The sermon for February 6 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.

The Gospel for today is the gateway to Lent, the season of solemn meditation upon the sufferings and death of our Lord Jesus Christ for the salvation of all people - "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem!" With full knowledge of what awaits Him there, Jesus steps toward the Roman whips and the cross of shame. He is compelled by His relentless love and mercy for blind sinners whose only end without Him is death, temporal and eternal. Jesus goes to Jerusalem because He is obedient to His Father's will as the perfect Servant of the living God. He goes determined to die so that all blind sinners might receive their sight and live through Him. In this text, Jesus states His purpose and His mission so that you might understand the mystery of His passion in the Lenten weeks to come.

Jesus said: "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be accomplished. For He will be delivered to the Gentiles and will be mocked and insulted and spit upon. They will scourge Him and kill Him. . ." This is hardly what His disciples expected to happen to the Messiah of God! "But they understood none of these things; this saying was hidden from them, and they did not know the things which were spoken." His disciples failed to recognize that Jesus must go the way of sorrows, that He must humble Himself, that He must die, and all vain dreams of earthly, material kingdoms must die as well. You would do well to learn from Jesus that heaven's kings and rulers are people who do not exercise authority over one another, as the Gentiles do, but serve and suffer and take up their cross daily and follow Him.

The sufferings Jesus endured were not accidents. That Jesus, the Son of David, the Christ, the Son of the living God, should suffer condemnation at the hands of His people and suffer torture at the hands of Israel's enemies was not merely a series of unfortunate events. This was God's predetermined plan. The prophets, inspired by the Holy Ghost, had long ago recorded the cruelties which the Savior must endure on your behalf. For example, Isaiah writes in his 53rd chapter:

"He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed." [3-5]

"As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life." [John 3:14-15] In obedience to the Father's will and out of His mercy and love to you, Jesus steadfastly turned His face toward Jerusalem so that He might suffer and die the death of sinners.

But when those tragic days came, it seemed, to both the enemies that mocked Him and the friends that deserted Him, a day of failure and defeat. All the hopes of those who put their trust in Him seemed dashed in pieces. All the earthly splendor which His followers imagined was now revealed as an idle dream. His disciples neither understood nor remembered that Jesus had told them that all these things must be accomplished. God's way was not their way. It was mysterious and baffling. Jesus' death seemed to be defeat because they did not remember Jesus' prophecy of His coming passion and death or the note of victory in what He said that day. Not only did Jesus tell them that He would suffer and die, but He also told them that He would rise again on the third day.

As you contemplate the sufferings and death of your Lord Jesus in the days of Lent to come, don't pretend that you know nothing about Easter. Don't weep and lament over the tragic events that befell Christ as if they were mistakes. Rather, remember that all this must be accomplished for you to stand free and holy before God. Remember, as you see your Savior's agony and His mighty struggle to rescue you from the devil's power and slavery to sin, that He won that struggle. Remember that His victory was as inevitable as His agony and death. Each Sunday in Lent is a little island in the penitential season to remind you that Christ is risen, indeed. Each Sunday reminds you that you are free, you are not harmed by Satan's evil accusations and damning reminders of your blind and lawless rebellion against God. Lenten meditation is not a despairing grief over what might have been, but a solemn, restrained praise to God for what He, in fact, accomplished for your salvation. Lenten meditation is not a sentimental fondling of smashed hopes and broken dreams, but a confident faith in your merciful and loving God who washes you from your sins and makes you a king and priest who can sing triumphant, victorious Alleluias, while the devil's forces cower in defeat.

There is a certain overwhelming majesty in the way God is constantly in control. In spite of all the rage and fury of all the enemies of the Lord, His will is done, and His plan for the salvation of mankind comes to pass, no matter what. Truly, the Lord is "the God that doest wonders," [Psa 77:14] as the choir sang in the Gradual, and His wondrous works are before your eyes in Christ's Passion - if you have eyes to see and ears to hear.

If you have eyes to see . . . As Jesus neared Jericho, a certain blind man, whom St. Mark calls Bartimaeus, called out to Him: "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" And in spite of all the attempts to silence him, Jesus hears his request for a restoration of his sight, saying in the King James: "Receive thy sight: thy faith hath saved thee."

This physical healing of a blind man's sight can be considered as parallel to what Jesus would accomplish with His disciples in the area of spiritual understanding. The blind man saw the significance of the Prophet from Nazareth better than many in Israel that had two good eyes. It was his simple faith in the power of the Son of David that made him appeal so persistently to Jesus for mercy. But it was not only a trust in the power of Jesus, but also in the love and mercy of Jesus. Bartimaeus was confident that Jesus was merciful and loving. Through that faith, Jesus heard him and healed him.

Notice that Bartimaeus wasn't the only blind man on the road to Jericho that day. What about those folks following Jesus on that road? Was it not blindness which moved them to turn a man away from Jesus? They rebuked him for calling out and tried to shut him up. Those who believed Jesus to be the Messiah, the King of the Jews, considered the blind man's suffering too trivial for the King. Perhaps they thought that it was "whole" people like themselves which were the only worthy subjects for the King's attention. So they turned a man away from Jesus!

People still do that. You still do that. There are men and women and children all around you in Fort Wayne who are in need of the power and mercy and love of Jesus. You have neighbors who have a blindness worse than physical blindness. They are spiritually blind. They do not know that merciful God has pardoned them and washed away their sins in the blood of His Son. They cannot see Jesus. You too often ignore their need and their private torments and their tortured consciences because you are not merciful and loving like your Lord. You do this whenever you do not show them Jesus through your witness and in your actions. American culture considers it rude to discuss religion. Many will consider you a buffoon and a fanatic if you go around Fort Wayne talking about Jesus. But that is exactly what you should do. He died for all, and therefore your witness should reach into every nook and cranny of your life. It is only the blind who hinder the blind from finding Jesus. What a blessed work - for you who see to bring the blind to Jesus! This is the mark of those who see and understand: they are found following Jesus, glorifying and praising God for His mercy and love.

Your failure to be a good witness was due to your own spiritual blindness. The blind simply do not make good witnesses! However, Jesus gives sight to the blind who call on Him for mercy. You have cried to Him, as you chanted the liturgy, "Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us." Your Lord has shown you abundant mercy. He has had mercy on you through His suffering and death on the cross. Everything which Jesus suffered: His being delivered to the Gentiles, His being mocked and insulted and spit upon, His scourging, and His humiliating death by crucifixion; all this He suffered in His mercy and love for you. Now He has filled you with His mercy and love. He has cured you of your spiritual blindness. He has given you the clearest of vision, so that you are now a faithful witness.

Have you been blinded by sin? Christ has washed away your blindness in holy Baptism! Better than the mud and spittle Jesus used on occasion, you have been washed clean in the very blood of God. Has the dust and grime of life clouded your sight with sin? Jesus has again washed away the dirt and the tears by His Word of holy Absolution. Does your sight grow weak in the darkness of this fallen world? Christ strengthens your vision to utmost perfection with the Food from His altar: His Body, His Blood, given and shed for you. These are the means the Lord has given to keep your eyes open and free from sin. They are for you, and for your neighbors, your friends, your relatives, and for all who need to see Christ clearly.

Lent will take you to Jerusalem, the city of God. There His suffering and death delivered you in His righteousness. There He redeemed His people. "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem!" "Make a joyful noise unto the Lord. . . Enter into His gates with thanksgiving. . . Know that the Lord, He is God: it is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture." [Psa 100:1, 3-4] Amen.

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

Last Updated: 7/15/2008