But Some in the Crowd Stayed Blind

Just after Jesus healed the blind man, and opened the eyes of the crowd to show them one need not be without need to come to Him, He came through the gates into the city of Jericho.

If you take the end of Luke 18 and proceed to Luke 19 without a break, it appears to be the same crowd thronging the Master, the newly healed used-to-be blind man leading them in praise to God.

It's the same crowd that almost keeps Zacchaeus from Jesus.

Yet he's persistent, and Jesus looks up into the tree to address this man who so much desires to see Him.

And the crowd?  These people who should have just learned that those who need help are welcome to come to Jesus?

They complain.  They call Zacchaeus a sinner, saying Jesus shouldn't have anything to do with him.  By so doing, they distance themselves from he painful but all-important truth that they, too, are sinners Jesus came to save.  Not them.  They're perfect.

But Zacchaeus?  He's trouble.

Or so they think.  When the short man defends himself before them all, we see a much more generous heart than the crowd expected to see.  We see a man ready to sacrifice anything for the Lord, except his integrity.  Rather than cheat anyone, he goes above and beyond the law, recompensing much more for any hint of unfair dealing than the Lord by law demands.

Do you think the crowd learned their lesson that time?  That maybe they were sinners in need of Jesus just as much as the blind man and the short man?  That God loves to rescue those who come to Him in faith?

Of course we can't know.  But my prayer is that I will learn that lesson, whether they did or not.  And I will, by the matchless grace of God.