Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and
from our Lord Jesus Christ.
Text: (Luke
18:31-43)
They
told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” And he cried out, “Jesus, Son of David,
have mercy on me!”
Prayer: May
the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your
sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Our Gospel reading today has two parts to it.
The first is where Jesus takes his twelve disciples aside
and prophesies that he is going to die and rise again.
The second event is where a blind man calls out to Jesus
and asks him to restore his sight.
So let’s look at the first part.
Jesus is on a long journey to Jerusalem. Right back near
the end of Luke chapter 9, we read that Jesus set his face to go to Jerusalem.
In Luke chapter 13 we read that Jesus “went on his way through towns and
villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem.” In chapter 17, it says,
“On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee.”
So you can see that for much of what Luke writes in his
gospel, Jesus is making a journey towards Jerusalem. It is a very important
journey. When Jesus is transfigured on the mountain, Luke reports that he was
talking with Moses and Elijah about his departure, his journey to Jerusalem,
and from Jerusalem to the cross.
And now, Jesus is close to Jericho and is about to pass
through. Jericho is about 45kms from Jerusalem. And Jesus says, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem.”
Jesus says, we are going up to Jerusalem, because of the lay of the land. Jericho is 250
metres below sea level and Jerusalem is almost 800 metres above sea level. So
there’s a lot of uphill walking. Jesus in the parable of the Good Samaritan
says that the man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho.
So we know that this road was a well-known road, and it
was also a road that was known for its downhill slope to Jericho and its uphill
climb to Jerusalem.
But what Jesus tells his disciples is something quite
amazing. He says: “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.”
Now, we who are alive today at this time know that these
things happened later. We know that Jesus died on the cross and rose again. We
know that he was arrested and handed over the Gentiles. He was tried in court
by Pontius Pilate, who was a Gentile, a Roman. We know that he was mocked. We
read that the Roman soldiers put a crown of thorns on Jesus’ head as a kind of
sick joke, and jeered at him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” We know that
the high priests and others who were walking past Jesus on the cross said to
him, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let
him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him.” We know that he
was treated shamefully. He was beaten, and blindfolded, and he wasn’t given a
fair trial. Jesus says that he will be spit upon. We read later that this
happened. We also know that he was flogged, just as Pontius Pilate commanded.
We also know that he was killed. He was nailed to the cross and he died. We
also know that on the third day he rose again from the dead.
But what is amazing about this passage in our Gospel
reading today is the fact that Jesus is telling his twelve disciples about this
in advance. It’s all very well for us to think about this after the event, but
can you put yourself in the disciples’ shoes and imagine what Jesus’ words
today must have sounded like?
You see, when Jesus went to the cross, it wasn’t a
mistake. It was exactly what needed to happen. Jesus was the Lamb of God, the
sacrificial Lamb, and he was going to Jerusalem to make the one perfect,
eternal sacrifice on behalf of the sin of the whole world. Things like this
don’t happen by accident.
In fact, Jesus was travelling uphill to Jerusalem in
direct obedience to his Father’s will. We read: Christ humbled himself and
became obedient unto death, even death on a cross.
Now, this is not the first time that Jesus prophesies his
own death, but it is the third time that he does this. And how, do we read, the
disciples reacted to this?
We read: But they
understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they did
not grasp what was said.
It was only later that the disciples realised what Jesus
was talking about . But this is often the same for us too: so often we read a
piece of the bible and listen to Jesus’ words, and they make absolutely no
sense to us, but later on it makes sense.
Here the disciples are completely blind. They have really
no idea of what is going to happen in the future. They know that Jesus will
reign as a king, but they don’t expect it to happen on a cross. Perhaps they
think here that Jesus is telling another kind of parable.
But Jesus knows his own future. He is not blinded to it.
He is travelling to Jerusalem for this purpose: he knows why he is going there.
In the garden of Gethsemane, he prays that this cup may be taken away from him,
and he submits to the will of his Father. But his disciples just don’t
understand.
Jesus also holds the future for us in his hands. This is
because the future always belonged to him, and it never belonged to us. Jesus
holds the future in his hands for our individual lives, for our families, for
our churches—we don’t know what the future holds, but Jesus knows, and we know
that he will be there. In Jeremiah 29:11, we read a verse which is such a
favourite for so many people: “For I know the plans I have for you, declares
the Lord, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a
hope.”
And Jesus also prophesies certain things about the
Christian life: he promises that it will be a narrow way with few people on it,
a lonely way, a hard way, a life of the cross, but we know that every step of
the way, he will also walk with us. Every step of the way, his promise of grace
and of life and of comfort will be there, as it says in Hebrews: “Jesus always
lives to make intercession for them”, that is, for us. As long as Jesus is
alive (and we know that he will never die again, as it says in Romans 6), he
will always be praying for us, sighing for us, strengthening us, begging and
imploring his Father on our behalf.
And so when we come to our heavenly Father, and we ask
him, “What’s going to happen in my future?” “What will happen to me?” “How long
will this happen?” or “Will things be any better in my life, my society?” and
all that sort of thing, we are simply joining in the prayers that Jesus is
always making to his Father. So we join in praying with Jesus, and Jesus joins
in praying with us. He cleans up and covers every prayer of ours with his
blood, with his prayers, with his holy flesh. All of our weakest, worst prayers
are made completely perfect because they are prayed together with Jesus.
And so, we have this wonderful gift, that Jesus is always
praying for us at his Father’s right hand, and that he is the beginning and the
end, the Alpha and the Omega. He sees right into the depths of all the darkness
of our hearts, and he sees right through to the most glorious heights of heaven
where all the angels sing and rejoice night and day. Jesus is the living and
eternal God of the past—he is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who spoke to
Moses in the burning bush—and he is also the living and eternal God who holds
your future in his hand, and prays for a wonderful, glorious future for you,
such that you can never imagine, and such that you can never even pray for
because you wouldn’t even have the words.
And all this is made possible because Jesus suffered and
died and rose again from the dead for you. Now, we know from the Gospels that
these things happened, and we know from the preaching of the apostles and of
Jesus himself that these things happened for
us, but as for what will happen to us in the future is unknown to us, we
are left completely blind, and simply wait for Jesus to reveal his wonderful
future for us, as each day reveals itself. Some days there will be sadness,
just like Good Friday. Some days there will be wonderful joy, just like Easter
Sunday. But whatever day it is, we will always share every day—and the sadness
and the joy of every day—with our loving Saviour and Shepherd, Jesus Christ.
Every day is a day to hold Jesus’ bitter sufferings and death before our eyes
as our great strength in our suffering, and every day is a day to hold Jesus’
wonderful eternal victory before our eyes as our great hope and comfort.
There is a wonderful passage at the end of the Gospel of
Luke, where after Jesus has risen from the dead, and he walks along to a
village called Emmaus with two disciples. And at night they say to him, “Stay
with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent.” And we read: So Jesus went in to stay with them.
And so the same prayer goes for us: Lord Jesus, stay with
us. Stay with us today and in the future. Stay with us in times of the cross,
and stay with us in times of joy. Let our sorrow be yours, and let your joy be
ours. Let my sin be yours, and let your righteousness be mine. I don’t know
what the future holds, but nevertheless, I know you will be there, just as have
you have been with me in the past, and just as you are here now, so stay with
us. Abide with us. Remain with me.
And now we come to the second part of the reading. We
read: As Jesus drew near to Jericho, 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!”
Here is an event, which gives us a wonderful picture of
what it means to be a Christian. Firstly, we need to remember that this event
actually happened and took place at a certain time. But this event also
strengthens many of us who are not physically blind. But we are blind in so
many other ways.
How many people today live their lives in black-and-white,
when our Lord Jesus calls us to live life in all its colour! How blind people
are to spiritual realities—and live as if its midnight all day long! We are
blind to the working of God’s hand, we are blind to protection that God’s
angels give us every minute, we are blind to the power of Jesus’ blood which is
washed over us in baptism and continually received by us in the Lord’s Supper.
If only we could see all the wonderful things that God is doing all the time! Proverbs
3 says: In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
But if we could
see all these things with our eyes, it would be too much for us, and we would be
far too overwhelmed. And so for much of the time, we are left in the dark, just
like the 12 disciples listening to Jesus talking about his future death and
resurrection: The sayings are hidden from us. We don’t understand what Jesus is
talking about. We don’t grasp it. Our sinful existence clouds our sight and our
ability to recognise God and his work.
But here in our reading is a poor beggar. And he is blind
too. And he hears the commotion, and asks what is going on. And in his
darkness, he hears with his ears the words that will change his life: “Jesus of
Nazareth is passing by!”
Today, Jesus of Nazareth is also passing by! He is walking
through our town, through our home, through our life, through our church, ready
and willing to distribute every gift to everyone, and to shower his Holy Spirit
again on each heart. What an amazing thing: to think that Jesus of Nazareth is
passing by! As it says in Psalm 8: What is man that you are mindful of him, and
the son of man that you care for him?
And so it’s no wonder that we sing again and again from
Sunday to Sunday and week to week: Lord, have mercy. As the blind man says: Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me! I
know you are passing by, I know that you are passing through my town, I know
that you are speaking your word: Don’t pass me by and leave me with my sin, my
shame, my problems! Come and have mercy on me too. As it says in Psalm 95: If today you hear his voice, do not harden
your hearts. Jesus, I hear your voice and your call and your pure grace: come
and stay with me, shine your light into my eyes, and have mercy on me.
And then we read: Jesus
stopped and commanded him to be brought to him. And when he came near, he asked
him, “What do you want me to do for you?” He said, “Lord, let me recover my sight.”
Today, Jesus is also passing by. What do you want him to
do for you, in all your blindness, and helplessness?
Remember the words of the two disciples on the way to
Emmaus: Stay with us, Lord Jesus, because it is almost evening and the day is
nearly over.
Remember that simple prayer of the blind beggar, “Lord
have mercy.” That is the most profound and deepest prayer ever prayed. We pray
it every Sunday and we forget it’s even there! Even the whole of the Lord’s
Prayer is one big prayer for mercy from our Father in heaven. And the more we
spend at God’s altars in the church, the more we call on him from day to day,
the more we pray to him, the more we realise that for us everything is total
blindness and helplessness, and everything depends on Jesus’ pure mercy. Give
thanks to the Lord Jesus for he is good, for his steadfast love endures
forever!
Amen.
Abide, O dearest Jesus, Among us with Thy grace, that
Satan may not harm us, Nor we to sin give place. Lord Jesus Christ—you are the
same, yesterday, today and forever. Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!
Amen.
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