Quinquagesima - March 6, 2011

­­The Church Season of Epiphany,
Quinquagesima,
Our Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (March 11, 2011)
One Year Series

Readings:   
        Psalm 89:18-29
        1 Sam. 16:1-13       
        1 Cor. 13:1-13           
        Luke 18:31-43

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Grace, mercy and peace be to you from the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen

The text for today is as recorded in the Gospel Lesson from the 18th chapter of St. Luke, especially the following verses.

Luke 18:31-43 (NIV)

31 Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. 32 He will be handed over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him, spit on him, flog him and kill him. 33 On the third day he will rise again.” 34 The disciples did not understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what he was talking about. 35 As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. 36 When he heard the crowd going by, he asked what was happening. 37 They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” 38 He called out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 39 Those who led the way rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 40 Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him. When he came near, Jesus asked him, 41 “What do you want me to do for you?” “Lord, I want to see,” he replied. 42 Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has healed you.” 43 Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus, praising God. When all the people saw it, they also praised God.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

Today is the last day of Pre-Lent and the Gesima Sunday’s, Quinquagesima tells us it is fifty days until Easter.  Wednesday we celebrate Ash Wednesday, our worship services will become more penitential, focused on our sin and the forgiveness which Christ won for us on the cross.  We could well ask why Jesus would go to Jerusalem, knowing what He knows.  The Epistle lesson helps us to understand Jesus goes to perform a miracle of love.

Oft times people say that there are no more miracles being performed or witnessed.  God has left the building, wound the clock, and is off in some far away place not paying attention to His creation.  Those people are wrong.  You saw today God’s act of love in the baptism of this child.  God is not far away, God is here today in the water and His Word combined to cleanse Lulu, to make her His own.  All of the heavenly voices rejoiced as she was made part of God’s Kingdom.  Today God has said to Lulu, receive your salvation, your faith has healed you.  Jesus Christ stops to perform a miracle of love right before your eyes.

And in our reading Jesus moved toward Jerusalem, knowing all along what could happen to Him.  He confides with His disciples He knows exactly what will happen.  It would not be a pretty scene, mocks, insults, spitting, and then a brutal scourging.  To all this He now leads His faithful disciples and His faithful followers. And Jesus did not flinch on His way to the Cross and He will never fail us.   He will bring us safely to the city of our inheritance, that is the New Jerusalem. So why did He go, knowing what He knew?  Jesus goes to perform a miracle of love. 

Jesus goes to Jerusalem to save you and me, to conquer our sins on the cross.  He goes to give us the hope of the world to come.  Jesus goes to Jerusalem our of His sheer love for us.  It was not an easy task, in fact it was the most difficult task ever.  Only one man could conquer sin, only one man could die for the entire world, and only one God could provide such love for you and I. Jesus goes to perform a miracle of love.

 So Jesus Christ did not go toward Jerusalem in ignorance, but He did so with the perfect knowledge of every single thing that would happen.  Jesus had the foreknowledge and even the forefeeling of all the shame and suffering which He would bear.  And so Jesus went in the calm determination of love, not counting the bitter cost of sacrifice but looking forward to the joy set before Him, the joy of throwing open the Kingdom of God to all people. Here is both our inconceivable motive and our perfect example. In times of dangerous weakness, of alluring temptation, when the dread of self-denial and craving for self-indulgence breaks down our feeble wills, may Christ’s example to teach us courage. So will His love make us strong for Lenten duty, that is to pray, praise, and give thanks.  And in our repentance Jesus stops and performs a miracle of love for He gives you forgiveness of all yours sins.

In love Christ went on His way to convey perfect love for us, yet in love He paused to have mercy.   Jesus was intent on the end of His way, yet He did not forget the wayside. Great purposes of love must not lead us to forget everyday duties of love to our homes and friends, to the homeless and to the friendless. A blind man sitting by the road shows how we are all in need of Christ’s love and mercy. This man was blind and poor, poor probably because he was blind. The irony is that we are blind too, for we show that we have a spiritual blindness and that spiritual blindness reveals our spiritual poverty.  But to all who believe, by the faith which Christ freely gives us, then they have received a miracle of love.  For we are no longer blind but see spiritually, we see the miracle gift of love in eternal life.  This blind man in our reading sat on the road begging, He looked up and saw Christ passing by.  Ironically this blind man cries out with words we know, He says , “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”(v. 38)  Christ have mercy, you’ve said the same words so many times before, and you will so many times to come.  Christ stops and performs of miracle of love, He heals the blind mans sight.  And in so doing He gives the those sighted people in the crowd a miracle too, for in this miracle He heals their spiritual blindness.

Spiritual sight is true wealth. We want salvation to be ours but we want it the way we want it. We are blind indeed in our spiritual blindness. The blind man shows how to obtain sight. First He received faith by hearing of the Man of Nazareth the Son of David, and by prayer made the more earnest by the shortness of his opportunity, by perseverance in spite of all hindrances. Receiving his petition, he followed Christ in the way.

In Holy Baptism, whether baptized as an infant or as an adult we are blind beggars sitting by the wayside as pure love is passing by. We cry: “Christ, have mercy on me.” And what do we want our Lord to do for us? “Let me receive my sight.”  That blind man received more sight than he bargained for, yes he saw for a few years in this world, yet that one act of God gave him the sight of heaven for eternity.  Pretty good trade.  In baptism God trades our sin for His salvation,  He gives us the way of Christ, the one way to eternal life.  Christ passes by and stops and performs a miracle of love.

And now as days go by we prepare to follow Him to Jerusalem in the coming weeks, to follow in His company and to rise with Him to a new life at Easter. But, to follow Him as He bears His Cross will require much love from Him. For to follow Him means more than sympathy with Him in His suffering and a passive acceptance of its blessed fruits. Jesus declared: “If any man would come after Me, let Him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me” (Matt. 16:24). And again He said: “Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:27).

This Lenten season of reflection inculcates for us a life of self-denial, we sit blind and begging for the forgiveness of our sins.  After Easter requires that we follow Christ with seeing eyes, that we stop along the way and have mercy on our fellow man, because we have had so much mercy poured out upon us. We are beggars by the wayside crying as we enter into Lent: “Let me receive my sight. Let me see Your great love. Help me to see the enormity of the love that compelled You to bear Thy Cross for me. Teach me to love You more and more, so that I may willingly bear my cross after You.” So also we come to the Lord’s Table, where the Lord comes to us and gives us the very Body He gave for us on the Cross, the very Blood He shed for us, to eat and to drink together with the Bread and Wine. We do this in remembrance of Him and His great love; and as we are so reminded to remember His miracle of love for us, our love for Him becomes stronger and more compelling. With seeing eyes we follow Him to Jerusalem, glorifying God by a life of self-denial, living no longer for ourselves but for Him who for our sake died and was raised.  On the way to the miracle of the ages, Jesus stop at the cross, and there you see the sight of your salvation, the miracle is for you, so that you will not be blind but rather that you will see His face in the new Jerusalem. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God be with you all.  Amen.

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