In the eighteenth chapter of the Gospel of St. Luke you will find Christ
was going into Jericho, and as He drew near the gates of the city there
was a poor blind man who sat by the wayside, begging people to give him a
farthing, and crying out: “Have mercy on a poor blind man!”
This blind beggar met a man who said to him: “I have good news to tell
you, Bartimeus.”
“What is it?” asked the beggar.
“There is a man of Israel who can give you sight.”
“Oh, no! There is no chance of my ever receiving my sight. I never shall
see. In fact, I never saw the mother who gave me birth. I never saw the
wife of my bosom. I never saw my own children. I never saw in this world,
but I expect to see in the world to come.”
“Let me tell you. I have just come down from Jerusalem, and I saw that
village carpenter, Jesus of Nazareth; and I saw a man who was born blind,
who had received his sight, and I never saw a man who had better sight.
He does not even have to use glasses.”
Then hope rises for the first time in this poor man’s heart, and he says:
“Tell me how the man got his sight.”
“Oh,” says the other, “Jesus first spat upon the ground and made clay,
and put it on his eyes, and then He told the man to wash his eyes in
the pool of Siloam, and he would receive his sight. More than that,
Bartimeus: He does not charge you any thing. You have no fee to pay. You
just tell him what you want, and you get it--without money and without
price. It does not need dukes, lords or influence. You just call upon Him
yourself. And if He ever comes this way, do not let Him go back without
your going to see Jesus.”
And Bartimeus said: “I will try it. There is no harm in trying it.”
I can imagine Bartimeus being led by a child to his seat, as usual, and
that he is crying out: “Please give a blind beggar a farthing.”
He hears the footsteps of the coming multitude, and he inquires: “Who is
passing? What does this multitude mean?” They tell him that it is Jesus
of Nazareth passing by. The moment he hears that he says: “Why, that is
the man that gave sight to the blind!”
The moment it reached his ear that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to
cry out at the top of his voice: “Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy
upon me!”
Some of those who went before--perhaps Peter was one of them--rebuked
him, thinking the Master was going up to Jerusalem to be crowned King,
and did not want to be distracted. They never knew the Son of God when He
was here. He would hush every harp in Heaven to hear a sinner pray. No
music would delight Him so much. But the blind man still lifted up his
voice, and cried louder: “Thou Son of David, have mercy on me!”
This prayer reached the ears of the Son of God, as prayer always will,
and they led the poor blind man to Him. Well, when Jesus heard the blind
beggar, He commanded him to be brought. So they ran to him, and said: “Be
of good cheer. The Master calls you. He has a blessing for you.”
When Jesus saw Bartimeus He said: “What can I do for you?”
“Lord, that I may receive sight.”
“You shall have it.”
And the Lord gave it to him. And now the beggar follows with the crowd,
glorifying God. I can imagine he sang as sweetly as Mr. Sankey--and no
one can sing more sweetly than he--when he shouted: “Hosanna to the Son
of David!” No one sang louder than this one who had received his sight.
Then he follows on with the crowd, which we see pressing into the
gates of the city. I can imagine, when he gets into the city, he says
to himself: “I will go down and see Mrs. Bartimeus.” Of course, after
all those years of blindness, he had some curiosity to see what his wife
looked like.
As he is passing down the street, a man meets him, and turns around and
says: “Bartimeus, is that you?”
“Yes; it is I.”
“Well, I thought so, and yet I feared my eyes must deceive me. How did
you get your sight?”
“I just met Jesus of Nazareth outside the walls of the city, and I asked
Him to have mercy on me; and He gave me sight.”
“Jesus of Nazareth! Is he now in this part of the country?”
“Yes; He is on His way to Jerusalem. He is now going down to the eastern
gate.”
“I should like to see Him,” says the man. And he runs straightway down
the street. But he can not get a glimpse of Him, being small of stature,
on account of the great throng around Him. He runs to a sycamore tree,
and says to himself: “If I get up there and hide, without any one seeing
me, He can not get by without my having a good look at Him.”
A great many rich men do not like to be seen coming to Jesus.
Well, there he is in the sycamore tree, on a branch hanging right over
the highway, and he says to himself: “He can not get by without my having
a good look at Him.” All at once the crowd comes in sight. He looks
at John. “That is not He.” He looks at Peter. “No, that is not He.”
Then he sees One who is fairer than the sons of men. “That is He!” And
Zacchæus, just peeping out from among the branches, looks down upon that
wonderful--yes, that mighty--God-Man in amazement.
At last the crowd comes to the tree, and it looks as if Christ is going
by; but He stops right under the tree. All at once He looks up and sees
Zacchæus, and says to him: “Zacchæus, make haste and come down.”
I can imagine Zacchæus says to himself: “I wonder who told Him my name. I
was never introduced to Him.” But Christ knew all about him.
Well, He said to Zacchæus: “Make haste and come down.” He may have added:
“This is the last time I shall pass this way, Zacchæus.” That is the way
He speaks to sinners. “This may be the last time I shall pass this way.
This may be your last chance of eternity.” There are some people in this
nineteenth century who do not believe in sudden conversions. I should
like them to tell me where Zacchæus was converted. He certainly was not
converted when he went up into the tree, but he certainly was converted
when he came down. He must have been converted somewhere between the
branches and the ground.
The Lord converted him right there. People say they do not believe in
sudden conversions, and that if a man is converted suddenly he will not
hold out--he will not be genuine. I wish we had a few men converted like
Zacchæus in London. They would make no small stir. When a man begins to
make restitution it is a pretty good sign of conversion. Let men give
back money dishonestly obtained in London, and see how quickly people
will believe in conversion. Zacchæus gave half his goods to the poor.
What would be said if some of the rich men of London did that? Zacchæus
gave half his goods all at once, and he said: “If I have taken any thing
from any man falsely, I restore him fourfold.” I think that is the other
half.
But to get Christ is worth more than all his wealth. I imagine, the next
morning, one of the servants of Zacchæus going with a check for £100, and
saying: “My master a few years ago took from you wrongfully about £25,
and this is restitution money.”
That would give confidence in Zacchæus’s conversion.