Sermon for Quinquagesima

 

Knowing Jesus in His Suffering – Luke 18:34

 And taking the twelve, he 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” (Luke 18:31).

You could see as you followed along in this Gospel reading for the day that there are two paragraphs, two scenes in the life and teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the first scene, Jesus tells his disciples what is going to be happening when they go up to Jerusalem. He is going to be handed over to the Gentiles, the Roman occupation force. They will treat him shamefully, spit on him, kill him, and on the third day he will rise. And the disciples don’t get it. These things are hidden from them. They can’t see what he’s talking about.

In the second scene, there’s a blind beggar in Jericho, and he sees. He gets it. He’s told that Jesus of Nazareth is coming by, and he knows enough to call on him by a different title. He calls out Jesus, Son of David, have mercy in me. He acknowledged Jesus to be the long promised King that Israel had been waiting for, like the great King David only different, better. The blind man knew and trusted to call on this promised one, this promised Messiah. “Have mercy!” Jesus calls this faith the man had. He had faith, he believed the Son of David, the anointed Messiah, could help in his affliction.

Luke, guided by the Holy Spirit, had to choose carefully what events about Jesus life to record. He didn’t have the time or the ink to record it all. So it’s important to see what he included. And it must be intentional that he included these two paragraphs one after the other showing this great contrast between the disciples’ cluelessness and the blind beggar’s faith.

It was worth writing down, worth passing on that the only one who got Jesus, on this trip up to Jerusalem was a blind man.

The disciples knew Jesus of course. They’d been with him all along. They heard him preach and learned his lessons. But when he talked about his suffering, his humiliation at the hands of evil men, his cross, they did not grasp what was said.  There is a clear contrast here: the one who suffers calls out to Jesus and has faith in what Jesus does. Those who are well and at ease, are blind to understand why Jesus does what he came to do. The disciples were just going along that road heading to Jerusalem. Making progress on the journey, refusing to believe that there would be suffering and cross ahead. The blind man, in his ailment, could only cry out in faith.

Thursday last week I was visiting with the three year old children at Fun in the Son preschool. It was about first thing in the morning and I asked them “Are you going to have a good day today?” And these three year olds were so bright and chipper and excited about every little thing so of course they said, “Ya!” It was snowing and there was a wind chill. And all of us had wet and muddy shoes. But it was a good day for all. I love the optimism of children.

But I am an old Lutheran pastor. I had to bring it all back to reality. Especially the reality that we hear from God:  Law and Gospel. So first the law.

I asked them, “Do you ever have a bad day?” And they couldn’t even answer that. All they could think of was that they were having a great time at the moment.  But I gave them some examples. What about when you are hurt and have an ouwie? Do you ever cry ‘cause you don’t get your way? What about when you’re angry because your friends mess up your stuff? And then each one started remembering a time or two when they had had a bad day. I assured them that Jesus loves them each, when they are having a good day or having a bad day.

So let me ask all of you those same questions: do you ever have a bad day? Like when you are hurt and have an ouwie? Do you ever cry ‘cause you don’t get your way? What about when you’re angry because your friends mess up your stuff?  Please know that Jesus loves you, when you are having a good day and when you are having a bad day. And this goes against our thinking, but it’s true: It’s on the bad days when we are most likely to cry out “Lord, Have mercy on me.” In our good days, when we are just going along, forward down the path ahead, we don’t grasp the need we have for the Lord.

We often pray together about the bad days. We pray that God would save us from the hurts and suffering, protect us from our enemies, deliver us from evil. We ought to also pray, “God save us from our good days.”

Thanks be to God for good days. Enjoy them. But let’s not covet them. Nor should we fear bad days. In all our days, we trust the Lord Jesus who loves us.

Living the Christian life we are called to a self-discipline, not always choosing what is easy, not avoiding what is difficult just because our flesh finds it unpleasant and unfun.

So we are given a time of discipline and self-reflection. Lent starts Wednesday with Ash Wednesday. I ask you to use these next couple of days to think about your personal observation of Lent. In Lent we meditate on Jesus’ cross even as we take up our own and follow him.

As Jesus headed up to Jerusalem and to the shameful treatment he would receive there, so we follow him, knowing Jesus as the one who suffers for us and who suffers with us.

We will have the Divine Service this first Wednesday in Lent, beginning with the confession of our sins and hearing the absolution of the Lord. Reflect beforehand on what you will be confessing, what is on your mind and in your heart and what is leading you to call out to “Jesus, Son of David, Have mercy!”

Consider what you can do this Lent, setting aside some time to pray, to listen, to discipline self, with the goal of Easter in mind. Easter is a good day. Not just because it is easy, fun, comfortable. But because our Lord brings us with him through the bad days and good days, through suffering and the cross, and finally into his eternal life. Amen.