just want my sight. Not only did he receive his sight but he received to become in a covenant relationship with Jesus. He was not only blind physically but he was blind spiritually.

I need my sight, Jesus. Jesus said, hey, I got you. Have you ever met a person? I see this in college ministry all the time, man. They said they had me. Yeah, I said that many of times in college too but I didn't show up. He not only hears and listens, but he's a man of action. He listens to us say morning, noon, and night. It lets us know in Psalms he's forever listening. He's forever looking at ways to fulfill the need of his people.

You do not have because you do not ask. — James

He's letting us know sometimes you just got to keep asking it. There's an illustration in the Bible where it talks about the woman who just goes to the judge and all she does the whole time is just ask. This is what I need. Can I get this? This is what I need. Can I get this? And eventually the judge is saying, you're getting on my nerves. Here you go.

And all that is telling us is that we should be persistent like the beggar in desperation. Father, this is what I need. Because I rely on you, because I trust in you, because my life is in your hands. I need this. I'm willing to release myself. I'm willing to take my hands off of it. Father, I need this because I can't do it.

Here's the great thing.

The spirit of the Lord is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound. — Isaiah 61:1

Does that not fall in line with this blind beggar? Jesus is performing the word that he has given to us. We sing the song again. He's able. He's fulfilling his promise. He's able.

Who Is Really Blind?

Last but not least, here's the catch. Many times we focus on the blind man. But the truth is, who is really blind in this situation? I want you to think on this.

The blind man refers to Jesus as Son of David. Oh, Son of David. Son of David is a reference to who Jesus is with this scripture. It's a reference to his kingdom lasting forever because of the covenant he made with David. This blind man in his physical blindness understands who Jesus Christ really is. He's the Messiah. He is the savior of the world. You would think the blind man's first thing to ask for, Lord, could you heal my sight?

But the first thing he asked for from Jesus, he said, "Son of David, have what? Mercy. Oh. Have mercy on me." So he understood the need of his sinfulness before the need of his physical ailments. Right?

Now, he's the voiceless, he's the disenfranchised, he's the one who's looked down upon. The majority who could walk with Jesus, who had the resources probably to leave their home to walk down this road, to get to Jerusalem with Jesus—check out what they're doing. They walk by, they're willing to say Jesus is coming because hey, we love to talk about Jesus in the majority. We love to, right? Oh, Jesus is here but once the blind man needs mercy, what is their first reaction? "You are the voiceless. You are the hopeless. You are the disenfranchised. What you need Jesus for when we already have him? I'm going to keep you silent because according to society's terms, you ain't ready to be up here with the crowd. You ain't ready to be up here with the majority."

They didn't want that blind man to be saved. They didn't want that blind man to be healed. They wanted to keep him right where he was. It took Jesus to tell them to stop. It took Jesus to tell them to bring him upfront and for Jesus to say, "What do you need?" Who is Jesus really teaching at this moment?

See, the crazy thing is once he received his sight—I love the scriptures. It's intentionally letting us know that that man started glorifying God and then everyone in the crowd started worshiping God. Let me tell you something: you could say the people who are blinded the most was the crowd who always been walking with Jesus. Man, I read that. That convicted my heart. The people who said they had Jesus, the people who knew of him, who walked in his miracles, who walked in his word was the same people putting people down.

But this is what's great about the cross. Jesus is here for the minority and the majority. Right. He's here for the hopeful and the hopeless. He's here for the disenfranchised and the one who had the privilege. He's here for the voiceless and the one who had the voice. Jesus makes it clear at this very moment that guess what? Everybody—I don't care what ethnicity, what culture, where you stand at on this Earth—you need Jesus. You need the cross because nobody is going to bring people together. Nobody is going to reconcile relationships, fractured disenfranchisement. Nobody is gonna reconcile marriages. Nobody is gonna reconcile gripes between ethnicities and cultures. Nobody is gonna reconcile those things unless we have Jesus.

Jesus right here broke through so many barriers. He broke through so many societal norms. He broke through so many things when they all got together and started glorifying you. No longer was it about where this blind man stood or where the crowd stood. No longer was it about what society has said. What it really was about is that we come together and we glorify a man named Jesus. How does this happen? Through the cross of Christ. Through the cross of Christ. Jesus died on the cross for these very moments. Jesus died on the cross for this very reason so that different individuals can come together and worship him.

How? By his example through the Holy Spirit. Now, we all can learn to listen to those who need a cry out for mercy. We all can learn though no matter where we stand, we're all blind and we need Jesus to lead the way. And then we all can understand that when we witness, that when we evangelize, no matter how people talk, no matter how they smell, no matter how they feel, no matter where they live, we can come into the congregation and we can worship God together. Because of who? Because of Jesus.

So I just challenge you today. I challenge you today and I leave with, who are you? Are you the blind man desperate for mercy from the Son of David or are you the crowd? You're blinded by the fact that you get to walk with Jesus every day but you try to shut out the voiceless. Who are you? Doesn't matter who you are. But guess what? You're blind in some way and the only person who can make you whole is the one who took this messy situation and allowed us to see a beautiful picture of his grace. That is Jesus. Be blessed.

Prayer

Father God, man, we're so in love with you and we're so much convicted by your word. We're grateful, Father God, that you allow us to do some introspective things within our own heart, Father God, and see how much we need you, Father God. Give us a heart and a desperation for you, Father God. Help us understand that we can cry out to you, that we can trust that you hear us and that you're personal with us and you're willing to just sit down with us, Father God. Allow us to know that you are a need giver, Father God, and we can lean on that. But most of all, Father God, allow us to live within the cross, Father God, so that we don't have misconceptions or anything about where people came from or how they got here, Father God, but that we can glorify you together.

We love you and we need you. In Jesus name, amen.