Seeing Jesus When You Can’t See Anything Else
Luke 18:31-43
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
St. Luke 18:31 Then He took the twelve aside and said to them, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be accomplished.
Dear fellow redeemed in Christ our Lord… The words of Jesus in today’s Gospel are very plain; there is no secret meaning, no lofty interpretation. He simply tells His disciples plainly, in detail, about His suffering, death, and resurrection, all of which will take place soon. He tells them that they are traveling toward Jerusalem, that they are walking into all of this very much on purpose.
And even though Jesus has spoken plainly and clearly, none of it makes sense to His disciples. Apparently, they didn’t think Jesus was speaking literally. They didn’t understand the Scriptures that pointed to what Jesus was saying. They didn’t understand the need for the Christ to suffer and to die. By their way of thinking, this is not what the Christ was supposed to do.
So, why did the disciples think that way? Verse 34 of our text says that “this saying was hidden from them, and they did not know the things which were spoken.” These things were hidden from Jesus’ own apostles. The Holy Spirit was intentionally not enlightening their minds yet at this point; He was leaving them in blindness, at least for the moment. They were not supposed to understand Jesus’ suffering and death before the right time.
And Jesus, for His part, wasn’t supposed to have the comfort of friends who could sympathize with Him and who could understand what He was about to experience. So the disciples couldn’t see the path ahead of Jesus and the path ahead of them, in spite of Jesus’ clear words. Even the clearest words of God are hidden from us sinful human beings unless the Holy Spirit enlightens our minds to perceive what the words mean.
For the moment, the Holy Spirit left the disciples blind, but not totally blind. They couldn’t see or understand the path of the cross that was laid out for them, but they still saw one thing clearly enough: they still saw Jesus. They still saw Him as the Christ, the Son of the living God. They still knew His selfless and committed love for sinners – the love St. Paul described in today’s Epistle, even though they didn’t yet know the full extent of that love that would drive Him all the way to the cross for them. They still trusted in Him, even though they didn’t yet understand the whole truth about Him. They still had faith, with Jesus Himself as the object of that faith.
And because they did, they kept following Him. They kept walking with Him toward Jerusalem. They stayed on the path of the cross, even without understanding it. And they did so because they trusted in Jesus. They knew Him to be truthful; they knew Him to be kind; they knew Him to be good and merciful; they knew Him to be the Son of God and the Savior of the world, and the One who would keep them safe from the condemnation of God’s Holy Law. That was enough for them to stay with Jesus, whether or not they saw the path clearly. And when the time was right, after He was raised from the dead, Jesus did open the minds of His disciples to understand clearly the things that were now hidden from them.
Then there was the blind man they encountered on their way to Jerusalem, a beggar. This blind man heard the commotion as the crowds traveled with Jesus to Jerusalem, and so he asked what it was all about. “And so they told him, Jesus of Nazareth is passing by, so he began crying out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Have mercy! The Greek word for that is “ἐλέησόν.” It is the same word we sing in our Liturgy several times every Sunday. Have mercy!
As I am sure you know, it often happens with people who are blind that their other senses are heightened as they compensate for the lack of a sense of sight. That was certainly true in this blind man’s case. He had been listening – listening probably better than most in Israel – listening to the word about Jesus that had been spreading in Israel over the past three years, that He was the promised Son of David, the Christ, and that He was good and merciful, willing and able to help anyone with any need whatsoever.
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Even more importantly, though, the Holy Spirit had been using that word about Christ to enlighten the blind man’s mind, to shine the light of Christ on him and give him spiritual sight, even though his physical eyes didn’t work at all. He couldn’t see Jesus with his eyes, nor did he have the benefit of the years of instruction that the apostles had. But he believed in Jesus. He believed in Him as the Son of David, the Christ. And he believed in Him as the One who is love, the One who is kind and good and merciful, the One who offers divine help to all who seek it from Him, even to blind beggars.
That belief, that faith is what led the blind man to call out to Jesus for mercy, and no one could dissuade him, even though they tried. They tried to silence him. Somehow, they must have thought that Jesus was too important to stop and take time to help a beggar. But his faith led him to overcome their scolding and focus on Christ alone. He just wouldn’t stop crying out for mercy until he received it from Christ. That, dear fellow redeemed, is what faith does. It doesn’t stop coming to Jesus for everything He wants to give us.
And this man did receive what he cried out for! Jesus stopped walking toward Jerusalem; He stopped the procession with the crowds who were following Him. And then He asked the blind man, “What do you want Me to do for you?” He said, “Lord, that I may receive my sight.” Then Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has made you well.” But the word Jesus used here is rightly translated this way, “Your faith has saved you.”
And there it is again. Salvation by faith alone. Faith in what? Faith in the merciful and loving Lord Jesus Christ. The eyes in the blind man’s head counted for nothing; they were worthless. Only faith created by God’s Holy Spirit through the good report about Christ benefited the blind man. Not human reason, not good works, not some inherent worthiness in the man… Only faith in Christ.
And as a result of that faith, Christ saved him from his physical blindness. And in so doing, Christ teaches us that human reason counts for nothing. But all who believe in Him, that is, all who seek refuge in Christ from the condemnation their sins have earned, are justified and saved by that God-given gift of faith. By faith, Christ heals our status before God. He takes us sinners and turns us into saints who are counted holy and righteous before God by faith alone.
By faith Christ also heals our spiritual blindness, even as He healed the physical blindness of the man in today’s Gospel. When you can’t see God’s Word clearly, when you can’t see God’s path clearly, when the road ahead appears dark and dim or even blocked… When you can’t see anything else, focus on Jesus, not with your eyes, but with your ears.
You know Him well enough through His Word. You have seen that He is truthful and dependable. And you know what the apostles still didn’t know as they kept following Jesus toward Jerusalem – you know how He suffered at the hands of sinners and was crucified to pay for your sins and the sins of the whole world. You know that He was raised from the dead to defeat even death for you. You know how you yourself have been made a member of Christ through Holy Baptism, how you have been given His very name and salvation, and how He continues to give you His body and blood in His Sacrament for your forgiveness and strength.
That Spirit-worked faith is enough. That is all you have to see, for now, until Christ sends His Spirit to enlighten your mind further. Pray Κύριε ἐλέησόν, “Lord, have mercy!” and you will receive it. Pray for His help to strengthen your faith, and He will give you that strength.
And when you can’t see in yourself the strength to love your neighbor as you ought, pray that Christ may increase His love within you, so that you begin to love with the perfect love described in 1 Corinthians 13, with a love that suffers long, and is kind, that does not envy, that does not parade itself, that is not puffed up, that does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, that thinks no evil, that rejoices not in iniquity, but in the truth, a love that bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. To be sure, that love is Christ. Seek His help that you may grow into His image of love, and don’t stop crying out until you receive it.
See Jesus even when you can’t see anything else. See Him during the Lenten season that begins this Wednesday, and follow Him along the path of suffering and self-denial, even when you don’t understand it, even when its outcome is hidden from you. He will lead you to HIs cross, but also to HIs empty tomb. And all who look to Him for help will find it.
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
