Seeing begins with listening, and with love

Sermon for Quinquagesima

1 Corinthians 13:1-13  +  Luke 18:31-43

On this last Sunday before Lent, we join Jesus, His disciples, and the multitudes who were marching in procession with Him on His way to Jerusalem for Holy Week. It gives us a final opportunity to prepare before we step into Lent this Wednesday. Our goal is to see Jesus, to really see Him and to understand what He came to do, and why, and what He would have us do with the life He’s given us. Today in our Gospel, the Lord teaches us to listen, and to love, so that, eventually, we may learn also to see.

For at least the second time, Jesus took His twelve apostles aside and taught them plainly about the things that were about to happen to Him: Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be accomplished.

Listen! Jesus tells His disciples. Listen to the Old Testament prophets. They wrote so many things about the Son of Man, about the Christ. Jesus’ apostles had already confessed Jesus to be the Christ. Now they were told to listen to what that meant. Everyone seemed to know that the Christ would be the Son of David, and that meant, He would be a great King who would rule in righteousness over His people and save them from their enemies. They also seemed to know that He would be a great Prophet who would reveal God to them and explain God’s will to them. What few people recognized was that the Christ would also be a Priest who would offer one great sacrifice to God, a sacrifice that would change everything, a sacrifice that would make atonement for all the sins of men. He would offer up Himself to God, just as God intended it to be.

Listen! He will be delivered to the Gentiles. David was one of the prophets who had said that that about the Son of David: Why do the nations (that is, 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 Anointed? And just as Israel was handed over to the Gentiles in the Old Testament during the Babylonian captivity, so the Christ, who was often referred to simply as Israel, would be handed over to them.

Listen! He will be mocked and insulted and spit upon. Again, David prophesied these things about his greater Son in Psalm 22: All those who see Me ridicule Me; They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, “He trusted in the LORD, let Him rescue Him; Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!” And Isaiah said of the Christ in chapter 50, 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.

Listen! They will scourge Him and kill Him, as Isaiah had prophesied in chapter 53: But 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. (Stripes, of course, are the result of scourging with a jagged whip.) He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment, And who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgressions of My people He was stricken. We’ll hear those words again on Good Friday. But Jesus calls on His disciples to listen now, before Good Friday, so that when Good Friday comes, they’ll be able to see the reason for it: It was all because of love—God’s great love for fallen, sinful mankind.

And finally, Jesus called on the apostles to listen to that other thing the prophets had prophesied, that the third day He will rise again, as David prophesied in Psalm 16: Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; My flesh also will rest in hope. For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption. You will show me the path of life.

The disciples knew all these prophecies. They knew the Old Testament well. Yet still we’re told that they understood none of these things.

We can’t fault the Jews for not understanding all those prophecies ahead of time. But why is it that the twelve apostles can’t even understand them when Jesus openly connects the dots for them? This saying was hidden from them, and they did not know the things which were spoken. They weren’t supposed to understand yet. For now, they were only supposed to listen. And to follow on. It’s a good example for us when we don’t understand. Keep listening! And follow on! All will be made clear eventually. For now, trust Jesus in the things He has made clear to you, above all, His great love in going willingly into the hands of wicked men, to be put to shame and to death for our salvation.

The disciples had their physical sight, but their spiritual insight was, at the moment, somewhat blurry. The opposite was true of the blind beggar whom they encountered on the way to Jerusalem. He had no physical sight, but his spiritual insight was rather keen. Far better than the crowds that were in this procession with Jesus.

He’s listening, as all blind people tend to do very well. He hears the commotion of the large procession and asks what it’s about. So they told him, Jesus of Nazareth is passing by!

So the beggar cried out, Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me! Again, the blind beggar showed that he had been listening—listening to the good word going around about Jesus, of His miracles and of His kindness. And by that simple word that had filtered down to this blind street beggar, the Holy Spirit had enlightened the eyes of his heart to know Jesus as the Son of David, the Christ. He may not have understood much, but he understood this: the Son of David is known for His mercy—His mercy toward the sinners, His mercy toward the pitiful and miserable, His mercy toward those who had nothing to offer Him except their sin and their misery. So, trusting in the Savior’s mercy, He cried out for it.

The crowds, though, the ones who were marching with Jesus to Jerusalem, reacted terribly to the beggar’s cries. They did something awful. Those who went before warned him that he should be quiet. Now, why would they do that? They did it, because they were focused on the Son of David as glorious King, not as merciful Savior. They did it, because, in their excitement or in their pride, they had forgotten about the most important thing: they had forgotten about love.

The same would later happen among the Christians in Corinth. They were so proud of how wise they were, how much they knew, how many spiritual gifts they had. But St. Paul reminds them that all of that is meaningless without love.

And not “love” in the modern sense. The term has been twisted almost beyond recognition in our society. Very often, “love” in America means supporting people in their sinful choices, while doing your best to crush anyone who opposes those sinful choices. You can see the devil’s own influence on our language.

And you can surely see the devil’s influence on your heart, too, if you compare your attitudes and your actions with St. Paul’s description of love in today’s Epistle. It’s the love that Jesus showed to everyone all the time, but especially in His willing march to the cross. And it’s what the crowds in our Gospel failed to show to the blind beggar.

But faith allowed him to look past the lovelessness of Jesus’ follows to see Jesus Himself with the eyes of faith. He cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be brought to Him. And when he had come near, He asked him, saying, “What do you want Me to do for you?” He said, “Lord, that I may receive my sight.” Then Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he received his sight, and followed Him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.

After listening to the word about Jesus, after trusting in Jesus, after receiving the gift of Jesus’ love, the beggar finally received his sight. And he praised God. And the multitude of people who, a moment earlier, had wandered away from love, witnessed the mercy and the love of Jesus and then gave praise to God. Love had been restored, and with it, sight—the sight of Jesus, not as a glorious earthly King, but as a merciful and loving Savior, who forgives sins to all who trust in Him and who is ready and willing to help all who seek His mercy. And seeing Jesus in that light, we’re moved not only to greater faith, but also to greater love.

Pray for such spiritual sight, for the Lenten season and beyond! It begins with listening, and with love. And it continues with more listening and more love. I sincerely urge all of you to set aside some of the distractions of daily life to attend all the extra services we’ll be observing over the next seven weeks or so. Here God will speak so that you may listen. Here God will reveal His love in Christ, so that you may receive it and so that you may learn more and more to reflect it. May God bless His Word among us and cause His face to shine on us! Amen.