How many times did the Lord tell His disciples that He had to go to Jerusalem to be handed over, mocked, spit upon, flogged, and killed and then rise the third day? And they still didn't get it! They didn't understand what He was saying, what He was talking about. It was hidden from them. Sometimes when Jesus told them what was going to happen, they were afraid to even ask what He meant. Other times they gave up and instead argued about which of them was greatest. “Do you understand what Jesus is talking about?” “No.” “Me either.” “So anyway, which of us do you think is top dog?” How about us? We've heard it all before. Jesus suffers and dies and rises again. We hear it in every sermon. Most of us have heard it our whole lives. But do we get it? Do we understand what Jesus is saying? What He did? We can hear over and over and over that Jesus is true God and man who suffered and died and rose. And yet we still have notions in our heads that we somehow please God by what we do. Or that Jesus was just a good teacher. Or that it doesn't matter how we live. Or that somehow we need to have a God other than the one who suffered and bled and died and rose for us. The fact is, from pastor on down, we live as if we haven't heard it before or that we don't get what it means for our faith and life.
Contrast that with the blind man that Jesus runs into outside Jericho. This man, when he finds out it's Jesus going by cries out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me!” He's heard of Jesus. He knows who Jesus is, the Son of David, the promised Savior, and He knows Jesus can heal Him. Even when the crowds try to shush him, he just cries out louder, “Lord, have mercy!” Nothing will stop this guy from having His Jesus save him and help him. And Jesus does have mercy on this poor man. He opens his eyes and gives him his sight. And this man probably has heard somewhere that Jesus is on His way to die. You'd think now that his eyes were opened he could see Jesus for what He is and run the opposite direction. But instead he follows Jesus. Follows Him toward His suffering and death. The disciples have heard Jesus over and over talking about His suffering and death and resurrection and they don't get it. This blind man receives his sight and follows after Jesus. That's quite a contrast! Disciples with hard hearts compared to a blind man who sees and “gets” it and gos with Jesus.
Because when it comes down to it, the only Jesus that saves us is the One who is handed over, spit upon, mocked, scourged, killed and rises again the third day. The only Savior who saves is the One who suffers and dies in our place. People don't want that kind of God. A seemingly weak, suffering, crucified God. But nothing else saves us from our sins. Nothing else removes from us the curse that would otherwise leave us cast out from God forever. Nothing else but the Son of God crucified for sinners will shut down the accusations of Satan against us. When Jesus tells His disciples over and over that He must suffer and die, He is teaching them what sort of a Savior He will be. And when we hear it preached over and over that Jesus suffered and died and rose, we are learning by God's Spirit to trust in no other God than the One who became man and did what it seems God should never do: die. But that's what He did for us.
So the blind man knew that Jesus could save him and so he cried out even when the crowd was against him. Do you pray like that? Do you cling to Christ like that? When we come to the Divine Service, and Christ Himself passes by in His Word and Body and Blood, are we “ho humming” in our hearts as if it's just the same ol' same ol' or do we cry out with the blind man, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” And Jesus does have mercy on this blind man. I get to study God's Word and preach Christ all the time and yet it feels like I'm just preaching the same old sermon. What we need is our eyes to be opened by Jesus. And that's exactly what He's doing when He washes us at the font, absolves us of our sins, speaks His Word into our ears and gives us His Body and Blood to eat and drink. By the same Word that said to the blind man, “Receive your sight,” The Lord tells us, “Receive your sight. Your sins are forgiven. You are the Lord's. This Savior who suffers and dies and rises has done all that for you.” When we come to church, we are doing exactly what the blind man does: crying out for Jesus to have mercy on us. And His answer is, “Your faith, your Jesus has saved you,” for here in His church, the Lord is opening our eyes and forgiving our sins and granting us eternal life.
But a Savior who suffers for us means being disciples who will suffer with Him. The blind man who could see probably presumed he would go and suffer whatever Jesus might. Maybe he did. Maybe he was later killed by those who hated Jesus. We don't know for sure. But we do know that those who follow Jesus will die. You've already died. Died to sin. And you die daily, meaning life isn't about YOU but about the people around you who need you. To be a Christian is to die to yourself, to crucify by the daily remembrance of Holy Baptism that Old Adam who only thinks about Himself. But more than that it may mean that we literally suffer and die with Jesus. Already around the world our brothers and sisters in Christ are tortured and killed for confessing Jesus. Who knows but that our time may come too. But now, our eyes have been opened and along with his disciples after Easter, we know what His suffering and death is all about. Now it's not just words and nonsense but it means something. Now we know that our Lord's suffering and death has rescued us from anything in this life that can hurt us. There is nothing to fear and we can follow Jesus, not blindly! But with open eyes, crying out to Him to have mercy upon us and trusting that He will do exactly that.
Now the season of Lent is coming. Ash Wednesday is this Wednesday. It's the time of our open eyes following Jesus to the cross for us. It's the time of learning to die to sin, crucifying the sinful flesh and cling to Jesus. Lent is the time when our open eyes are off of ourselves and fixed on Him because He goes to be handed over, mocked, spit upon, scourged, killed and to rise the third day. That's our God. That's our salvation. We've heard it countless times before and we'll hear it countless times again. Because it is that Good News that He has done all that for us that saves us, gives us victory over all evil in this world, and bestows upon us everlasting life. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.
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