1 Corinthians 13.1–13 & Luke 18.31–43
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
When Jesus originally called His disciples He called them with the words, “Follow Me.” It was an invitation to join His school and learn from Him the word and ways of God. The twelve disciples had been learning from Jesus for three years now when today’s gospel lesson begins. Jesus had been teaching a multitude but then pulls the twelve aside from the crowd to tell them where He will lead them next. “Behold,” He says, “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.” Christ has told them this before on other occasions and each time they did not understand. We hear this and think, “Of course. This is the how the story goes.”
But we know the story. The twelve were living it in real time. Even though Jesus spoke in plain words to them, not figuratively as in a parable, they understood none of these things. In fact, this saying was hidden from them. The Holy Spirit hid this saying from them so that they could not understand it. At this point sorrow would have engulfed them if they had understood it. At this stage in their understanding, they may have done everything in their power to stop their teacher and Lord from suffering and death. For now, the disciples need to know that Jesus knew all this would happen in advance. What is today hidden, will be revealed after His resurrection when He explains His suffering, death, and resurrection from the Scripture itself, so that they might go into all the world preaching the suffering, death, and resurrection of the Christ for the justification of all who believe.
Having predicted His passion one more time, they Jesus leads them towards Jerusalem with them following Him. As they come to the city of Jericho they come near a blind man, sitting by the road, begging. This was, after all, all he could do. He had to live day to day from the generosity of others. This blind man hears a multitude passing by but being blind, the matter is hidden from him. He asks what’s happening and is told that Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. After three years of public ministry Jesus’ fame had spread through all Israel, and this blind man had obviously heard of Jesus, His miracles, and His mercy. Not only had he heard of Jesus, but he also believed in Him. That’s why he cries out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” What faith! Though blind, he sees what so many of his countrymen are blind to: that Jesus is the Son of David, the Messiah. He prays to Jesus, begging that He be merciful to him as Jesus has been merciful to so many. Those passing by tell him to be quiet. Jesus is either speaking or being spoken to and they want to hear. This blind beggar’s cries cares are only getting in the way. This just makes the blind man cry out all the more. “Son of David, have mercy on me!” He’s not going to let this one chance slip away. He doesn’t care who else hears. Nothing will prevent him from crying out to Jesus, not if all the world were to tell him to hush. His faith is resilient, untiring, and unyielding in spite of the fact that the sight of Jesus is hidden from him.
And Jesus is merciful. He hears the blind man’s prayer and has him brought to Him. Jesus asks him, “What do you want Me to do for you?” to exercise the man’s faith and teach the multitude that was with Him. The blind man was a beggar, after all, and beggars beg. Did he just want food, drink, or money? No, “Lord, that I may receive my sight,” he says. And Jesus answers His prayer. “Receive your sight,” Jesus says, “Your faith has made you well.” Literally, “Your faith has saved you,” because faith is how anyone receives the mercy Jesus promises. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Him, glorifying God. The formerly blind man had become a disciple of Jesus, following Him, learning from Him the word and ways of God. The healing of the blind man shows the disciples what He will do for them, spiritually speaking, after His resurrection. Though things were hidden from them at the moment, Christ would, at the proper time, reveal all things to them, not only for their benefit, but to for the benefit of the entire world. The formerly blind man also encourages them to follow Jesus even though they don’t see as clearly as they think they should. The point is simply follow Jesus to the cross and learn from Him why He is willing to be delivered to the Gentiles, mocked and insulted and spit upon, scourged, and killed, and rise again on the third day.
What will they learn is the reason, the why? Love. St. Paul tells us in Ephesians 5:2, “Walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.” Christ went to Jerusalem, knowing full-well that He would suffer greatly at the hands of the Romans. He went to Jerusalem, knowing that He would suffer greatly in His soul because He would suffer the full wrath of God against sin as The Sinner—the substitute who would die in place of all mankind to pay for the sins of all mankind. And the only motivation to be made such a sacrifice is love, for no other motivation could animate Christ to endure such suffering willfully, knowingly, gently, and perfectly. Without love it wouldn’t have fulfilled the law. Without love as the motivation, Christ’s words would have been sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. Without love as the motivation, all Christ’s prophecy, understanding, knowledge, and faith in His heavenly Father would have been nothing. Without love for mankind—all of mankind—though He gave His body to death on the cross it would have profited us nothing, for love is the fulfillment of the law, and Christ has fulfilled the law perfectly for us, therefore Christ bore all things, suffered all things, and endured all things because He loved us.
The season of Lent begins on Wednesday, so it is only right that today Jesus tells us, “Behold! We are going up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be accomplished.” As we follow our Lord Jesus Christ to the cross, we will see how everything He establishes and everything He endures accomplishes what the prophets wrote about the Son of Man. These things were hidden from the disciples beforehand. But they are not hidden from our eyes, that is, unless we willfully close our eyes and stop up our ears to the apostles’ witness. Not only must we see how Christ accomplished all things written about the Son of Man, we must see that all of it is done, suffered, and endured out of love for us. Only then will our faith cry out all the more, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” as the blind beggar cried out. Christ shows us His great love for us so that we believe in Him, so that we trust in Him, so that we place all our confidence in Him, regardless of what is hidden from us in this life. Christ drives His love deeper into our hearts as we hear again how He bore our griefs and carried our sorrows; how He was smitten and afflicted by God; how He was wounded for our transgression and bruised for our iniquities, and how His chastisement earns our peace with God, and how His bloody stripes are our saving health.
And if we contemplate Christ’s love for us like this, so that it is driven deeper into our hearts, then we will have choice but love our neighbor for whom Christ has also died. The love Christ has shown us shows us how we are to love one another, not in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth “(1 Jn 3:18). Paul teaches us this love in the epistle. “Love suffers long—that is, it is patient—and is kind; love does not envy. Love does not parade itself—meaning, it isn’t boastful about what it does—It is not puffed up, that is, conceited. Love does not behave rudely, indecently towards others. Love does not seek it’s own, our own good, but the good of our neighbor, placing their good alongside ours, because if it isn’t good for our neighbor then it isn’t good for us, either. This is why Paul says in Philippians 2:4, “Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.” Love thinks no evil, either of others or evil things for oneself. Love does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth. As we look at the ministry, suffering, and death of Jesus we see this perfect love for all people, including us, and turn toward our neighbors and love them this same way. This is why of faith, hope, and love, the greatest of these is love. Faith and hope are directed toward God. Love is the greatest because it is not only directed toward God, but to every neighbor, even to ourselves, for we cannot love our neighbor if we do not love ourselves as God loves us.
If we follow Jesus to the cross, learning God’s word and ways from Him, He will show us His great love for us. That love strengthens our faith in Him, so that, like the blind beggar, regardless of how much is hidden from us in this life, we confidently call out to Him in all things, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me,” knowing that He will. If He has loved us enough to suffer all things and die for us, how much more will graciously give us all things we need for this life and the next? Amen.
May the peace God which passes understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
