Quinquagesima
– February 6th and 7th, 2016 – Luke
18:31-43
In the Name of Christ Jesus, the Light of the World +
In the Name of Christ Jesus, the Light of the World +
Faith.
That's a pretty big word for something only 5 letters long. We can
toss the word around quite frequently – it's a word we cherish. We
Lutherans proudly proclaim “Sola Fide” - by faith alone. That
actually was almost our battle cry in the Reformation. So, let's ask
the Lutheran question. What does this mean? What is faith, what
does it accomplish, what is it for? Our Lord Jesus Christ answers
this in our text this morning.
Now,
there's an important set up in our text. When the lesson has a
miracle, we can want to rush right on in and look at the miracle,
because, let's face it, the miracles are really cool – but Jesus
sets up everything first. He says to the 12 disciples, “See,
we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about
the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. For He will be
delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully
treated and spit upon. And after flogging Him, they will kill Him,
and on the third day He will rise.”
See! Behold! When you hear “see” or “behold”, that was the
Greek way of trying to get your attention. It was the way of saying
“alright, what comes next is really, really important.” And
Jesus tells us what's important. We're going to go to Jerusalem, and
everything in the Old Testament will be accomplished, will be
fulfilled. I'll be able to cry from the cross in just a few days,
“It is Finished.” Because the promises of salvation will have
been completed – I will have suffered and died for you, but I will
also rise for you, so that you will be forgiven, so that life will be
restored. The promise first given to Adam and Eve will come to
completion – I will be bruised and battered, I will bear in My
hands the mark of the nails, but Satan will be crushed under My heel,
and you will have peace and salvation. Great stuff, right? This is
the point, right? I mean, every Saturday/Sunday, every service here
we gather together in this House of God and are determined to know
nothing but Christ and Him crucified, right?
“But
they understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from
them, and they did not grasp what was said.”
And they just don't get it. It just didn't make sense. As we heard
in last week's Gospel, seeing they did not see and hearing they
didn't understand. And why? Their faith was really, really screwed
up. Just completely off kilter. This is the third time in the
Gospel of Luke where Jesus tells the disciples that He is going to
suffer, die, be buried, and raised on the third day. You know –
the heart of the Nicene Creed. And each of those three times, the
disciples don't get it. In fact, in Matthew – we learn that first
time Jesus says this, Peter pulls Jesus aside and tries to talk Him
out of it – that's where we get that whole “Get thee behind Me,
Satan” episode.
So
why? I mean, these disciples followed Jesus, they heard Him all the
time. Why was their faith so messed up? They understood none of it.
It was hidden, they couldn't grasp it, couldn't get their minds
around it. And why? Because that wasn't how they wanted the story
to go. At that moment, their faith was not in a Jesus who would die
and rise to give them forgiveness and everlasting life. They weren't
interested in forgiveness or everlasting life yet. They wanted power
and might. They wanted to help rule the Kingdom of Israel once
Jesus, being the Messiah and Son of David and all, took it over.
They wanted political power and the praise and adoration of men. A
couple of the disciples were zealots even – people who had sworn
their life to killing Romans – that's what they wanted. They
wanted a Messiah who was going to kick some backside and take some
names – and having Him be betrayed and flogged and killed, that
wasn't how they wanted the story to go, that wasn't what they signed
up for. That wasn't what they believed in – they believed in the
false faith of their own power, the Jesus gravy train that they were
going to ride.
And
then they approach Jerusalem. Jericho is the last big town on the
way. And what happens? “A blind man was
sitting by the roadside begging. And hearing a crowd going by, he
inquired what this meant. They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is
passing by.” And He cried out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy
on me!”
Now, right away, what is different with this blind fellow? He may
not see, but hearing, he understands. Two and two have been put
together in his mind. Jesus is the Son of David – He is the
Messiah. And what is the purpose, what is the goal of the Messiah?
What's the Messiah supposed to do according to the Scriptures? The
point of the Messiah isn't violence and war – He's the Prince of
Peace. The point of the Messiah is not riches and wealth or earthly
might – He is poor and lowly, has no form or comliness that we
should desire Him. The point of the Messiah is this - He comes to
save, to show mercy. Hosanna – save us now. Kyrie Elesion –
Lord, have mercy. And so the blind man calls out, rightly, for
mercy. Calls out words we are still calling out to this very day in
this very service. And folks tell him to shut it. You are annoying
– just be quiet. And instead he calls out all the more.
“And
Jesus stopped and commanded him to be brought to Him. And when he
came near, He asked him, 'What do you want Me do to for you?' He
said, 'Lord, let me recover my sight.'”
So, what do you want? What are your expectations of Jesus? What
are you thinking He should do? Do you want power and might? Are you
going to ask to sit on His right and His left when He rules? No –
the blind man makes a great request. Lord, let me recover my sight.
Lord, I want that I should see again. Now, remember – this blind
man gets who Jesus is. He is the Messiah, He is the LORD, He is the
Son of David. And this blind man knows what the Scriptures say –
when the Messiah comes, the deaf shall hear and the blind shall see.
That's what Isaiah said – let what Isaiah said happen to me, Lord!
“And
Jesus said to him, 'Recover your sight; your faith has made you
well.'”
Your faith has saved you, literally – that's what Jesus says. Now
know and hear what Jesus is saying. So often when we think of or
hear the word “faith” - especially our faith – we think of it
as describing how hard, how strongly, how firmly we believe. Oh
yeah, this guy kept whopping and hollering, and so that's why Jesus
fixed his eyes. Nope. Not the point. There's a contrast in our
Gospel text, dear friends, between the disciples and this blind man.
The disciples don't see, they don't understand who Jesus is. Even as
Jesus tells them that He will fulfill the Scriptures, it goes over
their heads. The blind man though, has faith. And it's not so much
that his faith is stronger or bigger – that's not the point. The
point isn't the kind or quality of his faith – Jesus doesn't say
“Your awesome ginormous faith has made you well.” The disciples
believed really strongly that Jesus was going to beat the tar out of
the Romans and it got them nothing. No, the point is that the blind
man put his faith in the right place. He wasn't wanting some Jesus
of his own devising, he wasn't just making up stuff on the fly, he
wasn't just imagining some daddy warbucks in the sky. He heard the
Word of God, and his faith was that Jesus would do what He said He
would do in His Word. The disciples are pointed to the Scriptures –
they get nothing. Not what they wanted. The blind man clung to the
promises which God had made in the scriptures, and He received them.
When we speak of faith, when we say “by faith alone”
- we aren't drawing attention to how strongly or deeply we believe.
We aren't talking about how great of Christians we are. That's
hogwash – we show up here and confess what the Scriptures say we
are – poor, miserable sinners. No – when we say “by faith
alone” we are confessing the importance of the promises that God
has made to us in His Word, the promises of forgiveness and life and
salvation, and we are confessing that we receive these not because of
how great we are or how amazing we are, but rather because He is
great and good, and He is true to His Word. Jesus is active – and
we are receptive, and by faith we receive the good things that He has
promised to give us. That's the faith that saves – faith in Christ
Jesus, who fulfills the Word of God, who suffers and dies and rises
on the third day for you, for the forgiveness of your sin.
This Wednesday, Lent kicks off. And Lent is a time of
repentance, of contemplation. If you want to set yourself a fast,
give something up for Lent – go ahead. The old German term for
Lent was “fastenzeit” - Fasting Time. But the point of this, the
point of the fasting or the extra services we'll have isn't to show
or prove how great we are, how big our faith is. No – it's a time
where we will see intensely what our faith is, Who our faith is,
where we will see who this Jesus is and what He does for us. On the
weekends, the Lenten texts show Jesus taking the battle to Satan and
His minions. We've spent Epiphany seeing that Jesus is God – Lent
shows us the Son of God going forth to war – fighting Satan,
temptations, hunger, false doctrine – even fighting death itself
upon the Cross. That is the Jesus we believe in. After Ash
Wednesday, our midweek services will look at the great “I Am”
statements Jesus makes in John's Gospel, so we would see clearly who
this Jesus is in whom we believe. And the point is not to
demonstrate our own greatness – but rather, so like the blind man
we would hear the Word of God and see clearly that Jesus is our
Messiah, that He is the Son of David come to mercy us, and that we
might ever cling to this Jesus and Him alone forever more. God grant
that by His Word and Spirit, we live in faith and walk with our
Savior Jesus ever more. In the Name of Christ Jesus, the Light of
the World +
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