Quinquagesima

Jesus gives the clearest prediction of his own death we have. But Jesus says he is just summarizing what the prophets had already said about him. The death of Jesus is assured – already in Genesis 3 to the serpent, “He will crush your head, and you will bruise his heal...” The snake will inflict a death wound on the heel of Jesus, even as he himself is crushed. Isaiah gives in many ways a more detailed description of Jesus sufferings in chapters 52 and 53 than we have in the Gospels.

his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance,

and his form beyond that of the children of mankind—

[3] He was despised and rejected by men,

a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;

and as one from whom men hide their faces

he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

[4] Surely he has borne our griefs

and carried our sorrows;

yet we esteemed him stricken,

smitten by God, and afflicted.

[5] But he was pierced for our transgressions;

he was bruised for our iniquities;

the chastisement that brought us peace was upon him,

and with his stripes we are healed.

[6] All we like sheep have gone astray;

we have turned—every one—to his own way;

and the LORD has laid on him

the iniquity of us all.

[7] He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,

yet he opened not his mouth;

like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,

and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,

so he opened not his mouth. (ESV)

In our Gospel, Jesus summarizes and clarifies the details: He will be betrayed, abused, killed, and raised again on the third day. It’s such an unbelievable thing to say, the disciples do the only logical thing – they disbelieve it. It must be some parable we don’t understand. Maybe he’ll explain it later? This isn’t like saying, “We’re heading to Jerusalem and then going to the Shop and Save for lettuce.” This is Jesus making some weird pronouncement about a gruesome death, and followed by an impossible resurrection. Jesus is wildly popular. The Gentiles don’t care about him. There’s no army, nothing to frighten Rome. Turned over the Gentiles and killed – absurd. And once you’re dead, that’s it. Raised again? Who will do the raising? Jesus raises. The disciples don’t have that kind of power. It’s obviously a parable. Last week Jesus said, “I speak in parables so that hearing they will not hear. So that they do not understand.”

Jesus is, of course, giving them a clear descriptive of the upcoming Jerusalem trip. But only from the other side will it make any sense, because only from the other side of the resurrection will it seem possible. Even when the witnesses come to the disciples, they don’t believe it. When the Romans kill something – it’s dead.

We see a death and think, that’s it. Jesus sees a death and thinks, “sleep.” We see loss and decay and destruction in this world, Jesus sees a cosmic struggle in this world that points to the final victory over this world – both in this death on the cross and resurrection, but then also when he returns. Jesus sees things differently than we do. And only by Jesus can we see clearly.

As if to emphasize the point, as soon as Jesus is done telling them, and having them not believe, not understand, not see, there is a blind man. He cries out “Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me.” And when told to knock it off, cried louder.

Before we move on to the miracle, and its meaning in the context of Lent and Jesus coming death, let’s talk about the example of the bling man himself:

If only we would learn from his example and pray earnestly to the Lord for everything of which we have need, and when discouraged, when beaten down, when overcome, we would pray even more earnestly. That’s a good lesson, especially as we enter the season of Holy Lent. That we would be constant in our prayer, that we would increase in our devotion. If only we understood how great our need is. The blind man knows this is a once in his lifetime chance to see again. Not once in a lifetime. There have been many lifetimes before him, and many will come after when the blind have no chance to see. He is living in a wonderful moment – the Lord God has come to earth in the flesh and he is going from town to town healing – giving sight to the blind. This is it. All or nothing for him.

And so he cries out, and when rebuked, cries all the louder. He MUST be heard. Jesus is the only one who can show him mercy to heal his eyes. There’s no second chance. Desperation leads to commitment. What would our prayer life look like if we were this sincere, committed, devoted to a life of prayer?

Lent is coming this Wednesday. A golden chance to begin praying more earnestly. The pattern of the Lord’s Prayer gives us insight into the things we should pray for. Our neighbor’s need certainly would give us enough to pray about each day. Family, our brothers and sisters in the church, our co-workers. All are excellent targets for faithful daily prayer before the throne of mercy of our heavenly Father.

Back to the Gospel:

Jesus stops. Jesus has the man brought to him. Jesus heals him. Jesus is undoing the curse of sin. Frailty of the body, loss of eyes, ears, legs, the slow decline to death – these are all signs of sin, these are all part of the curse of sin, the corruption of what was supposed to be a perfect creation, a paradise where we would live in communion with God. Jesus is restoring that – not by the miracles in his ministry, as if sin and its effects will be taken out of this world one by one, and then the church will just grant happy lives free of trouble to her members by miraculous healing services. That’s the path of the fraud and scam preacher. Jesus is restoring the creation by analogy, the miracles point us to the greater reality that Jesus is undoing death – by his life, his holy conversation, his blessed ministry, his gruesome sacrificial death, by his glorious resurrection and ascension, by his sending of the Holy Spirit to the Church. All of it is Jesus undoing death. And the sign that this is what his work truly is, is seen in the miracles. Jesus isn’t using his divine power to put together buildings and palaces, to magically create armies out of clay statues to conquer – although he could. That’s not the purpose. He is giving us miraculous signs that point to the undoing of death, the victory of life, the death of sin, and the resurrection of the faithful.

And it’s almost a bit of humor that Jesus gives the blind man sight, right after the disciples can’t see the nose on the front of their face. They do not understand, we are told “The saying was hidden from them” and then a man comes along for whom everything is hidden. And Jesus reveals all to him. He can see, his sight is restored.

Only in Jesus can we see what the work of Jesus really means. Because only by the power of the Spirit – whom Jesus sends through his Word and Sacraments – can we believe the Gospel promise, can we grab hold of the salvation he gives to all who believe in his name. This is why we make the Lenten journey each year. So we would hear again of the cross of Christ Jesus, and him crucified.

Paul says this is not just the focus of our preaching, but the content as well. And this time of year is when we have the chance to hear again the Gospel accounts of Jesus on the cross. Not right away. We will hear of it Holy Week, beginning with the Palm Sunday reading of Saint Matthew’s Passion, then Mark and Luke during the week, and finally on Good Friday Saint John’s account. We spend the next few weeks preparing our hearts for it. So that when we do hear it, our hearts are ready to receive the Word the Lord would give us. So that we have pondered the depth of our sin, the greatness of our need, and the love of God to fulfill that by the sacrifice of his own beloved son.

Jesus brings us salvation. And this is the time of year to hear of that salvation being won for us yet again. So that our hearts never stray from this truth. And to help us focus, we have a chance to increase our devotion, to hear more often the Word of the Lord as we gather in the church, to increase our prayers in our home, to devote ourselves in love to helping our neighbor in need, and to restrain the desires of the flesh – even harmless ones such as hunger.

Ah yes, those Lenten disciplines do aid us in our walk – and yet we are ever mindful that they earn us nothing before God. They do not make us more worthy to receive the Lord Jesus either by his Word of sacrifice read in the Gospels or as he comes to us in his body and blood. Jesus faithfulness makes us worthy, not our own. And we must learn this anew each year, because we are tempted to think that we are saved by our faithfulness to him. This is why Paul comforts us, by reminding us that when we are faithless, he is still faithful, for he can not deny himself. To deny us the mercy and grace he has promised would be to deny himself. To deny us forgiveness would be to deny the ones he shed his blood to save. To abandon us when we are faithless, instead of patiently calling us back to himself by loving discipline in this world would be to abandon the word and promise made over you in Holy Baptism when you were claimed as his own.

And so we joyfully and gladly go into Holy Lent, increasing our devotion, knowing it earns us nothing; while keeping our eyes focused on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith.

And then we have the Epistle reading – a discourse on love. Paul tells us that we must love if our efforts are to have any good effect. Speaking like the angels, does nothing without love. We must love our neighbor if we are to see the faith given by the Spirit have any good fruit. And this is a stern warning on a day when we are about to embark on spiritual disciplines like the disciplines of Holy Lent. All of the extra prayers mean nothing without love – from God to us, and from us to our neighbor. And so in addition to our other prayers, we pray that as we devote ourselves to the study of God’s Word and prayer, that we would increase in love to our neighbor – our family, our friends, our coworkers, and all that God would place in our path. So that we might show to them the love of our savior, and speak to them the glories of salvation in Jesus Christ, and so they also might receive the salvation of their souls. God is gracious and merciful, and desires that all men be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. Lord Jesus, grant us steadfastness, that we would not fall away, and increase in us love for our neighbor, as much as you increase in us the love for your name. In Jesus name and for his sake.

Amen.