TD Jakes - They Had Been With Jesus
My mother, when she was down with Alzheimer’s, was trying to prepare me for death. She said, «Every story doesn’t have a happy ending,» and I knew what that meant. I tried to act like I didn’t know what it meant, but I knew what it meant. She was trying to prepare me. They were going to Jerusalem; Jesus had set His face to go to Jerusalem. There was no stopping Him, even though He knew that going to Jerusalem was to sign a death sentence. The disciples were following along loyally; they had been with Him everywhere else.
They had been with Him in every situation. They had been with Him when the woman with the issue of blood was healed. They had been with Him when Lazarus was raised from the dead. They had been with Him when a man with a withered hand stretched forth his hand and got healed. They had been with Him when He ran through the cornfields and they ate the corn. They had been with Him when the Pharisees tried to trap Him, and He eluded their traps. They had been with Him in every situation and circumstance. They had been with Him when He took the two fish and five loaves of bread and fed five thousand. They had been with Him when He walked on the water in the middle of the night and came walking to them, and they thought He was a ghost. They had been with Him when He told them to go down there and pay the taxes out of the fish’s mouth. They had been with Him in every situation, and it would have been a bit nefarious to walk away now.
But the real test of discipleship is not walking with somebody when they’re performing miracles. The real test of real discipleship is to walk with them when they go through the valley of the shadow of death. To go through the Garden of Gethsemane and hang out with them and watch them sweat drops of blood is proof of being a real disciple. I’m not impressed with people who want to follow me up the mountain; I’m impressed with people who hang with you in the valley. Am I talking in the right place? So the disciples are on the edge, nearing Jerusalem and starting Holy Week, when they run into blind Bartimaeus.
I believe that the disciples snapped at blind Bartimaeus because they didn’t have time for it. And everybody in here, I don’t care how safe you are, there are times—I mean, if you catch me at the right time, you get Jesus; but if you catch me on the wrong day, and I don’t have time for it, I don’t want to hear that foolishness. «Shut up! We’re here healing people; we have problems. We didn’t come to Jerusalem to heal blind people; we might die here!» Master, send him away; he cries after us. That’s the stress they’re carrying because they’re going to Jerusalem to die.
And there He is in this situation, and in the middle of this situation, He exhibits throughout the week a three-fold operation of deity: prophet, priest, and king. He is priest enough to serve the Last Supper, the sacraments of the Passover. He is prophet enough to look into another city that He’s not in and say, «There’s an ass and a colt tied up.» I get happy when I get to that part because I have to figure that if God knows where a donkey is, then I don’t have to get down on my knees and explain to Him where I’m at.
Jesus was aware of a colt and its foal tied up; He knew exactly where it was tied. He said, «Go get him.» God isn’t making this thing up as He goes; He had that ass and that colt tied up for years, waiting for the right time. I want to take a minute and talk to somebody who’s been tied up. God has not forgotten you; He will keep you tied up until the time is right. I don’t care how many people go ahead of you; when it’s your time, it’s your time. And when God gets ready to pull you, He’ll pull you out. He knows exactly where you are; He knows exactly what you have tied up. The tie is as much God as the calling is. When God gets ready to loose you and let you go, no devil in hell can hold you back.