Stopping Jesus
Luke 18:31-43
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ. Amen.
Jesus is on the road to Jerusalem, and He knows what awaits Him at the end
of the journey. He tells the disciples, "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."
This is a deliberate, relentless journey. It seems that nothing-not even the
lack of understanding from the Twelve-can keep Jesus away from Jerusalem and
the cross. Nothing in the world can stop Him . . . but on the outskirts of
Jericho, He pauses. What is it that brings Jesus to pause here? It certainly
is not the disciples. It seems like they're constantly trying to thwart
Jesus. Pretty much every time He tells them why He must go to Jerusalem,
they try to hold Him back; but He won't let even Peter break His stride. Two
things bring Jesus to stop here. First, it takes a bold cry of faith for
Jesus to stop, and the blind man on the outskirts of Jericho makes such a
cry. He said, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" And though Jesus
would not stop for the sake of the disciples, He paused for the faith of
this blind man and His bold cry of faith. He paused. He heard the confession
of faith and the request. And He restored the man's sight.
The temptation is to compare the lack of understanding of the disciples to
the bold faith of the blind man. These were men who, by this time, had spent
three years with Jesus, listening to His teachings, watching Him heal the
sick and even raise the dead. Why could they not understand the teachings
that they heard so frequently? Even a blind man could see that Jesus was the
Messiah! Why couldn't they? It's all too easy to accuse and mock the
disciples; but the truth is, it's not that the Twelve were inattentive or
stupid. Luke tells us, "This saying was hidden from them, and they did not
know the things which were spoken." Like Pharaoh whose heart had been
hardened against the Word of God which Moses spoke, the Holy Spirit did not
allow the disciples to understand the teaching of Jesus that He had to
suffer and die. It would not be until after Jesus had risen from the dead,
when He breathed on them and gave them the Holy Spirit, that they understood
the reason that Jesus had to suffer at the hands of sinful men and be put to
death and on the third day rise again. The disciples were not allowed to
see; they were blinded to the truth.
So what's your excuse? At least when it comes to the disciples,
understanding and faith were prevented for a time. But we have the clear
teachings of Scripture in front of us, delivered to us by the inspiration of
the Holy Spirit to the evangelists and the epistle writers. There is no
hindrance from the Spirit. You received the Holy Spirit in the waters of
Holy Baptism. So why is it that the cross of Christ remains a stumbling
block to you? Why is it that the Word of God seems so foreign? King Solomon
the wise tells us, "Let not mercy and truth forsake you; bind them around
your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart, and so find favor and
high esteem in the sight of God and man. Trust in the LORD with all your
heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge
Him, and He shall direct your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear
the LORD and depart from evil." Do you know better than God what is
profitable for your salvation? Do you know better than God what is
detrimental to your spiritual health? Of course not. But it seems all to
easy to rely on your own wisdom and strength, even knowing that, as the hymn
says, "The arm of flesh will fail you; Ye dare not trust your own." Your
wisdom and strength will not bring Jesus to a stop, either; your strength is
nothing when it comes to your sins and your faith.
But that brings us to the second thing that brings Jesus to a stop, and that
is His great love. The love that brings Him to a halt to heal the blind man
is the same love that takes Jesus on His relentless journey to the cross.
You see, the purpose in stopping is the same purpose that has Jesus on the
road to Jerusalem in the first place. Look at what Jesus says to the blind
man: "Receive your sight; your faith has made you well." We are told by Paul
that the wages of sin is death. On the outskirts of Jericho, by opening the
eyes of the blind man, Jesus undoes one aspect of those wages of sin. By the
same token, on the outskirts of Jerusalem, in dying on the cross, Jesus pays
the wages of sin for all mankind, bringing to an end the power that sin and
death once had over you. What great love that is-exactly the kind of love
Paul describes in the epistle. Listen to what Paul describes about the love
of Jesus for you: "Love suffers long and is kind. . . . Love bears all
things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love
never fails." Does that not describe the love which Christ displays here-the
kindness of Christ in healing the blind man; the longsuffering of Christ in
the patience He displays with His disciples and with us; bearing all your
sins on the cross; enduring the pain and suffering and scorn which you
deserve.
And more than that, like He eventually does with the disciples after the
resurrection, He bestows on you His Holy Spirit in the waters of Holy
Baptism, that you may believe all that the disciples with their opened eyes
and minds teach you through their eye-witness accounts; and in Holy Baptism
we are given faith which clings boldly to the promises of God, the promise
to deliver us, the promise to forgive us, the promise of eternal life. He
gives us the faith which allows us to cry out boldly to Him. Indeed, we will
repeat that bold cry of faith which the blind man made as we being our
prayers this morning-"Lord, have mercy; Christ, have mercy; Lord, have
mercy"-not in doubt of God's goodness, but boldly, in faith, knowing that
He will hear our prayers and answer them, even as He answered the prayer of
the blind man.
The Lord is gracious and loving, and He demonstrated His grace and love both
in His journey to Jerusalem for all people and by His pause on the journey
to heal the blind man. Do not doubt for a minute that He pauses for you, as
well. Cry out to Him in boldness of faith, for He will stop, He will hear,
and He will answer in the way that serves you best. In the name of the
Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and
minds in Christ Jesus always. Amen.
--
Rev. Alan Kornacki, Jr.
Pastor, St. Peter Lutheran Church, Campbell Hill, IL
[email protected]
http://pastoralkorn.blogspot.com
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