Jesus Saves the Blind with His Words

Quinquagesima

February 7, 2016

Luke 18:31-34

Jesus Saves the Blind with His Words

In the name of the Father and of the ☩ Son and of the Holy Spirit.

For three years Jesus chose to have twelve men follow Him around. One of the best ways to describe these followers is that they were blind. Their eyes worked fine, but they struggled to see what Jesus came to do. So near the end of their time together, Jesus took these men aside, which is what you do when you have something big to say. Then He told them, point-blank, that He had to die very soon. And He reminded them that He would not stay dead.

And then the very next thing that happened is that Jesus healed a man who was actually blind. Irony? Not really. An interesting coincidence? Definitely yes.

As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard the crowd going by, he asked what was happening. They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.”

He called out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 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!”

Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him. When he came near, Jesus asked him, “What do you want Me to do for you?”

“Lord, I want to see,” he replied. Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has healed you.”

Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus, praising God. When all the people saw it, they also praised God. (Luke 18:35-43)

This blind man was desperate. He had no where else to go. Nobody was in his corner; when he cried out for help, the noisy crowd told him to be quiet.

His only hope was Jesus. And Jesus saved this man from the darkness that had covered his eyes with His words.

Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has healed you.” (Luke 18:42)

And immediately the man's blindness was taken away.

Why did Jesus help this desperate man? When Jesus said, “Your faith has healed you,” it might seem as though there was something good or innocent about this man. We might imagine that his blindness was inflicted on him through a disease or that someone intentionally harmed his eyes. But if we follow our imagination here, we may end up in despair or anger when something evil isn't taken away from us and when someone we love is taken away by death.

The truth is that the gifts that Jesus gives us, such as eyes that see and faith that trusts in Him, are all gifts. And any true gift, in the purest sense of the word, is given based on the goodness of the giver. It never rests or relies on the goodness of the one who gets the gift. The blind man was healed not because of his goodness, but purely because of the goodness of Jesus Christ, the Giver of all good things, who loves to give the opposite of what is deserved.

Our Lutheran Confessions correctly point out:

Christ did not mean that the [blind man] had merited forgiveness of sins . . . That is why He added, “Your faith [has healed you].” But faith is that which freely obtains God's mercy because of God's Word. (Apology or Defense of the Augustana, Article 5, Paragraphs 31-32)

Blindness healed is based not on the merit of how good we are, but it is healed by Christ's mercy and kindness. And His healing of broken eyes shows us how He has healed our broken hearts.

Like the blind man we are desperate beggars. We have nobody on our side. Even our own mind and thoughts betray us, so this is why much of modern self-help techniques are not very helpful. For the most part they suggest turning inward and exploring your thoughts and mind in order to find value within yourself—to discover that you are valuable. But we aren't. When we explore our thoughts and our hearts, we find nothing of value. Instead we find short-tempers, hurtful words, anger over perceived slights from others, an ever-grasping effort to make our lives fair and even with others, and frustration when others get in the way of what we feel we need or deserve.

As believers who examine ourselves, we are honest. We are blind, we are sinful, we are dying. We have no inherent value to Christ. Yet He promised in the psalms,

[I] the Lord [give] sight to the blind,

[I] the Lord [lift] up those who are bowed down,

[I] the Lord [love] the righteous. (Psalm 146:8)

So indeed we have great value to Jesus because He makes us valuable. Through His blood He washes away the guilt of your temper, your cruel words, your envy, and all other sins that you may do. This washing makes you righteous and He loves you.

Consider how He loved a man who hunted down Christians in the Holy Land. On this man's way to attack more Christians in a new city, Jesus appeared to this man and told him to stop his persecution. And immediately Christ blinded this man for three days. He did this not to drive this man deeper into his own thoughts and somehow find himself. No, what did this man ponder for three days? The Words of God who spoke to him on the highway.

And then Jesus sent a pastor to this man who spoke God's Word to him again. Then this man could see and became the greatest pastor the world has ever seen. He traveled the world in his mission work and brought Christ to his fellow blind women and men. He took away their blindness through the washing of Baptism and the receiving of Communion. In a word, Christ took away their blindness. This man was the Apostle Paul.

His fellow apostles, before Christ's death, were more or less, blind.

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. He will be delivered over to the Gentiles. They will mock Him, insult Him and spit on Him; they will flog Him and kill Him. On the third day He will rise again.” The disciples did not understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what He was talking about. (Luke 18:31-34)

But through the Word of God, they would soon see the wonderful truth of Jesus' promise. They were soon to begin their Lenten journey as they witnessed the suffering and death of Christ. This is the journey that also begins for us this Wednesday. As you see the Lamb of God, Jesus, who goes forward to the cross without complaining, consider how once you were lost, but now Christ had found you. You were blind, and now He has made you to see.

God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him

we might become the righteousness of God! Amen!

2 Corinthians 5:21