Trusting Our Merciful Lord
Luke 18:31-43
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
St. Luke 18:31-34 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. 32 For He will be delivered to the Gentiles and will be mocked and insulted and spit upon. 33 They will scourge Him and kill Him. And the third day He will rise again.” 34 But they understood none of these things; this saying was hidden from them, and they did not know the things which were spoken.
Dear fellow redeemed in Christ our Lord… When we hear that the disciples “understood none of these things,” we might be tempted to conclude that they don’t seem to be very bright. Jesus takes them aside and gives them a heads-up; He spells out clearly for them exactly what is about to happen: They 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. And the third day He will rise again.” Those facts could not have been made any clearer than that. But the disciples were not able to understand what Jesus said. It didn’t fit in with their way of thinking about Jesus, and so it went right over their heads. The disciples clearly didn’t get it.
Let this be a warning to us all. If it could happen to the disciples when they were right there in the visible presence of Jesus, it can also happen to us. We shouldn’t look at them and say “What a bunch of boneheads!” We should rather look at ourselves with some godly fear and humility and ask, “What is it that I don’t get? What is it about Jesus or about myself that I am blind to?” The fact of the matter is that in our fallen condition, we are all spiritually blind. Our vision is clouded and darkened to the truth, even though it might be sitting right there in front of us and staring us in the face.
First, without the clear mirror of God’s Law, we cannot see our own sin rightly. Oh, sure, we will be happy to admit that we have a few flaws and problems, but we are blind to how utterly deep our corruption is. We have little understanding about how sin taints absolutely everything about us. Certainly we can see it a little better in others – you know, all those issues that everyone else has. But the justifications and excuses we make for ourselves – and they are plenty! – inevitably obscure our vision and prevent us from making a clear self-diagnosis.
And perhaps even worse, apart from the clear proclamation of the Gospel, we don’t see Jesus rightly. Jesus gets turned into some other figure that we fit into our own agendas: you know, the Messiah who is on our side in political causes; the guru who helps us to cope and live a happier lifestyle; the guide who provides the example for how we can make ourselves righteous; the life coach who helps us to get where we want to be. You can tell you have a false Jesus, though, when He is only a means to an end. In the Bible, Jesus is the end; He is the goal. He is not merely our guide to lead us somewhere greater, He is everything that we are seeking. He is Himself the Truth and the Life. There is nowhere greater than true fellowship with God in Christ.
So, as we ponder today’s Gospel, let us remember what we confess in the Catechism about the 3rd article of the Creed: “I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him. But the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts (“enlightened” means that He has given light to our eyes so that we can rightly see), sanctified and kept me in the truth faith.” Having the proper vision about ourselves and about Jesus is entirely a gift of God’s grace by His Word and Spirit. Remember that as you talk about the faith with others, particularly if they seem to be unclear and unable to understand what you are saying. Have patience, speak the truth in love, and speak the faith rightly, for only the Holy Spirit can open their eyes.
Who is it in today’s Gospel that sees Jesus best of all? It is actually the blind man. That means we must learn to become more like that beggar on the side of the road: empty-handed before God, nothing to give Him that He should accept us, and desiring the vision that only He can impart.
The blind man heard a great crowd passing by and asked what it meant. When he was told that Jesus of Nazareth was with them, the blind man cried out with a loud voice, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Notice how that prayer showed that the blind man already had faith in Jesus. The term “Son of David” is a title for the Messiah. This blind man had certainly heard about the things Jesus had said and done prior to this; he believed the Word he had heard. His ears were his eyes. Seeing Jesus would not have helped the blind man believe in Him, for “faith comes by hearing” (Rom 10:17). Even without earthly sight, the blind man could see that Jesus was the Promised One. He believed that Jesus could heal him. But even more, he believed that Jesus was the Christ who had come to redeem His people.
“Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” This is our prayer, too. “Let us pray to the Lord: Lord, have mercy.” “O Christ the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, have mercy on us.” This is our go-to prayer; it covers almost every possible situation. When you see someone in trouble or acting foolishly, you can pray for them simply by saying, “Lord, have mercy.” When you yourself are in trouble or need, when you’re about to go into surgery, when a relationship is on the rocks, when you don’t know how you’re going to pay the bills, you can pray, “Lord, have mercy on me.”
Even when everything is going great – you’re healthy, you’re prosperous, family is good – after your prayers of thanksgiving, it is still good to pray “Lord, have mercy on me,” lest you fall into complacency and spiritual laziness or pride. This prayer needs to be a regular part of the conversation of your heart, so that even in the hour of death you may confidently say, “Lord, have mercy,” and know that He will. His mercy is everything for you.
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Now, the crowds here don’t like this blind man’s prayer. They warn him that he should shut up. It’s impolite. He’s being annoying, crying out that way. It’s like those people who think it’s fine that you’re a Christian as long as you keep it all to yourself: “I don’t care what you believe, as long as you don’t make me believe it.” But when the exercise of your faith goes against the desires and plans of others, or when the confession of your faith becomes a nuisance to them, that’s is when people start telling you to shut up and pipe down and don’t carry things so far.
However, faith is stubborn; faith is persistent. Faith will not let anything get in the way of life in Jesus or prayer to Him. Faith doesn’t give a hoot what people think or what they will say, because it seeks a gift infinitely greater than worldly approval. True faith is not ashamed and will not be silenced. That is why the blind man cried out all the more loudly, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
And notice this wonderful statement in the Gospel. When the blind man spoke those words, Luke tells us that “Jesus stood still.” This prayer went directly to our Lord’s ears and it stopped Him right in His tracks. It turned Jesus around and drew His undivided attention. Isn’t that marvelous!? Jesus stood still. He didn’t mind that proper decorum had been breached. At the sound of this prayer, Jesus commanded that the blind man be brought to Him.
And He asked him, “What do you want Me to do for you?” Now why would He ask that? Doesn’t He already know? Yes, He does; God knows what you need even before you ask Him. In fact, He knows your needs better than you do. But He asks anyway in order that the blind man may exercise his faith with a specific prayer.
The general prayer, “Lord, have mercy,” opens up a whole world of particular prayers and requests. Jesus also wants to hear the specifics of your lives. He wants to hear from you in your own voice what is on your mind and heart. He wants you to verbalize your desires, like a little child learning to speak to his father and use his words to ask for help. In verbalizing your prayers, they become concrete and focused. Prayer is one of the primary ways in which you exercise your faith, that you may learn to look to the Lord for all that you need and see that every good gift comes from His hand.
In response to Jesus’ question, the blind man answered, “Lord, that I may receive my sight.” Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has made you well.” And immediately the man could see. The blind man’s eyes were opened, and the first sight that he saw was the face of His Savior. Jesus said in Mt 5:8, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” The blind man’s heart was pure, for it trusted in Jesus who alone is pure. It is through this faith that he is made well and could see God.
Now this doesn’t mean that if God doesn’t give you 20/20 vision when you ask for it, then you don’t have enough faith. Don’t focus on your believing; focus on the One in whom you believe. Faith in Jesus receives everything as a gift; it doesn’t make demands that He has to fulfill. Sometimes God says “no” to what we ask for because He wants to teach us patience or make room for greater gifts. Sometimes He knows that what we are asking for will harm us and endanger our salvation. Since we cannot know the mind of God ahead of time, we pray simply trusting that Jesus will hear our prayers, that He will do what is truly best for us, and that He will give us grace to accept His decision and will.
Like all of Jesus’ miracles, this healing wasn’t just talk or an easy wave of the hands. It cost Jesus his life on the cross. It is there that Jesus won healing and restoration for us all by bearing our physical ailments and infirmities, bearing our sin and pain and sorrow, and suffering them all to death in His holy body. And Jesus shares that miracle with all who cry out to Him in beggarly faith. Jesus hung on a cross in the darkness, blinded by death, in order to bring healing and the light of His resurrection to the world.
Know, then, dear friends, that the Lord hears your prayers even when they seem to go unanswered. Ultimately, they have all been answered “yes” in Jesus’ dying and rising. For now, we walk by God-given faith in that truth. But on the Last Day our faith will turn to sight, just like the man in today’s Gospel. For on the Last Day every bodily disorder and every disability will be done away with – failing vision, poor hearing, arthritis, paralysis, heart disease, cancer, weakness, frailty – ALL of it will go away. Even sin and death will be eradicated completely, and the Great Physician, our Lord Jesus, will raise us bodily to share in His own glory and life.
When the blind man received his sight, he followed Jesus on the road to Jerusalem and the cross. As we prepare to enter the season of Lent this week, may God bless us too with the ability to follow Jesus and walk with Him on the way of sacrificial love.
And let us also remember what happened afterwards on that first Easter evening. The Emmaus disciples walked the road with Jesus and talked with Him without recognizing Him, blind to who He was. But when Jesus broke bread with them, then He was no longer hidden to their eyes. It is that way now also. Here your eyes are opened, and Jesus is made known to you in the breaking of the bread. His body and blood are given and shed for you. His forgiveness covers your past and your former blindness. And when the final Easter comes, you will hear Him say to you, “Your faith has saved you; receive your sight.” And then we, too, will behold the face of God.
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
