The sermon for February 22 was based on Luke 18:31-43.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

I am amazed by the encounter between Jesus and the blind man in today's Gospel, not because of the greatness of Jesus' miracle but because of the smallness of the blind man's request. I like to think that if Jesus were to walk up to me on the street and ask me for my heart's desire that I would be able to ask for something more splendid and more helpful to my fellow man than my own eyesight. Compared to what Jesus came to offer, the blind man's request seem... petty.

Yet who among us can full appreciate all that Jesus came to do? In my own way I am as blind as that man by the road side. Not even the Apostles, could understand what Jesus had come to accomplish for us and Jesus, Himself, had pulled them aside and explained it to them.

Who can make any sense of Jesus' suffering and passion? It is alien to us and foreign to our every thought. I haven't seen this movie about Christ's Passion yet but I'm not surprised at the outrage it is causing. What Jesus came to do for us is obnoxious and repugnant. How dare our God let Himself be whipped and mocked and spit upon? How dare He disgrace us like that? How dare He let Himself be gruesomely tortured to death for us? What could we have possibly done that would need that kind of atonement? We refuse to believe that we have been that bad.

Even those of us who have been given faith have a hard time with Jesus and His work. St. Paul says that, at least for now we see through a glass, darkly. Unlike those who will not repent we can imagine the enormity of our sins. We can begin to see for ourselves how great a punishment Christ had to bear for us. What we have trouble seeing is how much He has done for us, how much of a difference He's made for us. We Christians forget that with God all things are possible. We are shy and self-conscious and timid. If only we could see ourselves as Christ does!

I am no exception. I am much more aware of my need for Christ that I am of His presence. I feel the same way as all my predecessors going back to and beyond Jeremiah the Prophet. Why must I live among a mad and wild people? How can there be any peace or sanity when each has run off in his own direction and none bow to the Word or the will of God? What can I do in a world such as this? How can I reach anyone and who can be saved? Like the blind man on the road, I see the need for Christ but I can't see Him even when He stands before me.

Part of the reason that God sent Pastor Trouten to us is so that iron may continue to sharpen iron. Together we contend daily with the needs and problems of our people and our time. We tear away the veils of prejudice and fear and indolence. We insist on making plain to ourselves and to you the whole Truth. Like St. Paul we are resolved to know and proclaim nothing but Christ and Him crucified. We are determined to do everything possible to share the Gospel with our neighbors and make as big a difference in your lives as God gives us the strength to achieve.

And in the course of our wrangling and fighting with the Word of God we are tempted sorely to follow the paths of least resistance, to indulge our sinful ambitions and entertain our worldly notions. But day in and day out the Word of God draws us back to Himself. He comes to us in our blindness and need and answers our fervent feeble prayers. And then He proceeds to do for us what He's really come to accomplish. To make us heirs with according to the promise. I ask for growth and He gives me grace. I seek knowledge and He makes me wise unto salvation.

What He does for me he does for all to whom He gives faith. He does the same for you in your lives and in your various stations. You want your daily bread and comfort and health and peace and God gives you these things in the measure that He knows to be best for you. Then He goes on to give you His Body and Blood, His living Word, His own Holy Spirit and all the it His by right. You ask for the little blessings that can be had by touching his robe and He adds to them the kind of blessings that can be had only by the piercing of His flesh and the flowing of His blood.

St. Paul describes for us the character and quality of Christian love. The love of God as it appears among and within men. We see that divine love most perfectly in the Son of Man. You could almost replace the word love with Jesus, given that St. John assures us that God is love. Jesus suffers long and is kind. Jesus does not envy. Jesus does not parade Himself, is not puffed up, does not behave rudely, seeks not His own, is not provoked. Consider this description of God's love when you contemplate the life and passion of Christ. Remember these words.

Jesus thinks no evil, does not rejoice in iniquity. Jesus rejoices in the Truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Jesus never fails. Daily I go to war with my own sins and with yours. I contend with every evil of body and soul. Every day I long for this kind of life. I want so desperately to be the kind of person characterized by this love. I want to be filled with this kind of love and to share it with others and the question that comes to me day after day is; How? How can I be filled with the love of God in a way that makes a difference.

I said it before and I'll say it again, the love of God is the person of Christ. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him. If you want to be filled with the love of God be filled with His Body and Blood in Holy Communion. If you want to be filled with the love of God then be filled with His Holy Spirit in Baptism. If you want to be filled with the love of God then let the incarnate Word of God fill your ears and then your hearts and then your mouths with Truth.

In the Means of Grace our dear Lord presents Himself to blind and beloved people. "Here, O my Lord, I see you face to face." God summons us here to be blessed and forgiven. God brings us here to be enlightened and comforted.

This is where your neighbors will find peace, if they are to find it and this is where our lives cross the line and we become what we can be. From here, even the most nearsighted of us can see all the way home. Amen.

The Peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Last Updated: 7/15/2008