True Love

Quinquagesima
6 February 2011
Rev. Jon C. Olson

Quinquagesima signifies that the Church is about 50 days from the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. These past two weeks we heard of “grace alone” followed by the “word alone”. Today rounds out this triad with the theme of “faith alone”. Jesus said to His disciples that,

… he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise.”

Jesus tells His disciples in no uncertain words that He will die. He fully understood what His entrance into Jerusalem meant. He entered Jerusalem to suffer violence and death to purchase the salvation of the world.

But the disciples did not understand. All of it was hidden from them. They'd seen bits and pieces of His power in the miracles. They believed Jesus was sent from God. But the real point of His coming, His incarnation, His compassion, of His mercy, that it would cost Him His life, was mostly lost on the disciples.

That is because they were not yet ready to beg like the blind man. The disciples were unprepared for the mocking, insulting, spitting, scourging, and killing. They didn't want to face what their sins would do to Him.

The disciples also did not understand the Old Testament properly. They read the Old Testament like a book of quotes, like rules for living, skimming about for the good parts that will give them happy lives and make them successful.

Where the disciples were blind: the blind man could see. He was told that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by, and so he cried out for mercy from the Son of David. We might have thought he would ask for justice, for some compensation for all the sorrow and difficulties of being blind and begging for a living. We might have thought that he would demand that Jesus fix all the inequality and shame that he had suffered his whole life. We might have thought that the blind beggar would say to Jesus: "This is not fair. Restore my sight so I can see and live a productive life." But instead, the blind man cried for mercy.

Ever wonder how the blind beggar knew Who Jesus really was? How could he know to call Jesus by the Messianic title: Son of David? He must have heard about this man named Jesus. He must have heard that He healed the lame and sick. But more importantly, the blind beggar understood the Old Testament prophecies. Ones like the prophet Isaiah wrote in chapter 35:

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
and the ears of the deaf unstopped;
then shall the lame man leap like a deer,
and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. (Isaiah 35:5-6)

He heard of the miracles that Jesus performed and knew Jesus was fulfilling these things. But the blind man didn’t stop there. His was a faith clinging to all the promises of the Old Testament. His was a faith that knew there was much more Jesus had come to fulfill, and for a far greater purpose. The prophet Isaiah continues;

Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his stripes we are healed.
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.
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
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.(Isaiah 53:4-7)

The prophecies of the Old Testament that the disciples could not comprehend, the blind beggar believed. This is what Jesus meant when He told His disciples,

“See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished.”

While the disciples did not understand, the blind man knew exactly what he was doing. He knew who Jesus was. He held Jesus to the promises of a Messiah contained in the Old Testament prophets. He did not approach Jesus as one who had been cheated or who was a victim. He cried out as a criminal and a beggar, as a man desperate for the prophecies to be fulfilled, for God to keep His Word. In faith the blind beggar cried out for mercy that he did not deserve.

How could Jesus refuse? He was on His way to Jerusalem for the sake of mercy, to save sinners, to rescue criminals. His mercy endures forever. Here was an opportunity to not only heal a man and confirm his faith in Him, but also Jesus would give His disciples one last chance to understand. One last chance to witness the healing of a man but more importantly, for them to hear who the blind beggar thought Jesus really was. One last chance for the disciples to see that going to Jerusalem meant that Jesus was to suffer and to die…and yet, as we know, they did not see, they remained blind.

The disciples did not understand that Jesus set His face toward Jerusalem precisely to re-create and re-order creation; to make ALL things new again. Jesus heads toward the cross to endure the most unfair judgment the world has ever known on purpose. Jesus goes the Way of the Cross to endure the greatest affliction in body and soul any human has ever undergone; because He wanted to. Jesus goes to Mt. Calvary the victim of the most heartbreaking of betrayals by his closest friends. And yet, along the way, Jesus stopped, He turned His face to this blind man, and his need for mercy and restored his sight. And still there was more. Jesus came to do more than simply heal the sick and raise the dead. And by the blind beggar calling Jesus “Son of David” we know that the blind man knew there was much more Jesus came to do for him and for the world.

Jesus would be spat upon, mocked by all, even forsaken by His Father precisely for people like the blind man. Who here feels hurt, betrayed, afraid, or in any way afflicted? Jesus lived and died precisely for you. He, Who keeps track of the sparrows and knows the number of hairs on your head how can He not also know your sorrow and feel your pain? He has compassion, no, even better—Jesus is compassion in human flesh, God incarnate. His compassionate mercy, that drove Him to the cross like a lamb to the slaughter, endures forever, even to this very day.

And everyone who asks the Lord for mercy receives mercy. By faith alone the blind man received mercy: His eyes were opened. By faith in the promises of God’s Word the blind beggar asked the Son of David for mercy. And by faith the blind beggar received mercy, forgiveness, and grace. Full of joy the blind man followed Jesus to Jerusalem. The blind man understood. He glorified God for Jesus being handed over to those who would murder Him. He glorified God for the mocking, insulting, spitting, scourging, and killing of the Son of David. And he glorified God for the rising. The blind beggar understood that the Word of the prophets was fulfilled in Jesus. Mercy came to earth. God in the Flesh made good on His promise by giving His life as a ransom to save fallen men.

We set our faces to Jerusalem today. We are fifty days from Easter. Three days from Ash Wednesday. Mt. Calvary and the tomb are not our true goal and destination. They are the means. Our real goal is the creation of a new Jerusalem, where all suffering, all blindness of eyes and minds, come to an end. Our goal is the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting.

We cannot bypass the cross. This is what the disciples did not understand. Lent is about the cross of suffering. So let us learn from the blind man to hold Jesus to His Word and promises. Let us not be too proud to beg. Stop the excuses. Stop believing that God will judge the sincerity of your intentions to change tomorrow. Make this Lent a holy preparation, a cleansing and renewing of body, mind, and soul. Come as one who needs Jesus. Come as one who is undeserving and like the beggar, admit defeat. Confess your sins and tell the truth.

Do not run from the cross, be it the cross of Christ or the cross of suffering in this life. Embrace the sufferings and sorrows and see that the Lord Jesus Christ suffered them. Through the cross Christ you are declared righteous. Praise God for the mercy of Jesus Christ. Glorify Jesus for the Life He gave. He has compassion, mercy, on us poor sinners. He has compassion on you. Jesus loves you.
Dearly beloved,
Do you want to know what true love is? Look to the cross of Jesus. True Love abides forever. It suffers, sometimes for a long time, yet remains kind to all in the midst of suffering. It does not envy others or show off how loving it is. Love does not go arrogantly about, and does not behave rudely or pursue things for self-gain. True Love is not reactive nor is it required. It thinks no evil, and does not rejoice in the sins of others. Love rejoices in the Truth. We love one another, by bearing all things, believing all things, hoping all things, enduring all things.

By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. (I John 3:16)