Quinquagesima - About 50 Days until Easter

St. Luke 18:31–43
Confirmation of Austin Adams at Trinity, Clinton, IA

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and 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.

How much clearer could Jesus be? And yet, the disciples did not understand. This was not the first time Jesus had spoken of what was to come for Him. In all fairness, when He taught openly to the crowds, He had been less straightforward in the predictions of His Passion. In the same way, He taught the crowds in parables, so that those who resisted His Word and refused to believe would not be able to know the secrets of the kingdom of God (Luke 8:10). 

So, for example, Jesus predicted His Passion to the crowds this way: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up”… He was speaking about the temple of His body (John 2:19). Or: “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matt. 12:39–40). Or: “I will be with you a little longer, and then I am going to Him who sent me. You will seek Me and you will not find Me. Where I am you cannot come” (John 7:33–34). These are not the plainest explanations of His suffering, death, and resurrection. But, he who has ears to hear, let him hear (Luke 8:8).

And it seems that the disciples didn’t quite have the ears to hear, at least not yet, at least not completely. Because, while Jesus was indirect with the crowds, He was much more direct with the disciples. Again, just as He explained the parables to the disciples when on their own, so also He gave them the plainest predictions of His Passion. First, He said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised” (Luke 9:22). And then a second time: “Let these words sink into your ears: The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men” (Luke 9:44). And the one we heard today was the third time. But they understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them.

Why? I think it can be a little too easy for us to shake our heads at those foolish disciples and wonder, how could they not get it? Yes, they could be thick-headed at times, but are we always much better? And might we fall into the danger of thinking that faith in Jesus is just a little too easy? So easy that we let it slide, thinking we’ve got the gist and that’s good enough. If the 12 men who spent every day with Jesus for three years were having a hard time believing and understanding everything He said, then maybe it’s not so easy and we should take it a little more seriously too.

Exactly why the disciples didn’t get it is partly a mystery. They clearly had faith in Him, and they were certainly baptized because they were already baptizing others. So they also had the Holy Spirit—the only One who gives faith—the only One who gives the power to say, “Jesus is Lord” (1 Cor. 12:3). But they didn’t yet have the Holy Spirit in quite the same way believers do today. And this can only be because the Lord’s work was not yet finished. The crucified, risen, and ascended Lord had not yet poured out His Spirit as He would on Pentecost. Things were still building up to that point, so things were not quite the same for the disciples. 

Their circumstances prior to the cross, are very different from our circumstances after Pentecost. In some ways, their physical eyes hindered their faith. They saw this Man feed thousands, heal the sick, walk on water, and raise the dead—how then could He die? And yet, it was necessary that they see it all as it happened so they could be His witnesses—eye-witnesses, able to give reliable testimony to the Truth! I would suppose that it was necessary that they didn’t quite understand it all perfectly right away, so that they could observe everything that Jesus did and everything that happened to Him and then report it as true, ordinary witnesses. Someone who already understands everything before it happens isn’t a very good eye-witness. They would be sort of cheating, getting all the answers from some other source, and then what would be the point of the witness? The disciples needed to be Jesus’ eye-witnesses first, and then, after His resurrection, He could explain it all.

So, in one way, the disciples’ misunderstanding was an act of God. He deliberately kept them from getting it all, for His own good purposes. But that also means we have no excuse for continuing in our faulty belief and dim understanding. God is not keeping us in the dark. He has given us everything we need to know and understand. The thing is, we are not witnesses like the disciples were. We are not eye-witnesses of Jesus’ suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension. And so it’s not our job to give testimony of what we see, think, or feel. It is our job to hear the testimony of the disciples as they have written it in Holy Scripture. We are hearers. It is our job to listen, learn, and believe. And so, in many ways, we should not take for our examples the disciples who became apostles. None of us are going to become apostles. We are disciples of Jesus—learners, hearers of Jesus—who are going to gladly remain disciples.

It might be much better then, if we take for our example the Blind Man. Unlike the disciples, but very much like the Blind Man, we do not see Jesus. We cannot see Him healing the sick or holding the children in His lap. We cannot see Him dying on the cross or rising from the tomb. Instead, like the Blind Man, we hear the report from those who did see Jesus. Clearly, the Blind Man had heard some kind of report of who this Jesus of Nazareth is, because He immediately recognizes that this Man is far more than a carpenter from Nazareth. He calls Him, Jesus, Son of David—the King!—and the One who can have mercy on me! He knows this Jesus is the Lord.

Likewise, we listen to the eye-witness testimony of the apostles and believe their report. We learn what they tell us of this Jesus of Nazareth, this Son of David, this Lord who has mercy on sinners. Then by faith, in the power of the Holy Spirit, we can say, “Jesus is Lord.” And lest we take that faith for granted, we must recognize with the Blind Man that faith is not exactly easy. Yes, it’s simple enough for a child, simple enough for a newborn baby. Faith is a pure gift, not a work of man, only a work of the Holy Spirit—so in that sense it is easy, a pure gift. But the testing of faith is not easy. And this is why faith must always be growing, learning, reaching out for more understanding.

The Blind Man was challenged by the world. Those who were in front rebuked him, telling him to be silent. They told him to shut up. You can have your religion, but keep it to yourself. Don’t get in the way of anyone else, or speak up in defense of your faith. But the Blind Man cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” He didn’t care what the world thought of him or what they could do to him. He just wanted his Jesus. He just wanted to be with His Lord and live by His mercy, and to hell with the world. Nothing else matters.

Faith clings to Jesus’ cross alone And rest in Him unceasing (LSB 555:9). Faith lives from Jesus’ cross alone. Faith cannot live on its own—it has no power of its own. Faith must always be kept alive. Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the Word of Christ (Rom. 10:17). So, faith only survives by hearing the Word of Christ, wherever and however it is offered. Faith survives by breathing in the breath of the Spirit given in the Word of the Father. Faith survives by eating and drinking the body and blood of the Son. And this is why, having been healed, the formerly Blind Man did not go back to his home in Jericho. But instead, he followed Jesus, glorifying God. 

Today, Austin, you will come forward like that Blind Man. No one in this crowd today is going to try to hold you back, but still you come forward with just as much eagerness and joy. Because, like the Blind Man, you have the Spirit and you have heard the report about Jesus. You have been baptized and you have been taught His Word. So today, you come forward to make your good confession of faith; to cry out your very own, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me;” to say with the power of the Holy Spirit, “Jesus is Lord.” And having made your confession of faith, you will be admitted to the Lord’s Table. Here at His Table you can come forward to Jesus, like the Blind Man, confidently trusting that here you will find perfect healing. Here your faith will be fed, nourished, strengthened, and so kept alive. 

The life of faith and the testing of that faith will not be easy. You will face challenges, and you won’t be able to keep your faith going on your own. But that’s what the Divine Service is for, every time you can get it. By listening to His Word, and by eating His body and drinking His blood, you will recover your sight. You will learn more and more to know your Jesus, your Lord, and one day, see Him with your own eyes.

In the Holy + Name of Jesus. Amen.


Preached at Trinity, Clinton, IA, and Immanuel, Charlotte, IA

Quinquagesima - About 50 Days until Easter

St. Luke 18:31–43
Catechesis gives sight and is the Way on which the Teacher leads you.

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

There is a terrific irony in our Gospel reading this morning: the twelve disciples who can physically see are really blind and the man who is physically blind can really see. Jesus directs His disciples to the Scriptures: everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. And He spells out in great detail what will be accomplished: 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. But they understood none of these things. Jesus almost highlights their lack of understanding by beginning with that great attention–getting word: See! Behold! Pay attention to this! But they don’t understand. They don’t really see. These twelve disciples have watched Jesus for the past three years, they’ve seen His miracles and listened to His teaching. But seeing is not believing.

The blind man has not seen Jesus, but he has heard the Scriptures and he has heard reports about Jesus. When people in the crowd tell the blind man, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by,” he knows who that is. He has heard about this Man who claims to be the Lord, who teaches with authority, and who heals the sick and raises the dead. So, he starts crying out to this One he’s heard so much about: “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” And that means he also knows the Scriptures. He knows of the promised Savior, the Son who would sit on David’s throne forever and reign with righteousness and salvation, mercy and peace. This blind man has what the disciples have: they both have the Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament. Jesus had just directed His disciples to the writings of the prophets. And the blind man really has less than the disciples because they got to see and know Jesus, and all he has been able to do is hear about Him. But this blind man believes. He sees for real. He understands and trusts. Seeing is not believing, but believing is seeing. Physically seeing something doesn’t mean you believe. But believing means you really see, you perceive the truth of things. Believing opens up the eyes of your mind and heart. And so, Jesus’ miracle reflects that. By first believing, the blind man comes to see Jesus. Or as Jesus said it Himself, "Your faith has made you well."

But even though the disciples don’t see or understand at this point, we should notice that their blindness is cured after Jesus’ resurrection. This really comes out with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. On that first Easter afternoon, the risen Jesus comes up to two disciples walking out to a village, but they don’t recognize Him. And so just as He said before, He explained that everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets was accomplished. He said to those two, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into His glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself (Luke 24:25–27). He had a Bible study with them, as they walked on the way. And only later, after coming to the house where they would stay for the night, having heard the Scriptures and having come to grasp their meaning, then when He was at table with them, He took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened, and they recognized Him (Luke 24:30–31). Believing made them see. 

And Jesus did the same thing for the rest of the disciples that same Easter evening in the upper room: He said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all nations… You are witnesses of these things” (Luke 24:44–48). They came to really see Him by first hearing and believing the Scriptures, and hearing and believing what happened to the Christ, His suffering, death, and resurrection. Then, believing, they see Him as He is and they become His eye–witnesses.

That’s all farther down the road for those disciples. For today, we’re on the road leading up to Jerusalem and to the cross. But in either case, what we have here is an analogy for catechesis—that is teaching the faith. It’s no accident these catechism classes happen on a road. Jesus is the Way. Christianity is the Way. Learning means following a certain teacher on a certain way. Disciples are followers, walking with their teacher along the way. And the teacher wants to take his students somewhere, and not just anywhere. The purpose of teaching is to lead the student to the truth, to guide him on the way he should go. So, the disciples follow Jesus. The blind man meets Jesus on the road and follows Him. Jesus does His epic Bible study with those two disciples on the road to Emmaus. And the prophet Isaiah proclaimed this Way that would be made known when the Savior came. Not only would He heal the blind and deaf, but a highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Way of Holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it—which means, it’s not a way you can go if you are going to persist in your sin. It shall belong to those who walk on the way;—those who actually want to follow Jesus—The redeemed shall walk there. And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing (Isaiah 35:8–10).

Following Jesus, walking in this Way—this is the Biblical language of learning the faith. Like the disciples, like the blind man, we hear from the Holy Scriptures. And we hear the report about Jesus, we hear about what He did in His suffering, death, and resurrection. We get that report in our Creeds and in our Catechism. All these words, from Scripture, Creed, and Catechism, teach us and lead us on the right Way, the road that leads us to the truth. So, we read and hear these words, we memorize them, we confess them and sing them, we internalize these words so that they become more and more a part of us. They get sunk into our hearts and minds. And gradually our minds are opened. These words open our minds so that we can be shown how all the Scriptures speak of Jesus. These words lead us on the Way to knowing Him as He really is.

Like the blind man, like the disciples, by learning the Words we come to see and understand and believe. Believing is the real seeing. And this means that when we close our eyes (so to speak), when we tear them away from Jesus and we look elsewhere, we are not believing. When we stop listening to these words, when we forget them, our belief will get weaker, our sight will get dimmer. The Apostle says, Faith comes by hearing the Word of Christ (Romans 10:17), and that means if we’re not hearing the Word of Christ, then we’re not having faith. Faith is like eating. You can’t just eat once and call it good. You have to keep eating to go on living, and you have to keep getting food from outside of yourself. Faith is like breathing. You can’t just breathe once and then be done. You have to keep breathing, keep bringing in air from the outside, in order to go on. Faith comes by hearing the Word of Christ. Not just one and done, but all the time, feeding on it, breathing it in. Faith means always receiving, always hearing the Word.

The blind man was the one who could really see. He was the wisest of all the disciples and he had the sense to call out, “Lord, have mercy! I am blind. I need You!” He received exactly what he needed and wanted from Jesus, but he didn’t call that enough and go home. He carried on with Jesus, following Him on the road, even though that road would lead to suffering and death. He wanted further understanding, better sight, and so He followed that Way that His Teacher was leading him, and he learned that eventually that road leads to the resurrection.

In a sense, our spiritual blindness is not fully healed yet. We obviously don’t see Him with our physical eyes, and even spiritually speaking, we do not see Him completely. We stumble on the way and our sight grows dim with sin and doubt. This is why we have Lent. Lent is a time for repentance, for correction, for turning around if we’re going the wrong way. Lent is a time for catechesis, for learning and following Jesus on the way that leads to a holy death and an everlasting life. Lent is a time for more hearing and seeing, more hearing and memorizing those words, more confessing them and singing them, more engraving them into our hearts and minds by having them in front of our eyes and on our lips. Lent is time to be like the blind mind who was healed. He recovered his sight and followed Jesus, glorifying God.

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame (Hebrews 12:2). Out of great love for His Father and for sinners Jesus went the way of His cross. So, we walk that way with Him, paying attention to His Words as we follow. See! We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets is accomplished. For He was delivered over to the Gentiles and mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. And after flogging Him, they killed Him, and on the third day He rose. Lent is a time to follow on the Lord’s highway, the Way of Holiness. It’s the road that Jesus walked for our redemption. It goes up to Mount Calvary and to the cross, but it goes on to the empty tomb and to Mount Zion, the eternal city. The redeemed shall walk there. And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

In the Holy + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Artwork Copyright (c) 2010 Edward Riojas. Used by permission.