The Easter Way:When Stories Collide

Can you just turn with me to Luke chapter 9, as we kind of begin a short series

Luke 9 · chapter mention

called The Easter Way, as we make our way to Easter.

Luke chapter 9, verse 51 through 56.

Luke 9:51–56

And so many things have already happened in Luke's account, and so many things follow this.

But here he says, when the days drew near for him to be taken up,

he set his face to go to Jerusalem.

And he sent messengers ahead of him who went and entered a village of the Samaritans

to make preparations for him.

But the people did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem.

And when his disciples, James and John, saw it, they said, Lord,

do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?

Remembering their stories where these kind of things happened.

But he turned and he rebuked them, and they went on to another village.

And of course, this is followed by the people who come and say,

Lord, I'll follow you anywhere, but just let me do this. I'll follow you, but let me do this.

And then 10 more chapters before we get to our text today. but I just want to

start with a quote from Jared C. Wilson. I've read it before.

It's just a really cool book called The Storytelling God, and it says,

Only God can write a story that resonates, not just in the power of the imagination

or the heart or the mind, but in the very soul.

Only God can write a story that brings dead things to life.

This week, my wife and I, we,

had the opportunity to go to a conference in Elkton, Maryland.

And it was just another one of those weeks.

It just seems to be our norm.

Anybody else here living in a norm of just, you know, there's no rhythm, there's just chaos.

And so I kind of didn't want to go, but I liked the idea of getting away and staying in a hotel.

And so we went, and this is a place called, it's now called Endeavor Church,

but it used to be Spirit and Life Church.

And this is a church that years ago, when my parents in the middle of their

second church in Rome, New York, and they were just, I mean,

they were just really having a hard time.

And some people had kind of risen up against them.

And my dad is not a confrontational person. So when people start to talk bad

about him and rise against him and try to push him out, he just kind of goes,

which is a good thing because he's not a fighter, but he was just really overwhelmed.

And he met, there was another church in the area called Spirit and Life,

and he met a pastor there named Johnny Nichols.

And Johnny Nichols was so kind to my dad. You know, this is two churches in the same city.

It's really hard sometimes to find pastors who are going to be kind to each

other in the same city. I try.

I try really hard. I mean, I am. I don't mean I'm mean, but it's sometimes hard to take the time.

But I try to sit down with some of the other pastors because we're all in the

same boat doing the same thing.

But this man, Johnny Nichols, was just so kind to my parents.

And they were getting ready to go to a conference that had been going on for

years here in Elton, Maryland, in Spirit and Life Church.

And so they decided to go. They packed all of us. There were six kids and a

grandma, although grandma stayed home, I think, from the conference.

Thank God, because those were tough rides.

My grandma, have you ever seen Throw Mama from the Train?

Or the Goonies, you know, the mama, whatever their name was.

That's kind of what my grandma was like.

She was a rough lady, but we loved her. She lived with us. And she packed all

of us kids up and we were able to stay at the church.

And there my parents found this community. They found this fellowship.

They found people who just loved them and surrounded them. And it meant everything to them.

But for me as a 12-year-old and a 13-year-old boy, this was just another place I got dragged to.

In fact, one time I showed up to Pastor, this is Pastor Pru,

who became my dad's pastor. It was his conference.

I showed up for somehow my dad wasn't paying attention to what I was wearing,

but I had long hair and I showed up in spandex and a mesh shirt.

When my dad saw me walking into the building, he panicked, dragged me out of

the building, put some clothes on,

But anyways, this was a point in my life when we would go to this conference

and I was 12, I was 13, and in 1990, I was 14.

We had already moved here at that point and my life had been turned upside down.

You could say, well, you were just a kid. I was just a kid. I wasn't,

you know, everybody says I'm mature for my age. I wasn't mature for my age,

but I was advanced in some of the things that I went through.

Probably a lot like the generations growing up today, exposed to things they

shouldn't. But I was angry.

I was angry at God. I was angry at my parents because nobody asked me if I wanted

to upturn my whole life and leave the only people that I'd ever known and go to a new place.

But here we are and we go to this conference and I thought maybe at least I

can meet some cool people, but I don't really want anything to do with what they're talking about.

I'd bumped into Jesus my whole life. We've been in the same room.

We've been in close proximity, but the things that I'd seen and the anger in

my heart had deformed me in such a way that I really, I wasn't interested in what he had to offer.

I knew him, I saw him, but he didn't have anything for me because all he'd done is caused me pain.

And so we go to these conference and I'm doing my best not to get in trouble.

And one night they decided to have a youth meeting before, this was in July,

they had a February and a July conference.

In July of 1990, 14 year old Josh Kiefer goes to this youth meeting because

my parents made me and they didn't go, which was a good thing because nobody

wants to go to a youth meeting with your parents watching you.

What is he doing? Is he listening? Is he going to go up? Is he going to stand up?

And so they weren't there. And it was Pastor Richard and Tim Woodson,

two people that have meant the world to me.

And so we went to this conference this week and I'd already kind of landed on

this is what I was going to preach and this colliding of stories and hadn't

even thought about my own story.

And this 14-year-old boy in 1990, 26 years ago in July, goes to this youth meeting

in Richard Hill, and I don't even know what he preached.

Tim Woodson got up and he played some music. I don't know what he said,

but I knew that there was something, that there was a moment,

that this was a time in my history where I could either continue bumping into

Jesus and continue on the road, the trajectory that I was on.

I'm only 14, but I was shaving at 12, my friends.

I was already ready to make big moves, trying to figure out how I could even

move out of my parents' house because I hated them.

But yet something happened at this meeting as I encountered The love I don't

even know what they said But I know that I felt this draw And as they did As

they always do Had the altar call I never went to those things At this point

in my life Unless I was forced Just to see if I would fall down And I never did.

Sometimes Joseph Bimba tried pushing me down, but I'm like, hey,

heck no, he ain't pushing me down.

But I went to the altar and I remember going on my knees. I didn't just stand there.

And I can feel these people surrounding me as my Aunt Joy and her father,

Russ Dalloff, and all of these people with just love who would come to the meeting

at this point because the meeting had gone on for so long and it's now time for the conference.

And they came and they surrounded me. And I can remember my body just shaking

as I encountered the living God and Jesus.

14 years old. It changed my life. It changed my story. I've never been the same

since. That was my salvation moment.

And here we are at this conference 26 years later. I didn't really want to go.

36 years. Dear Lord, you're right. 36 years later. Yeah, I've been married 30 years. You're right.

Wow. You had to go ahead and make me feel even older.

Here I am 36 years later, and then they're now in a new building,

new pastors, a really sweet couple,

Chris and Amy Fagan, and they really wanted us to come, and we could only come

for the two nights and one day, and the day service, Friday morning,

they had church in the old chapel where we used to have these conference meetings,

And here I am at this place in space. This is just a place. It's just a location.

But they called us up like they always do with these things. I tried to hide.

And like, I'm looking for somebody to come and greet us today.

And I'm like, heck no, don't call me.

And so they, first she's like, I can't find her. I'm like, he's looking for

me, hon. Duck. We're in the back row. I'm like, duck, we are not going up there.

And finally, he has somebody else come up. And then he's like,

I saw, I saw who I was looking for.

Pastor Josh and Amy, could you come up? And I'm like, son of a.

And so I walked up there, my wife starts. But as I'm standing on that stage,

the moment in my time, my history that I'd forgotten, I looked down to my right

and right there was a place.

The first time in my life where my story on the trajectory that it was on collided with the living God.

And I couldn't kick my eyes off that place.

And it felt so much smaller in my memory. This was a giant building.

It's not very big. I kept asking, did you like shrink it?

They're like, no, we didn't shrink it. It's the same place.

And I was reminded powerfully of the moment in my life.

Now that was not the only moment where I had to allow my story.

Cause you see, all of us are living in a story.

Everybody in this room is living in a story.

Whether you know it or not, we are shaped and formed by the stories that we

tell ourselves and the things that we go through, they affect the things that we hear.

They affect how we see our story and they affect the trajectory of our narrative

and all of us are being pulled somewhere by our story unless it collides with a different story.

It's like a body in motion, stays in motion until it meets an immovable object.

I loved my wife last week talking about the rock. Well, there in 1990,

this 14-year-old boy, his story, which I can promise you was not going to be a pretty story.

The places that it was going to take me.

But because I, I said, don't pass me by as I felt the presence of the Lord in that place.

I said I can stay where I am Or I can set my face To that altar And I can let

the rock Intercept my story And it did,

And as we lean into The next few weeks of Easter All of us here,

everybody in this room As I said, that was the first moment And there were many

moments in my life Where I had to set my face again,

Maybe God had taken me somewhere And he'd done some things in my life And it

was time now for another change, another altar moment, another time for me to

set my face towards Jesus, towards the rock.

And all of us have this Easter. We can continue bumping into Jesus.

We can continue being in close proximity, or we can respond to the fact and

the reality that Jesus came to seek and to save, and he's seeking us out.

But the thing is, is as he's seeking us, there's got to be a response from us,

and we've got to choose. I will no longer continue in the trajectory that I'm on.

And I want to tell a story today as we started here.

This is as he came close to his time, the time for him to be taken up,

the time for his exodus as he had just had the transfiguration and he spoke

with Moses and Elijah and talking about his exodus because all of the story,

you see the Bible, I've said it over and over again and I will keep telling

you, I will never stop saying it.

The Bible is not just two stories. It's not the old one and the new one.

It is one beautiful story with things weaved together. the Exodus, weave through it all.

And here at this point, in this part of the story, Jesus came to move it forward.

He came to bring it to the next chapter, driving it forward.

And as he's doing so, he's colliding with humanity, colliding with the old story,

colliding with his disciples who had their vision of the story.

Because you see, they're already saying, you see, James and John,

they're like, we know this story.

These people are coming against you. Let's call down fire. And here's Jesus

saying, you're trying to drag it back to the first part of the story,

but I'm moving it forward.

And they're probably even hearing in their minds as he sets his face towards

Jerusalem, Isaiah 50, which Luke wants us to remember.

And one of the suffering servant Psalms where it says, because the sovereign

Lord helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore, I have set my face like a

flint, and I know I will not be put to shame.

And you can see in this narrative, as I said, as his face is set to the terrible

conclusion that even his closest companions were trying to contain the story

to their understanding of the narrative.

And here's the story which is so cool about this. So I want to just take a moment

and talk about how these stories collide, how the old story,

the story being not the old, but the story so far collides with the new story,

how it collides with our story and the parallels.

And here after Jesus made this declaration, or he says, you know,

it's time to go, he sets his face.

The fastest way for him to get to Jerusalem would have been to go through Samaria

because of the generations long hostility.

They wouldn't let him in. He said, because you're going to Jerusalem,

you can't come through here.

And so he has to go another way. And I do not believe this is an unintended coincidence.

Let me just show you a map real quick. Go to this next slide.

Because here's Jesus up here. It starts in Capernaum. And when he makes this

declaration, when Luke tells us, he decided now it's time.

The days are coming. It's time for me to begin my journey to the end.

And you could have easily cut down into Samaria. And they started that way.

But as you see, as they get there, they can't go. So they've got to cut over

and they've got to cross the Jordan, come through the land of Perea into Bethany

beyond the Jordan and cross again over the Jordan.

And there's something really cool about this because I think we're supposed to see this.

Not that, well, they got deterred, but as Jesus comes to the end,

the end of his journey, as he's bringing the story so far to his culmination to bring it forward,

He could cut through Samaria, but instead, Jesus is forced to cross over the

Jordan and not just take a different trip, but actually follow the exact trip

that the children of Israel would have taken at the end of their Exodus journey

through the wilderness.

This journey forward took Jesus through the history. He would have to cross

over the Jordan, travel along the river on the other side, the same way the

wandering Israelites took at the end of their wilderness wandering.

And now in luke's gospel There are nine pack chapters before we get to to the end of that journey.

It's really kind of hard to map Jesus' final journey because the writers of

the Gospels were very intentional about how they put the story together,

but chronology was not really important to them.

So sometimes chronological events are different, but all of them,

all three of the synoptics, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and John,

all say his journey ended the same way, crossing the Jordan into Jericho.

And he reaches finally what is at this time Bethany beyond the Jordan.

But in the history of Israel, it was the plains of Moab.

This is a place where Moses gave his final address in Deuteronomy,

his farewell address, preparing the people to cross over into the promised land

of Canaan, where they were going to have their first victory.

And here is very likely where Jesus, for the third and final time.

Paralleling Moses' final address tells his closest friends what's about to happen.

And as he goes near, it says in verse 31 of 18, Jesus took the 12 aside.

And this is the third and final time he tells them what's gonna happen.

We're going up to Jerusalem and everything that is written by the prophets about

the son of man will be fulfilled.

He'll be delivered over to the Gentiles. They will mock him,

insult him and spit on him.

They will flog him and they will kill him. on the

third day he will rise again the disciples did

not understand any of this its meaning was hidden from

them and they did not know what he was talking about a few thousand years later

as moses stands in this very same place and gives the address and says this

is what's going to happen victory conquering taking the land here jesus in parallel

the same place says this is what's going to happen death there will be victory

but death and crucifixion.

And it's here where he crosses over in essentially the very same place where

the Jordan was parted. Imagine that.

We don't see all these connections when you read the New Testament with the

very place in the Exodus story where the generation was finally going in.

He'd been freed from safe slavery, delivered miraculously.

The picture of salvation, as my wife said next week, and they cross over as

God with no need to part the sea.

It's not a very big, the Jordan River's not that big, but to show and remind

them of who he is here in this very same spot Jesus crosses over.

On the way to the new victory that would look like death.

I can only imagine what's going through Jesus' mind as he draws near the city.

I don't understand it all.

He was divine. He was completely human. He was divine. I don't know if he's

having memories as Jesus of that moment, being who he is, or if he's just,

at this point, a man with the spirit in him. I don't know.

I'm not here to mess with any theology because I don't know how it worked. Neither do you.

But either way, I can only imagine what's going through his mind as he crosses this place.

And here's where the two stories in a dramatic way collide.

The end of an exodus, the end of a chapter, the beginning of a new exodus,

the beginning of a new chapter.

And there are layers, just real quick, to the way Jericho fits into this story.

And first, as we've already stated, Jericho marked the beginning of the conquest of Canaan.

It's a central element to the story of God's redemptive plan.

And here in this part of the story, we see this clear intersection,

the colliding of the two parts of the story.

And I believe that we're meant not to see only the intersection,

but the parallels as they're seen together.

The writers of the Bible always want us to see all these hyperlinks.

In the first half of the redemption story, Jericho was the beginning of driving out.

But here where the two parts collide Jesus is redefining

the enemy and Jericho becomes a place of seeking out he came to seek and save

he says at the end of what we read today but not only is he seeking out but

becomes a place for those in the middle of a story that they can no longer live

in they begin to seek out a new story.

It was just outside of Jericho, as we learned last week, of the two events in

Israel's history that became fundamentally linked as we even go through the

Old Testament, the Passover and the Exodus, or the crossing of the Red Sea.

And it is right outside of Jericho, as they crossed over Jordan,

that they celebrate the first Passover.

It's been that much time since the original Passover event, and here it is now,

in this part of the story, that the last Passover of that chapter of the story is being observed.

It's Passover once again. It was Passover when they crossed,

and it's now Passover again.

Another connection that Jericho has is that many archaeologists—I'm not an archaeologist,

I have to trust what they tell me—.

They consider Jericho the oldest continually inhabited city in human history.

I never knew that. Did you know that?

I take it no, because nobody said yes.

The oldest continually inhabited history in human history.

You see, the story not only does it connect us to the story being told so far,

but it also connects us fundamentally to the human story in a dramatic way.

Here in this part of the collision with the biblical story is also where one

of the most clear examples as we dig into this text of the human story colliding with God's story.

Now, obviously the human story has been colliding with God's story all through Jesus' ministry.

But here at the centrally important part of Jesus' ministry,

the end of his journey, the centrally important place in both Israel's story

and humanity's story and Jesus' story, we can see a dramatic colliding.

And I think the Luke wants us to find ourselves in this story.

And so here's the story. As they approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting

by the roadside begging.

And when he heard the crowd going by, he asked what was happening.

And they told him, Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.

And he called out, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me.

Jesus son of David have mercy on me and those who led the way rebuked him and

told him to be quiet but he shouted all the more son of David have mercy on

me and Jesus stopped and he ordered the men to be brought to him or the man

to be brought to him and when he came near Jesus asked him what do you want me to do for you.

Oh, you can hear Jesus today as we encounter his presence in this moment,

as we go on this Easter journey.

You can even hear him today asking you as you turn your face towards him,

what do you want me to do for you? And he says, Lord, I want to see.

And Jesus said to him, receive your sight. Your faith has healed you.

And it translates it healed you.

But it's the word sozo in many translations because it's the same word as saved you.

Jesus is always saying this because it's so much more than healing.

Your faith has saved you.

And immediately he received his sight. He followed Jesus, praising God.

When all the people saw it, they also praised God.

Now, there are so many ways to dig into this text, and I've probably preached

it a million times. Not really, because I haven't preached a million times. A lot of times.

But I just want to focus for a minute on the story.

The last recorded gathering outside of Jericho was centuries earlier in Joshua chapter 6.

Joshua 6 · chapter mention

When Joshua and the Israelites, we know the story, Maybe you don't.

They'd marched around silently for six days, followed on the seventh by this

great celebration of praise and allowed the trumpets and all the cool things.

And the drums are probably going. They probably had a mobile electric guitar.

Doing some really cool harmonics like Eddie Van Halen. We know what happens

is the shout brings down the walls.

Here, this part of the story. There are people gathering from all over,

traveling to Jerusalem because it's Passover, and Jericho was the last stop on the pilgrimage,

but a day's journey from Jerusalem, and it would have been filling up with travelers.

It was an opportunity, a great time for beggars to take advantage of the crowds.

So here we have more shouting outside of Jericho.

Shouting in one story brings walls down, and shouting in this story also bringing walls down.

A Bartimaeus story, here in Luke's account, we don't actually get his name,

but in Mark's account, we're given his name, and his name is Bartimaeus.

And like most blind men of his time, his handicap afforded him very little opportunity

beyond the life of a beggar.

His name is actually Bar-Timaeus, which means son of Timaeus,

so many of the names in the Bible are just that, son of so-and-so, son of such-and-so.

We know nothing about him or nothing about his father, Timaeus.

But we can only assume that his father's either not around or he's died unable

to support him or simply rejected him because of his deformity,

which would have been very normal.

However, this man's story brought him to this side of the road.

It was now the reality of his story. It doesn't matter how he got there.

Sometimes when we are trying to encounter and allow our stories to collide with

Jesus, we get too caught up on how we got here.

I really need Jesus, but we take so long to come to the meeting because of how

we got there. This is my fault. I did this, my decisions.

It doesn't matter how we got here.

When Jesus is walking by, you have two opportunities. Stay in your story or

set your face to the moment.

And here he is. You know, I've seen begging. I lived in India for a year. Many of you know that.

Most of you know that. Before that, I went at 15.

I went for a month. And it was traumatic for a 15-year-old boy as we got to

Bombay Airport. And we had to wait hours for our connecting flight to get to

where we were going in Hyderabad.

And we are just surrounded. I'm tired. I haven't slept on this airplane.

Surrounded by beggars reaching for us and calling us out. Daddy,

please. Daddy, please. Chocolate. Money. Come.

And they have babies usually that are deformed. And sometimes they'll deform

themselves so they'll get more money. It's terrible. It's traumatic.

The life of a beggar in this day and age, it's an occupation,

but it's an occupation that is just something that you settle in because of

the deformation of your life.

This is all I've got. So this is just who I am.

And here in this story, there would have been dozens or hundreds,

There's maybe even thousands of beggars here,

all of them bumping into Jesus, all of them in proximity, but only one are we

found, are we recorded, is recorded.

Only one hears who's passing by and sets his face and begins to shout.

It's funny how a shout is a catalyst for another crumbling wall.

It's not that the other beggars wouldn't have wanted a better life.

Here's the thing is that they didn't see Jesus as having anything better to offer.

Or perhaps they didn't really see a need for a better life or didn't know how

to even see a different story.

Than the one that they were living in. You see, we all collide with God's new

story in some kind of brokenness or trauma.

And this man kind of represents that broken humanity, freaks in one way or another, all of us.

And here's the thing, we live in a time and culture that celebrates brokenness.

You ever watch The Greatest Showman?

It's a cool movie. It's so inaccurate. That dude was a jerk.

But the movie's fun, and you have this whole narrative of all of these freaks

finding themselves in this beautiful family of freaks.

This is me! And we're supposed to celebrate! Let your freak flag fly!

You're broken, and it's just who you are! And the sentiment, it seems beautiful!

And I would even say it even feels kind of Christ-like, because Jesus never

was afraid of our brokenness.

In fact, Jesus, fundamentally, his ministry was primarily to the outcasts and the marginalized.

He sees them. He comes to them, but it's twisted into a counterfeit or an alternative to a new story.

Just embrace your brokenness. Embrace your addiction.

Embrace your whatever it may be. Embrace your pain, your trauma.

And then when our story collides with the gospel, we see the benefits of grace

and love, but without seeing the need for healing.

But I've got good news for you. Jesus didn't come to bless a brokenness.

He came to heal it and make it whole.

Somebody should say amen to that because I don't want my brokenness made beautiful.

I want beauty to heal my brokenness so that I can be whole.

This is not you, whatever you may be.

Deformed by. It is not you. Your pain does not define you.

Whatever happened to you is not you. Who you've become because of it,

survival, but it is not you.

He came to lead us into a different story, not to make our old story just kind

of grace-filled and beautiful, but to let his grace and his beauty,

heal us at our deepest, most broken places.

Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me, he cries. And what do you want from me?

And of course, he says, I want to see.

Maybe what he's actually saying is, I want to see you.

And he says, your faith has saved you.

Healed, but not just his eyesight, but the brokenness of his story as his story

collides with God's story.

In Mark's account, we can see this even playing out. As it says,

when Jesus called him in Mark's gospel to come to him, it says that he threw

off his cloak and he ran to him.

His cloak would have been how he collected his money as a beggar.

It was kind of his uniform.

And we can see that if he just wanted to see, he would have grabbed all his

stuff and said, give me sight so I can continue, but my life could just be better.

I could be a better beggar.

No, he throws it off as Jesus calls him, as he sets his face towards Jesus,

who has set his face towards Jerusalem, who has set his face like a stone to the,

terrible conclusion that he came to fulfill, that was going to be freedom and life for all of us.

Here this man sees him coming and doesn't just want to see, he throws off his

identity. he wanted a new story.

Sight with the identity of a blind man is not really sight.

Sight with the brokenness of a beggar just maybe gives them better proximity to the rich people.

But instead of just getting his sight.

He gets a new story. And before we're shouting, brought death,

here's shouting, brought life.

And the story goes on as he gets to Jerusalem. There's another person that he interacts with.

I would say the other side of the coin where Bartimaeus represents the brokenness

of humanity, the trauma, the pain that deforms us.

Here we have the other side of the story, a different kind of freak.

Both in need of a Savior, both in need of a new Savior.

It says in chapter 19, verse 1, Jesus entered Jericho, and he was passing through.

A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus.

He was a chief tax collector and was wealthy.

He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short, he could not see over the crowd.

So he ran ahead, and he climbed up a sycamore tree, sycamore fig tree.

We have lots of sycamore trees on our property. I remember seeing,

I'm like, there ain't no way anybody climbed these trees.

Different kind of tree, sycamore fig tree, to see him.

And since Jesus was coming that way, when Jesus reached the spot,

he looked up and he said to him, Zacchaeus, come down immediately.

I must stay at your house today.

So he came down at once and he welcomed him gladly. And all the people saw this

and began to mutter, he is gone to be the guest of a sinner.

But Zacchaeus stood up and he said to the Lord, look, Lord, here and now I give

half of my possessions to the poor.

And if I've cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.

And Jesus said to him today, salvation has come to this house because this man too is a son of Abraham.

But the son of man came to seek and save the lost.

Like Bartimaeus story, there are various ways that we can dig into this text.

I've tried to tell, I've told this story so many times. I told it at one of

our youth camps and I made it all about a short man trying to overcome his shortcomings.

Zachini the weenie. Had a whole

narrative for my message. I don't really think that's the story at all.

It was a fun message, but that's not really what the story is.

It's not what Luke wants us to see.

He wants us to see a different kind of freak, but not because of a deformity,

not because of poverty, not because he's short, but because he was rich and

rich at the expense of his countrymen.

So he was a chief tax collector in Jericho, which means he was shrewd.

He made money, not just from his own dealings, but from each transaction made by those under him.

He loved wealth more than he loved anything else More than he loved relationship

More than he loved his family More than he loved his people He would do whatever

he had to to accumulate it,

And we could really be quick to label him a villain because of this But if we

were truly being honest with ourselves We could see a lot of ambition and need

for stuff In all of us that causes us to compromise our integrity,

And the places that our want That we place our want in front of our compassion

and our faithfulness to God or to people a little taken from God here to store up here.

Blindness to the needs of others and our own need to have more.

So consumed with having and building. You see, where Bartimaeus represented

a broken story, Zacchaeus represents a self-made story.

I can make my own story.

I can make the best story.

Maybe I got a little compromise here. Maybe a little dishonesty over here.

I just got to live the best story for myself.

All the while shrinking the world that we live in, living our story in this small, small world.

I could just have what I want. God wants me to be happy, so I can take,

I can have this relationship.

I can go this way, a little bit here, a little bit there.

I'm just trying to build myself a good life.

There are many rich people who bumped into Jesus in this story.

Zacchaeus wasn't the only rich man, even here in Jericho, but only one is recorded,

is recognizing there could be a better story than the one I could tell.

Jesus at one point in his parables, he speaks to the rich young ruler.

It's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man

to enter the kingdom of God. And this is hyperbole.

Jesus is not, some people have said that we're talking about the needle gate

and then the camels would have to bow, but there's absolutely no record of a needle gate.

Jesus is saying, it's impossible for you to tell your story and have your stuff and live in my story.

So what does that make this? This makes this a miracle story.

It's a miracle for Zacchaeus to see this man, this Galilean,

this Judean coming through.

And yet something about him says, that's the only way that I can actually have a better story.

With the same passion that he had for wealth, he desperately wants to see Jesus.

I've given up too much to tell my story. I've lost too much.

I've done some things that I can't ever, ever be forgiven of But just maybe

if I can get high enough I can set my face and I could see him And just maybe

there's a hope for me This rich man to have a better story,

And so because he's too short to see over the crowds He runs ahead of the crowd

And climbs up in this chikamore tree And he sets his face I love the parallels

because in the last Jericho story,

there's also people running ahead as the spies go first to spy out the land.

And they also climb as they climb on the top of a building to hide from sinners.

And here a sinner goes ahead and climbs a tree to be sought out and saved by a savior.

Today, Jesus tells him as he comes to the spot and he sees him,

today salvation has come to your house, your faith has saved you." You see,

when our story, when we allow it to collide with Jesus' story.

Our intention decides whether we're simply adding Jesus to our story,

whether we're just going to bump into it, maybe chip a little bit off the rock

to throw in the bag as I go on my way.

It's up to us as Jesus seeks us out to decide whether or not we're going to

seek him, whether we're going to set our face like a flint.

Towards Calvary, towards a new story, or simply add Jesus to our story.

But when we step into the new story of the kingdom, what's so amazing about

it is it doesn't rewrite our story, even though it's, you know,

he who is in Christ Jesus is a new creation, all things are new.

Well, Paul still had a history. The one who said that, he still had a history

of murdering Christians, women, and children, and men out of a zeal.

You see, when we allow our story to collide with the kingdom story.

It doesn't rewrite our story so far.

Jesus' story did not rewrite the Old Testament. It brought it forward.

And when we allow our story to collide with Jesus' story on this Easter way,

it doesn't all of a sudden make it so none of that happened.

But what it does do is it wraps the story so far into a new one.

What does that mean for this beggar? Even if he'd only been blind and begging

for a week. It still would have been beautiful as that story is now weaved into a new story of life.

But think of the beauty of that new story being told that folded years, a lifetime of pain.

Maybe you've suffered for years through trauma and you've allowed it to form you.

Imagine how beautiful it can be when you allow that story to collide with the

rock. It doesn't make that not happen, but it folds it into his story,

and even years of pain can be redeemed into something beautiful.

A lifetime for this man of brokenness, with a trajectory of nothing but maybe

moments of relief, now folded into a new story of healing and joy and the future.

Like the beggar of Zacchaeus had only been rich for a short time,

it still would have been a It's a miracle.

How beautiful is a story rewritten of years of being defined by greed and being

turned into a life of generosity.

That's what happens when we allow our story to collide with God's story,

with our story when it meets Jesus, when it collides with Jesus' story with intention and faith.

When I came to that altar all those years ago, it was hard to take those first

steps out of my seat who's watching.

I don't even know if I believe this, but something is pulling me.

Something is telling me that I don't have to stay on this trajectory.

I knew the trajectory was taking me to dark places and I allowed myself to be okay with it.

But something has, Jesus, we know he was already there, but for me in that moment

in history and space and time, he was very present and he was seeking me out

and he was calling me and I had to respond to step out of my seat.

Something changed in my story. Again, it wasn't a perfect story. I had to choose again.

But I was never the same from that moment. This is what happens when we meet

the collision of our story, with Jesus' story, with intention and with faith.

I once again think of the original story, the first half where Moses' farewell

address and he lays out the Torah again, gives him hope and tells him what will

happen if they abandon the God who had saved them.

And then gives him this command or these words, the invitation.

I put before you life and death, blessings and cursing. Choose life.

Today I stand before all of us because every one of us need more encounters

and more collisions with the story.

And I can hear even on this Easter season, the voice of my Savior saying, what do you want from me?

Choose life. Choose a better story. You can make your story. You can set your own way.

But the scriptures also tell us there is a way that seems right to a man.

Yeah, but I just want this. It looks good.

It makes me happy. This relationship makes me feel good. This job makes me feel

good. This substance makes me feel good.

These experiences make me feel good. But there is a way that seems right, but it's end is death.

Jesus is saying today, choose life.

Choose a different story. You can go ahead and stand up As we look ahead to

Easter Next week we'll Follow Jesus in his Farewell discourse With his disciples and.

Talk about the anchor of our souls as he beckons them to abide in me,

stay with me. But as we look ahead, that was cool.

It felt really like a great moment. Thanks.

The moment in space, in time that changed the story on a cosmic level.

Can we just lean in to the collision of the stories with faith and intention?

You know maybe right now in this moment in your life maybe you're Bartimaeus,

broken and deformed by trauma and pain,

maybe that's you today and you're like I don't know how to even live in a different

story my pain has become my comfort it's just become who I am,

you don't have to stay in that story,

Maybe you're Zacchaeus Formed by Your ability to tell your own story,

To have enough saved up Or to have the best things That you can build for yourself

Nothing evil about building things But I promise you You cannot build a story

that God can build You cannot live in a story Better than the story that Jesus Is inviting you into.

Maybe you're like a 14-year-old boy who encountered the Jesus that his parents

knew, but he didn't want to know.

For the first time at an altar, encountered and collided with the love, the patience.

At that altar. There wasn't reprimanding and you just need to suck it up,

son. Your dad's doing his best.

There was just patience, love,

grace, and mercy.

The glimpse of the future. That was all I needed.

Wherever you are in the story, today is your moment to set your face.

Set your face towards Calvary, the moment when everything changed.

Set your face like a flint. Say, I'm determined. Lord, don't pass me by.

I'm not going to let another moment, another opportunity.

Lord, I've had, I'm doing good, I'm following you, but there's so much more for all of us.

There's so many more parts of our story that need to collide with Jesus.

I'm never gonna stop needing to collide with Jesus' story.

And here's an opportunity, all of us, even today, to say, don't pass me by, Jesus.

Son of David, have mercy on me.

Lord, don't pass me by. If I've gotta climb above the crowds to see you, I got to see you.

The things that I had that I thought were going to sustain me and make me feel

fulfilled and full of purpose. They're not doing it.

They're telling a different story. And Lord, I need your story.

If that's you, then this is our time. Don't let it pass you by.

Wherever you are in the story, set your face like a flint.

Maybe you're here today and you need a moment. Then I would invite you to come down to the front.

I won't manipulate you. I won't yell at you, but I would invite you.

There's something about putting action to a moment of faith and saying,

Lord, I need to collide with your story again.

Then come down to the altar this morning. I invite you.

Because I kind of think we all really probably need to come to the altar this morning.

We just thank you today.

Lord, I just thank you, Father.

This 50-year-old man,

thank you, Lord, for meeting me all those years ago.

At the conference that had nothing to do with me,

yet you made it all about me. when you walked by.

And so, Father, I just thank you, Lord, for every story being lived in this room today.

I thank you, Lord, for your faithfulness.

That you never abandon us. You're never ashamed of our deformation and of our brokenness.

You're not even ashamed of our wealth. When we worship it at times more than you, you just invite.

You just walk through and set your face and say, I came for you.

And so, Lord, I just thank you, Father, for meeting every family,

every person in this room.

With your presence, with your grace.

Lord, we need you. we need you,

we thank you Lord.