1 Corinthians 13.1-13 + Luke 18.31-43
Quinquagesima Sunday
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Jesus takes the twelve disciples aside and tells 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. 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.” This was not the first time He had told them about His suffering, death, and resurrection, and despise the fact that Jesus speaks very plainly here, they do not have ears to hear it at the moment. “They understood none of these things; this saying was hidden from them, and they did not know the things which were spoken.”
They believed Jesus was the Christ, the long-awaited Messiah. They believed He would fulfill everything the divinely inspired prophets had foretold about Him. But they didn’t know the things which Jesus was speaking about. Like the Jews of our day, they understood some of the things the prophets foretold about the Christ but failed to understand other things spoken about Him. When Jesus says that He will be delivered to the gentiles, they did not think of the words of David from Psalm 2, “Why do the gentiles rage, And the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, And the rulers take counsel together, Against the Lord and against His Christ, saying, “Let us break Their bonds in pieces And cast away Their cords from us.” When He tells them the Son of Man will be mocked and insulted and spit upon, they don’t connect that with the words of Isaiah 50:6, “I gave My back to those who struck Me, And My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard; I did not hide My face from shame and spitting.”
When He tells them He must be scourged and killed, they do not recall that the prophet had written, “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. He was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgressions of My people He was stricken” (Is 53:5, 8). They hear Him say, “The third day He will rise again,” David’s words from Psalm 16 do not come to mind. It is only after Christ’s resurrection, after He opens their minds to the Scriptures, that Peter applies those words of David to Jesus: “For You will not leave my soul in Hades, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption. You have made known to me the ways of life; You will make me full of joy in Your presence” (Ac 2:27–28).
Although they do not understand these things and this saying was hidden from them, He tells them of His sufferings, death, and resurrection, so that after He accomplishes all these things, they might look back at remember that He had understood them and that He had foretold them. They would look back at this—and all the times Jesus had spoken of His passion and resurrection—and believe all the more firmly that He is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, who alone has the words of life.
Then, as they come near Jericho on their way to Jerusalem—the place where He will accomplish all these things—they encounter a blind man, whom Mark identifies as Bartimaeus, sitting by the road, begging. This is how God provided him with his daily bread. When he hears a multitude passing by, he asks what’s happening, only to be told that Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. Bartimaeus had heard the good news about Jesus. He had heard that Jesus opened the eyes of the blind, so he cries out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” He believes much more about Jesus than that He can work miracles. He believes Him to the Christ, the Son of David, in whose day “the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped” as Isaiah had foretold. And when those nearby tell him to be quiet, his faith that Jesus is the Christ causes him to cry out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” For that is what faith does. It believes that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of David, and that Jesus is merciful, that He wants to show mercy to those who believe in Him and humbly ask Him for what they need. Faith leads Bartimaeus to prayer, to present His request to God, trusting that Christ can give it, and wants to give it.
Jesus stops and has Bartimaeus brought to Him. And He asks, “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus is testing him. Asking for food or money would show that the blind man had no idea who Jesus was. But when he answers, “Lord, that I may receive my sight,” he reveals the faith in his heart. And Jesus lovingly answers this faith, “Receive your sight; your faith has made you well.” Literally, “Your faith has saved you,” because faith is how one receives Christ’s promise of mercy. Bartimaeus receives his sight, becomes a disciple and pupil of Jesus, and glorifies God.
What do these two parts of the gospel—Jesus predicting His passion and the healing of the blind man—have to do with one another? Mercy. Jesus heals blind Bartimaeus right after teaching the twelve about His passion and resurrection to teach them why the Son of Man will be delivered to the Gentiles and will be mocked and insulted, spit upon, scourged, and killed. The motivation is mercy. All that Jesus will accomplish in Jerusalem is all that necessary for God to show mercy to sinners. He will be delivered to the Gentiles so that all who believe in Him might not be delivered to God’s righteous judgment on account of our sins. He will be mocked and insulted and spit upon to redeem mankind from its sins of mocking God with unbelief, insulting God with its many sins, and spitting upon Him with its self-righteous rejection of His will. The gentiles will scourge Him and kill Him as our substitute since we deserve the eternal scourging of God’s wrath and the eternal death where “Their worm does not die And the fire is not quenched” (Mk 9:44). And the third day He will rise again to justify believers, giving them everything He earned by His bitter, innocent sufferings and death—the full forgiveness of sins, the Holy Spirit to live new lives, the adoption as sons of God, and the promise of the eternal inheritance with Him. None of this is deserved. Not of this is merited. He earns it for us and gives it to penitent believers out of sheer grace and mercy. He does this out of love.
All of it must be done out of love, not obligation. St. Paul writes, “and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.” If sacrificing his life, but not in love, profits Paul nothing, how much more would Christ’s sacrifice fail to profit those for whom He died? Christ heals blind Bartimaeus out of love, and Bartimaeus receives the love of Christ by faith, and that faith saved him. As it was for Bartimaeus, it is for you. Christ has taken your sins upon Himself, borne them upon His shoulders, and made perfect payment for every single one of them by His suffering and death. And He did this for you because He loves you. Faith in Christ’s satisfaction for your sins, faith in His perfect merits, saves you because faith is how you receive these blessings. Faith says, “Christ wants to be merciful to me. Christ made full satisfaction for my sins. Christ earned perfect righteousness in God’s sight for me. And He did all this because He is merciful. He did this and offers these blessings to me each day out of love.”
How then ought you to live? As Bartimaeus did, following Christ, learning from Him and praising Him. And as the twelve disciples did, not fully understanding, but following Him, nonetheless, believing Hiim to be the merciful Christ. As the disciples, you do not always understand His word, and you most certainly do not understand everything that happens to you in this world, nonetheless, you follow the merciful Christ. And how ought you to live towards others? As Christ lived for you, motiving by mercy, animated by love. Not the world’s false love of toleration of sin, but true love, the kind of love that Christ has for you. Love that is patient and kind. Love that does not envy. Love that does not boast and isn’t conceited. Love that does not behave indecently or seek its own. Love that does not become angry and dwell on evil. Love that does not rejoice in iniquity but rejoices in the truth. Love that bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. This is the love Christ has demonstrated for you by being delivered to the Gentiles, mocked, insulted, spit upon. It is the love that led Him to be scourged and killed for you. Having been raised by the dead, it is the love He shows each day as He graciously offers you the blessings He earned for you. Following Him, let your motivation by mercy and your life be one of love. Amen.
May the peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
