The King of Mercy

Feb 28th, 1960

California, USA

Luke 18- 31 - 43

One thing we can notice about people is that they like herbs. George Washington and Abraham Lincoln are great emancipators and hero’s in our country. Winston Churchill is a hero in England. Mahatma Ghandi is a hero in India. These men are political hero’s. There are also other types of hero’s. Elvis Presley was the teenage hero for a time. Marilyn Monroe was or is a hero or idol to many movie fans. George Washington Carver is a race hero to the Negros and Ma Perkins is probably a hero to some housewives.

And then we have men who are called not hero’s but prophets or saviors. Gautana Buddha was one of these men. Mohammad was one of these men; Zarathustra was one of these men. Today, however, we are thinking of the one who far transcends any political, race or athletic, hero’s or so called religious saviors.

In the 6th Century B.C. there was a race of people with men called prophets. This race of people we meet at the corner store, or we read about them being cremated by Hitler at Daachau, or we hear of them in such words as Kosher or Yiddish. I am talking of course about the Jews.

In the 6th Century B.C. these Jews were talking about a Jewish hero, a Jewish Messiah, a Jewish Savior who would come and help not only His people, but all people. I am talking of course about Jesus Christ. We find Christ in our text for today: "And taking there twelve, He said to them, 'Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem and everything that is written of the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. For He will be shamefully treated and spit upon; they will scourge him and kill Him, and on the third day He will rise.' But they understood none of these things; this saying was hid from them, and they did not grasp what was said."

Now almost 600 years before Christ, what did the Jewish prophets say about the coming Savior? Isaiah prophesied this about the coming Savior; "But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was buried for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that made us whole." Again Isaiah says this; He was despised and rejected by men. A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief." Jeremiah speaks of the Savior in these words; "He shall reign as King and execute justice and righteousness in the land." And later in history Zachariah says, "Lo your kind comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on an ass."

All this hocus pocus about prophets sounds strange to our modern ears. IT sounds like fortune telling or telepathy to us. But historical records stand. Roughly 600 years before Christ the prophets told of a coming King, a savior who even though He is Kind, will be despised by men. He will have to suffer for men's sins and even though He is a king He will humbly ride on an ass. 600 years before Christ, the prophets predicted the same thing about Christ that Christ predicts about himself here in our text. It is the story of being shamefully treated, of being spit at, of dying a cruel agonizing death on a cross and of rising from the dead. Christ knew what was before him. He knew the road he would have to take.

As we think of this Jesus Christ prophesied by these strange prophets, we may be prone to think God could have done things differently. They would have slapped Billboards all over the place and built this new King up as a great prophet and then ushered him in with much fanfare.

Or take Hollywood. Certainly Cecil DeMille or one of the great producers would have had a different method. There would be pictures in fan magazines; there would be inside articles by Mr. Hollywood. There would be great Cinemascope productions!

Now we know God would have used none of these methods, but He should have known we as men like power. We tend to notice hero’s, or Kings or dictators. We understand these things. We respect force; we respect atomic bombs; we respect jets and large armies. We will go a long way to see kings. We will pay large sums of money to attend banquets where Presidents speak. We tend to idolize names like Morgan or Vanderbilt. We respect names like Lincoln or Washington. We notice big, powerful things. And thus we wonder why Christ came being born in a stable and working as a carpenter.

Look at this matter in the eyes of the Jews or Pontius Pilate. Here we are in the throne room of Pilate, the governor. Here in front of us stands a Jew, He is a kind looking man, but He also has a look of force. HE seems to be rather unconcerned by the pomp of the court. He neither seems afraid nor worried. Pilate looks at Him for a while and then He says - "Are you King of the Jews?" Christ then answers; "My Kingdom is not of this world." "Ha! This sounds like nonsense to Pilate. What a mock of show of force. Here in my presence He has no physical power so He resorts to other worldly babble..."

Or look at this all through the eyes of the disciples. They followed Jesus; they seemed to believe that He was a King, the Messiah told of by the prophets. But the disciples and the Jews of Jesus day seemed to be looking for ap political King. Possibly another Castro. The disciples were so strongly looking for a political King that after the crucifixion they thought all was lost. They even locked themselves in rooms for fear of the Jews. They were fearful until an event - the RESURRECTION!

But here in our text Jesus is walking along the hot dusty roads on the way to Jerusalem. As He walks, He also telling his disciples that He will be delivered to the Romans. the Gentiles. He even says that He will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. He then talks about how He will be beaten with whips, and then says something about rising on the third day. And our text says the disciples could not understand this. Naturally they could not understand Christ

This was empty talk to the disciples. They were looking for political Messiah and then every once in a while Jesus was talking about dying and rising. Christ even had to reprimand Peter as Peter tried to rebuke Jesus for talking about dying. To Peter at this point Christ said; "Get thee behind me, Satan!"

Yes, it seems strange that God used the way of the cross. It seems strange to us and it seemed to Pilate, the Jews of Christs day, and the disciples. We wonder why Christ did not come in a 1000 mile an hour jet. Why didn't Christ come with His angels and conquer all men? Christ could have had a super colossal white house. He could have played golf every day of the week. He could have had the best golf course you have ever seen. He could have had people present Him with His weight in diamonds every day. He could have made new Cadillac’s out of nothing.

The Answer however, remains, "My Kingship is not of this world." Christ was not concerned with jets or Cadillacs, or pheasant under a glass, but with men. Men like you and I. All of this business of a donkey, and suffering is tied up with words like expiation and sin and mercy. Jesus was not interested in stock quotations or corporations or profit and loss columns, but in reconciling you and I to God. Jesus knew He had to take the cross, the way of love and mercy. He was the King of Mercy!

This mercy of Christ we behold in the second part of our text. We see Jesus walking toward Jericho. It is possibly toward noon. Jesus is walking with His disciples in a tropic land. Jesus and His company can look out and see a city of wealth, for Jericho is known for her commerce. She has great palm forests and large balsam groves. The roman carried dates and balsam from Jericho to world wide trade and fame. Jericho lay right on the road to Jerusalem which was only 15 miles away. Jesus was on His way to the Passover and a crucifixion which He knew was ahead of Him. Now one of the rules of the Passover was that all male Jews over 12 years of age in a 15 mile radius should go to Jerusalem. But all were not able to make this trip and those who could not, lined the streets to watch the pilgrims.

Thus Jesus comes toward Jericho in this type of setting. Children are playing and running about; people were starting to see who was going to Jerusalem; dogs were barking. There was much confusion. And of course when Jesus came into view people really strained their necks for Je was this strange fanatic who called Himself the Messiah. Mothers had to keep their children from pointing and staring at Him. Large crowds followed to hear what He had to say.

But off to the side of the road sits a blind man begging and he hears all of this commotion and the text reads: "A blind man was sitting by the roadside begging; and hearing a multitude going by, he inquired what this meant. They told him Jesus of Nazareth is passing by! And this is all this blind man needed. For the blind man had heard of this man called Jesus. He had heard how he cured the sick and raised the dead. And the man called out "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me." People turned about and tried to quiet the man. We can just hear their words. Quiet now, we want to hear what this Jesus has to say. Now listen, you don't really believe Jesus can heal. "But he cried out all the more, 'Son of David, have mercy on me. '" There was no philosophy, no speculation, no doubt. He didn't say I wonder if Jesus can heal. No, he simply cried out in his need for Jesus.

Suddenly Jesus stopped and asked the man what He wished. Instantly the blind man said, "Lord let me receive by sight." Jesus then said to him, "Receive your sight, your faith has made you well." the King of Mercy had demonstrated His mercy.

This same Jesus is still showing heart trouble, "often" mercy to us today. He shows His mercy in one particular area, that I have already mentioned. It is this matter of sin - which I said before was he basic reason for the coming of Jesus in the first place. Sin and expiation - this is one of the basic themes of all religions. Aside from the question of death, this question of sin probably weaves it's way through man's religious experience more than any other matter. Sin, a sense of shame, an instinctive feeling that all is not right can be found form the most primitive to the most advanced religions.

Modern man may say, "Sin? There is no such thing! A feeling of sin is simply an illusion which an intellectual man need not have." But all religious experiences of man bear out a different answer. Mental hospitals and the psychiatrist's couch seems to prove al is not well. From primitive times men have felt that expiation, atonement must be made for sin. Some religions tried holy water or cleansing as a means of purification. Other's tried pleasing the god's by human or animal sacrifices. Primitive people often tried laying their sins on a bird or some other animal and then sending it off with the sins. Some men have felt sin could be paid for by fasting or self torture. Sin demands expiation, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth has been an almost universal adage. All through history man has tried to placate his god by some work of merit. Modern man may say sin is antique. But in his lonely hours, man in a loin cloth or man in a grey flannel knows that all in not right with God.

In spite of his brave front Modern Man with TV sets, and atom bombs and mix masters seems to try to expiate to atone for his sins in about the same way as his pagan ancestors. Modern man, however does not seem to be so drastic. The man on the street simply says, "Well, I don’t kill; I am a good guy and mind my own business. I'm OK. I'll get by."

This all involves us in contradiction. Most of us in Twentieth Century America claim to believe in the Christian tradition and its doctrine of salvation by faith. But Twentieth Century America also seems to live by a watered down version of Salvation by works, called "I'll get by."

The fact remains however, Bible none of us can get by in out own strength. We cannot get by on works, or by paying a psychiatrist to get rid of our guilt, or by ignoring the prodding of our conscience. Mercy - Bible we all need mercy. We need the King of Mercy, the one who showed mercy to the blind man beside the Jericho road.

The truth forever haunts us in our own strength, We cannot make amends. An unkind word cannot be called back. Insults and biting words remain in the minds of our brother long after the word is said. We can ask for forgiveness, but man is never able to completely forget. A man, wrongly jailed, can never completely forget the years of imprisonment no matter how much restitution is given.

This is the case with sin between man and man. But what about sin against God? For we must remember all sin is fundamentally against God, for to sin is to rebel against God. According to the Bible, we cannot, no matter how we try to make up for sin against God. We belong to God completely. We owe Him our complete love. When we sin there is no reserve to make up for our sin. If you owe a man a million dollars and you then steal those dollars and give it back, you are merely giving what is due in the first place. You are doing nothing about the million you owe. This is also the case with man in relation to God. In relation to God, man's debt because of sin is so great that no amount of works will pay back the debt. Not even giving a million dollars to charity or living in a monastic cell all of ones life or saying, "I'll get by."

Modern man may cry with men of all ages; "Not mercy, not grace, let me do good works, let me try to atone for my own sins." But we cannot "Bible" atone for our sins. The Bible does not say however that God abolished atonement, but the Bible says that GOd did not which is beyond our greatest imagination - The Bible says that GOd himself, in Jesus Christ, atoned for our sins! Sin, man's guilt. It was all taken care of by a man prophesied for 600 B.C. Sin, whether it be sin of sex, sin of greed, sin of theft, sin of ill will, sin of lack of love, all of this was taken care of by the man who healed the blind man, the man who called out, Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me."

Christ could have come in a jet, or He could have played golf all of His life. He could have has the best of food. But Christ knew men of all ages would need to cry out: "Jesus , Son of David, have mercy on me." A man called out in this way to Jesus along the palm lined roads of Jericho. Men today in the Palm lined streets of Garden Grove or the ice strewn streets of Minnesota still need this same Jesus. Jesus knew this eternal need of mankind and this Jesus took the only road that could get pay for the sins of mankind, the road to the cross.

As we read on in our text we find that often Jesus healed. The Man was overjoyed. Out text reads: And immediately he received his sight and followed him, glorifying God.

Men in all ages have testified to this healing power of Jesus. Men in all ages have felt the words of Jesus healing their spiritual "burden of man." Many of you have testified to how Jesus met you, how Jesus worked his power in your life. The power of Jesus is illustrated in the story of a man who recently became converted. He was criticized by his fellow workman. They said, "You don't really believe in all this stuff about Jesus, about turning water into wine and the like?" The man stopped and thought, "Well, I don't know about water into wine, but I know in my house Jesus turned beer into furniture."

The implication is there, Jesus Christ the King of Mercy, is the great changer of the lives of me. Peter and Paul and the blind man and men of all ages have felt the power and the mercy of Jesus. Jesus Christ is passing by, waiting to heal and forgive all men who see their need, all men who see their spiritual blindness, all men that will come unto him. He eternal words to all men are: "He that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out."

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end.

May the peace of God which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.