Sermon for Quinquagesima
1 Corinthians 13:1-13 + Luke 18:31-43
You heard in the Epistle what true love is, what true love looks like, what true love does. That is the love God calls on His people to demonstrate toward one another.
But not before He Himself demonstrated it.
This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.
That was the path Jesus chose for Himself, to lay down His life. Now, as St. Paul reminds the Roman Christians, Christ laid down His life even for those who were still His enemies—like Paul himself was when he was still Saul the self-righteous Pharisee, and like the Roman Christians were at the time of Jesus’ crucifixion, before they ever knew who Jesus was. God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
But there is a special love that Christ has for those whom He has made His friends, His disciples. It’s similar to a soldier who goes off to war and is prepared to give his life for his country. He gives his life for all Americans, to keep us safe, to preserve our freedom. But you can bet he has in mind especially his own friends, his own family, his own loved ones. So did Jesus. He chose His disciples to be His friends, and now He has chosen us, too. He has revealed to us, in His Word, the very same things He revealed to His twelve apostles. I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.
That’s the hard part about the first part of today’s Gospel. Jesus pulled His twelve best friends on earth aside and revealed to them that He was about to do the most important work, the most loving thing anyone could ever do for anyone: He took the twelve aside and said to them, “Behold, 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.”
Jesus reminds His disciples that all the prophets had prophesied, not only the coming of Jesus, but most of all the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Psalm 22, for example, Isaiah 53, Psalm 16…These and many other passages in the Scriptures portrayed in vivid detail the suffering and death of the Christ, as well as His resurrection from the dead. The entire Jewish religion had been about Jesus. And now Jesus informs His disciples that He was about to bring it all to fulfillment, on purpose, for them. Passover was coming. It was almost Holy Week.
Jesus told His friends what He was about to do for them, what He was about to willingly suffer for them. But what does it say in the Gospel? But they understood none of these things; this saying was hidden from them, and they did not know the things which were spoken. It was hidden from them. Why was it hidden? The prophets had foretold it about the Christ. They had confessed Jesus to be the Christ. But still, they didn’t put it together. Even the clearest words of Scripture are beyond the grasp of our fallen human reason. Only the Spirit of God can enlighten our understanding, and He does it in His good time.
In this case, it was necessary for Jesus’ friends to be kept in the dark, because it was necessary for Jesus to suffer entirely alone, without the aid or comfort or even the understanding of His friends. The Scriptures had predicted that, too. My loved ones and my friends stand aloof from my plague, and my relatives stand afar off…LORD, why do You cast off my soul? Why do You hide Your face from me?…Loved one and friend You have put far from me, and my acquaintances into darkness.
And then, a bit of irony, because the next words of our Gospel bring us face to face with a man who had literally sat in darkness for a long time, the blind beggar. Mark tells us that his name was Bartimaeus. Matthew tells that there were actually two blind men there, but apparently Bartimaeus was the one whose words and actions stood out. He didn’t have the benefit of eyesight—or of riches, fame or fortune. But the Holy Spirit, working through the word Bartimaeus had already heard about this Jesus of Nazareth, had granted him better vision than anyone else in the crowd that was thronging around Jesus, marching in procession to Jerusalem for the Passover and for whatever other spectacular things Jesus would do there.
He heard the commotion, asked what it was about. They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” And he cried out, saying, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” “Son of David.” That was a confession on the beggar’s part that Jesus was not just a great Rabbi. That was a confession that Jesus was the promised Christ, the Savior of Israel who would sit on David’s throne and rule over God’s people forever, according to the Old Testament prophecies. “Have mercy on me.” That was a confession, too, a confession of his faith in this Christ as the One who is merciful to those in need, and who has the power to help in every need. He was a beautiful example of faith and of the power of the Holy Spirit to create faith in the most unlikely places and people.
Indeed, the beggar saw Jesus better than the crowds that went with him, because when they heard this blind man calling after Jesus for mercy, they warned him that he should be quiet. We’re having a joyful procession here, can’t you see that? You’re ruining it with your beggarly cries for mercy. Don’t you know Jesus has better things to do than to help blind beggars right now? He’s going to Jerusalem to…well, we don’t know exactly what He’s going to do there, but, it’s gonna be big, and we’re going with Him, and you should sit there quietly and be happy for us.
What a strange attitude for a crowd that was hanging around with Jesus. And yet, there are very many who call themselves Christians to this day who still don’t grasp who Jesus is or why He came. They are Christians because of whatever benefit they think they get out of being Christians, whether it makes them feel good about themselves, or whether they latch on to some social justice theme they falsely find in the Bible, or whether they really like certain kinds of church music or church architecture or church activities. They loosely follow Jesus, but they don’t really know Him at all.
But faith knows Him. The Holy Spirit, through the Word, opens blind eyes and reveals Jesus to be the only One who can help poor beggars, poor sinners like us. Faith knows Him to be loving and merciful—the most loving, the most faithful, the most merciful Mediator between God and Man, whose ears are not irritated by a beggar’s cries for mercy, but, on the contrary, who loves to hear and answer our prayers.
Bartimaeus knew that. So he wasn’t deterred by the shushing of the crowds. 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.
This is the Jesus who went to Jerusalem, not thirsty for His own glory or too busy to help sinners, but the One who loves sinners, who saves them by faith alone in Him alone. This is the Jesus to whom you have been united in Holy Baptism, whom you have followed thus far, and who calls you to keep following. You still need His mercy every day, because you still haven’t earned God’s favor or a place in a heaven, and you never will. You’ll always have to depend solely on the mercy and love of Jesus and on His suffering and death as that which makes you acceptable to God through faith.
And where there is faith, there will also be love. The pattern of love has been set by Jesus and outlined for us again in today’s Epistle—for us whom Jesus has called His friends. As we approach the Lenten season, which begins this Wednesday, let us determine to live as friends of Jesus, to use Word and Sacrament faithfully, and to ask the Holy Spirit earnestly to enlighten us more and more to the love of Christ for us, and to renew us more and more in love for one another. Amen.
