SON OF MAN, SON OF DAVID

Luke 18:31-43

Key Verse: 18:31

“Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, ‘We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled.’”

          Last week we learned about the resurrection faith through the study of John 11. Jesus said to Martha, “I am the resurrection of and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies;” From this, we learned that a resurrection faith is a very practical faith, not a faith putting emphasis on head knowledge.

          Today we are going to study the last part of Luke 18. In this passage, Jesus predicts his suffering and death to his disciples once again. He told them about his suffering and death repeatedly so that they might somehow grasp the deep meaning of his suffering on the cross. Yet, his disciples still did not understand its meaning. It was hidden from them. In this passage, Jesus also gives sight to a blind man on his way to Jerusalem.

I. Jesus told his suffering and death again to his disciples (31-34)

          Look at verse 31-32. “Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, ‘We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. He will be handed over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him, spit on him, flog him and kill him.’” These verses show that Jesus, the Son of Man, is going up to Jerusalem in order to fulfill what was foretold about him by the prophets. For instance, the prophet Isaiah spoke of Jesus in Isaiah 53:1-4: “Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? He grew up before him like a tender shoot,  and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces… he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows,  yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.”  Jesus told his disciples that he would suffer and die on the cross by men. How could people commit such a terrible crime to Jesus? The crucifixion was made in a way to cause pain on a man to the maximum degree. If an ordinary man had been waiting for such an ordeal, he would be scared to death and he would become selfish and self-centered. But Jesus was different from them. Jesus embraced his upcoming suffering with great courage. Jesus made a firm determination to take the cross. He said to his disciples, “We are going up to Jerusalem…”

          Why was Jesus willing to go up to Jerusalem? It was because of man’s sin. Sin is invisible and it is attractive to men. Hence, many people commit sin at random. But sin is very deadly. It makes a person proud, selfish and heartless and rebellious. And worst of all, the outcome of sin is death (Rom 6:23a). When God created the world in the beginning, he created man to live eternally, but  because of sin, he is destined to perish. But Jesus came to the world to save sinners through his death on the cross. In Galatians 3:13-14, Apostle Paul says, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree. He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.”

          However, Jesus’ death is not the end of the story. In verse 33, Jesus said, “On the third day he will rise again.” Here the phrase, “On the third day he will rise again” indicates that Jesus’ suffering and death would not end with suffering itself. Rather, it has a glorious ending: his glorious resurrection. Jesus would suffer on the cross. But though his humble suffering, Jesus would crush Satan’s head. As we know well, Satan is the archenemy of God. Satan is so evil that he destroys men by planting hatred in the root of their hearts. Satan changes men into merciless and lawless people. But God destroyed the power of devil by raising his Son Jesus from the dead. Jesus would become the King of kings and the Lord of lords and our Savior by rising again from the dead.

          Then what was his disciples’ response to Jesus’ word? Look at verses 34. It reads, “The disciples did not understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what he was talking about.”  They did not understand any of Jesus’ word. Jesus had already told his disciples about his suffering and death many times. According to Luke’s gospel, actually this was third time Jesus told them about it. In Luke 9:22 Jesus said to them, "The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life." In Luke 9:44, Jesus also said, "Listen carefully to what I am about to tell you: The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men." But still his disciples did not understand any of its meaning. Why? It was because they did not want to hear about it. Our human mind works in such a way that it only hears what it wants to hear.  His disciples loved the world. Like many other Israelites, they hoped that Jesus would establish an earthly messianic kingdom when he entered Jerusalem. When Jesus established the kingdom, they would become the cabinet members of his kingdom. So they rejected Jesus’ word when he talked about his upcoming suffering.

Here we learn that we must learn how to listen to God’s truth regardless of how difficult it might be. As shepherds and Bible teachers, we also must help our Bible students to accept God’s truth from their hearts. Especially, we must teach the gospel truth, Jesus’ death and resurrection, diligently until they know its deep meaning. This was the same reason why Jesus helped Lazarus’ sisters to accept resurrection faith. The sisters said, “Lord, I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” But Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life… Do you believe this?”

II. A blind beggar receives his sight (35-43)

          Look at verse 35. “As Jesus approached Jerusalem, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging.” Now Jesus entered Jericho. Jericho was 15 miles northeast of Jerusalem and as he approached Jericho, Jesus met a blind man.  This man was the most sorrowful in the world. He was poor and was a blind man. Of all human miseries, blindness might be the hardest one to live with. God gave man two eyes so that he can able to see many beautiful things of the world. How nice it is to see snow and ice melting ice outside! How nice it is to see the ocean and stars in the sky. But this blind man could absolutely not see anything. He could not even see his mother’s face. His two eyes seemed to be there only to cry endlessly.

          One day this man was begging sitting by the roadside. He said, “Alms for the blind! Alms for the blind!” But not one gave him even one cent to him. He was hungry and lonely and sorrowful. Apostle Luke does not mention his name in his gospel. But in Mark’s gospel, his name was mentioned as Bartimaeus. Bartimaeus means, in Greek, “son of Timaeus.” This means that this man did not even have his own name! How sad this is! There was one family who had six daughters. The father of the family really wanted to have a son. So his family had their seventh child. But again the child was a daughter.  Then the father who  was greatly disappointed to have another daughter named his daughter, “No More.” And because of her name, this woman lived sorrowfully because many people teased her name. But this blind man  did not even have a name. Usually, a name is the meaning of one’s existence and one’s character. But this was a nameless person.

          This man was sitting on a matt crying and begging. He cried for help. Stretching out his two hands, he said, “Alms for the blind! Alms for the blind!” But no one put even a coin into his beggar’s bag. They just passed by. So he cried al the more. “Alms for the blind!” “Alms for the blind!” At that moment he heard the crowd going by. He stopped crying and asked them, “What’s going on?” They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” When he heard the name of Jesus, his cold hear suddenly warmed up and his hoarse voice restored and his heart began to burn. So he called out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” It was not just a shout. It was a scream.  It was an animal’s cry for help. He said, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

          Then what happened? People discouraged him by saying, “Be quiet! Shut up! You blind man. Don’t bother the teacher. He is too busy. A blind beggar like you does not deserve to see Jesus” Then what did he do? Did he give up coming to Jesus? No. He shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” This man called Jesus, “Son of David.” “Son of David” was a title for the promised messiah.

          What did Jesus do? Look at verses 40-41. Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him. When he came near, Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” “Lord, I want to see,” he replied.  This man was a poor beggar humanly. So he could have asked Jesus for some money or some clothes. But he did not ask for these things. Instead, he said, “Lord, I want to see.” What a difficult demand he was imposing on Jesus! Then what was Jesus’ response? Look at verses 42-43. Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has healed you.” Then immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus, praising God. When all the people saw it, they also praised God. Jesus did not see this man’s outward appearance as a blind beggar. Jesus saw his faith and complimented his faith saying, “Your faith has healed you.” That’s true. As Jesus said, this man had a remarkable faith. Because of his faith, Jesus blessed him. The fact that he came to Jesus by overcoming many barriers reveals his strong faith. As we know well, faith is everything in living as God’s children. If we have faith in God, we can please God, but if we don’t have faith, we only make our Lord feel sorry and disappointed. Jesus loved his blind and blessed him by giving him sight. It was God’s great miracle.

          There are many things we can learn from the blind man. Especially, we  learn that we must have a clear prayer topic when we come to God from him. Many people who do not experience God’s help simply because their prayer topics are not clear. But when Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” He said “Lord, I want to see.” May God give us wisdom. To know the meaning of Jesus’ suffering and death. May God also grant us wisdom so that we can ask God for what is most important in our lives like the blind man.

SON OF MAN, SON OF DAVID

Luke 18:31-43

Key Verse: 18:31

“Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, ‘We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled.’”

1.   Read verses 31-34. What lay ahead of Jesus in Jerusalem? What is the meaning of his suffering and death? (Isa 53:4,5;1Pe 2:24)

2.   What does it mean that he must rise again on the third day? (33; Jn 11:23-25; Ro 10:9,10) Why did Jesus keep teaching this to his disciples?  (31,34)

3.   Read verses 35-38. What was the situation of the blind beggar sitting by the roadside? How do you think he viewed himself, people and the world?  What did he know about Jesus?

4.   Read verse 39. How did the people regard this beggar? How did he respond to the rebukes of the people? What can we learn from him?

5.   Read verses 40-43. How was Jesus different? What did Jesus say to him? What was his one prayer request? How did Jesus respond? What can we learn here about Jesus? About prayer? What does this passage teach about faith?

6.   What did this man do after receiving Jesus’ grace? What can we learn from him? How did the people respond? What does this show about Jesus’ ministry?