Quinquagesima
Lk
18:31-43
3/2/25
The
disciples don’t seem to have a clue here at the end of Luke’s Gospel. They are
obtuse – oblivious to what Jesus’ real mission is. In the previous chapter we learn that people
were bringing even infants to Jesus that he might touch them. However, when the
disciples saw it, they rebuked them.
Apparently, they thought the Lord was too busy or too important to give
his attention to these little ones. But Jesus called them to him,
saying, "Let the children come to me, and do not hinder
them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever
does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”
In
the next chapter, when they are in Jericho and about to conclude the journey to
Jerusalem, we learn that Jesus told a parable “because he was near to
Jerusalem, and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear
immediately.” The disciples think that when they get to Jerusalem, God’s reign
is going to appear. They think that the victorious end time action of God is
going to take place as God restores the kingdom to Israel.
This
expectation helps to explain what we hear about in the first half of our text
this morning. Jesus has been on a
journey to Jerusalem. Luke tells us in
chapter nine, “When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set
his face to go to Jerusalem.” In
Luke’s Gospel, this final trip to Jerusalem is a significant feature. On a
number of occasions the Gospel writer provides travel notices – statements that
remind us that the things that are being done and said are part of this trip to
Jerusalem. For example, we hear in chapter thirteen, “He went on his way
through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem.”
We
learn in our text that Jesus took the twelve and said to them, “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.”
Our
Lord acknowledged their impending arrival at Jerusalem. He told the disciples that everything written
about him by the prophets would be fulfilled. But rather than describing
glorious victory over the Gentiles, Jesus said that he would be delivered
over to them. They would mock him, and insult him, and spit upon him. They would torture him by flogging, and then
they would kill him. But then Jesus
added, “and on the third day he will rise.”
This
was not the first time Jesus had said that he would be killed. In fact, it is the third time that
Jesus has stated this fact. But the
disciples don’t understand. We learn, “But
they understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them,
and they did not grasp what was said.”
The
disciples did not understand that Jesus would suffer and die. We learn that their expectation was that
Jesus would arrive in Jerusalem and the kingdom of God would appear
immediately. They do not understand God working through suffering and
death. They want immediate glory and
victory.
We
differ very little in this regard. When it comes to the life of the Church we
do not want suffering and the cross. Instead, we want immediate success. We do not want the Gospel to meet with
rejection. We do not want to see people
fall away from faith in Jesus Christ – and remember, in last week’s Gospel
lesson, the parable of the sower, Jesus tells us that this will happen. We do
not want to face opposition from the world – the sense that we are going
against the current as we seek to live according to God’s will.
And
what is true of the Church, is also true of us personally. We do not want to experience suffering and
the cross. We do not want illness and
financial challenges. We do not want to
see loved ones and friends experiencing difficulties.
It
is not just that we don’t want these things. Of course we don’t. It is that these experiences become sources
of doubt. We begin to question God. The old Adam in us raises the question of
whether God really is there; of whether he really does care for us.
The
disciples did not understand. They were blind to Jesus’ mission and purpose. But as Jesus drew near to Jericho he
encountered another person. This man was
blind and was sitting by the road begging.
When he heard that a crowd was going by, he asked what was
happening. When he learned that Jesus of
Nazareth was passing by, he cried out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on
me!”
We
do not know how the man had learned about Jesus. But he had a clear belief about who Jesus
was. He addressed him as “Son of
David.” He called upon him as the One
who was the Messiah sent by God – the descendant of David who fulfilled God’s
promises. He begged Jesus for help as he
said, “Have mercy on me!”
We
learn that those who were in front rebuked him.
They told him to be quiet. But
instead, he cried out all the more, “Son
of David, have mercy on me!” He kept
calling out for Jesus, the One sent by God, to help him.
Jesus
stopped and commanded the man to be brought to him. When Jesus asked what the
man wanted our Lord to do for him, his request was very simple: “Lord, let me
recover my sight.”
So Jesus replied to him, “Recover your
sight; your faith has made you well.”
Immediately, the man could see, and he followed Jesus glorifying God.
This
morning we encounter a contrast between the disciples and the blind man. Jesus tells the disciples what is going to
happen in his ministry, and they are blind to it – they cannot understand, and
in fact have a completely different expectation. Jesus encounters the man who is physically
blind, and he sees Jesus with a clear and certain faith that trusts in the
Lord.
In
our text Jesus says to the disciples, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem,
and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will
be accomplished.” Jesus declares that
the events of his life are a fulfillment of what the prophets had written in
the Old Testament.
Christ
had already made this assertion at the beginning of his ministry. He went to the synagogue at Nazareth on the
Sabbath. He was given the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled it and
found the place where it was written,
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has
sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the
blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of
the Lord's favor.” Then Jesus said, “Today this Scripture has been
fulfilled in your hearing.”
Jesus
announced that he was the fulfillment of Isaiah’s words. He was the One upon
whom the Lord had placed his Spirit. He
had been anointed with the Spirit at his baptism to give recovering of sight to
the blind and to set at liberty those who are oppressed. Jesus’ action of healing the blind man was a
demonstration of this fact.
Jesus
had come to set at liberty those who are oppressed. He had come to free us from the oppression of
sin and death. Jesus’ healing miracles
show that he was the presence of God’s reign that was reversing the ways that
sin has warped and twisted this world.
Yet his ministry was directed at more than the evidence of sin’s
impact. He was here to deal with sin
itself.
The
holy God judges and condemns sin. God
had sent his Son into the world as the One who would receive the judgment in
our place. Anointed by the Spirit, Jesus
had been set apart to fulfill this role, just as Isaiah had prophesied. The suffering and death of the cross was the
means by which Christ won forgiveness for us. As the apostle Paul told the
Corinthians, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that
in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
In
our text, Jesus predicts his suffering and death. But he also says, “and on the third day
he will rise.” On Easter, God raised
Jesus from the dead. By his death on the cross Jesus won for us the forgiveness
of sins. And in his resurrection, he
defeated death. He began the
resurrection life that will be ours when he returns in glory on the Last Day.
When
Jesus died on the cross, it appeared that he had been abandoned by God. It seemed that God was completely
absent. But the resurrection of Jesus
demonstrated that God had been at work in the midst of the cross. After
his resurrection, Jesus said to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, “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?”
The
presence of the cross and suffering in the life of the Church, and in our own
lives, does not mean that God is absent.
It does not mean God has ceased to care.
We know this because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. God worked
through the cross to give us forgiveness.
We see this because God vindicated Jesus by raising him from the dead.
God
continues to work in the way of the cross.
He does so because it is the means by which he crucifies the old Adam in
us. He turns us away from ourselves and
towards him as we see that we have help in no one else. He takes away our false gods – the ways that
we make this world and life more important to us than God.
By
his Spirit he leads us to greater faith – to trust and believe in him. In the midst of things we don’t understand,
we believe and trust in the same way as the blind man in our text. We call out,
“Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
We continue to turn in faith toward Christ for in him we have assurance
that God’s love is certain and sure. We
find hope that God is at work in the midst of the things we are experiencing. We do because Jesus died on the cross in
fulfillment everything that is written about him by the prophets. And then, God
raised Jesus from the dead.
