“THE SON OF DAVID HAS MERCY ON YOU”
Saint Luke 18: 31-43
Quinquagesima: 26 February Anno Domini 2017
Father Jay Watson SSP
So what? Is that what you think when the pastor preaches? Or, is that even what you sometimes think when the Holy Gospel is being read—being proclaimed? Well, yes, your old sinful nature certainly thinks “so what,” and a whole lot worse.
Even Christians who believe, who assent to the facticity of Saint Luke’s record, i.e. it happened and it’s real, sometimes lapse into the weak faith, the doubting sin of “so what.”
But it’s a mistake to think that Saint Luke, or any of his successors, owe it to your itching ears to jazz up the story, bolster and “punch it up” with cleverness or style. Anecdotes, stories, fun illustrations are for comedians and weak-minded politicians. Satan is the one who uses many, many words to obfuscate; the hissing one is the maestro of observational qualifiers and emotional heart-tugs. But God? The Word works.
Christ takes to Himself right now, right here, the “Twelve,” and He takes you The Holy Church—The New Israel of His 12-man Apostolic Doctrine—with Him to Jerusalem! That’s part of the “so-what.” The old Jerusalem is dead and gone, destroyed by the Romans 2,000 years ago, along with the Temple. But that does not matter for the New Jerusalem, The Church, for it is created again right now as The Holy Spirit calls and gathers you around, in, and through Christ Himself. The True Temple of The Lord, His Body and Blood which both speaks to you and which feeds you, is the genuine and ultimate Temple of The Living God!
The spoiled brat, the ungrateful, greedy and coveting “old Adam” that you are, tries to make your “so what” into some kind of honest and heart-felt complaint against your perceived sense of outrage that God does not….well, what? Does not do things your way. You know a man, make it a poor helpless and defenseless child, who also is blind. Why doesn’t Jesus heal him if He could heal Bartimaeus? Oh, aren’t you noble, compassionate and inclusive.
But if today’s Gospel message is just a message, only a record, then you think, it’s interesting as history but not in my life. Your web-like doubting continues its snare: “…and if it’s more than a past message than why is it not working for me?” Ah, what is mercy and do you call out for it. Do you pray the Lord for mercy? That means do you confess your sins and your sin. If you are a Pharisee; a hypocrite, then you will rely more on your own “faith” your own “works” and your own “pretty decent intentions.” But if you’re blind, or lame, or depressed, or lonely, or dying…left dead physically or spiritually…by the Law of Nature (all flesh is grass) or by The Decalogue (Love God perfectly AND Love your neighbor as yourself) then you will be miserable. It’s not that “being” in misery is good for the sake of the misery, no, but rather, that knowing you are miserable, sick, and in a lost condition, is good because that means you call out to the Great Physician, as did Bartimaeus. Better to be blind in your eyes and to “see” by The Light of He Who is “Light of Light.”
Your petition to Christ: “Son of David, have mercy on me” will always be answered. He gives you Mercy by lifting your burdens and pains and separations off of your bowed neck and out of your bleeding heart. He places you amongst all His children and gives you The Family of His Father, His Counselor and His Own Body and Blood.
So the next time some “wannabee” “theologian,” “with it” Lutheran professor, consultant, or president, chastises your pastors and teachers with not being relevant, and connective, and “positional” (meeting their real audiences ‘WHERE THEY ARE’) with engaging life-lesson narratives and conversationally emotive dramas…that bring the text ALIVE…tell them to shut up; that Jesus is Alive and that His life for them, for you, is the only relevance and reality that the Lambs of The Shepherd ever need. The 21st century crowds are no more special, different, or unique than the crowds of the preceding 20 centuries. All men sin and fall short of the glory of God. You want “real?”
You, are liars, idolaters, thieves, gossips, blasphemers, adulterers, and murderers. These are not just insults or invective, they are accurate descriptors…the condemning indictment of God’s Holy Law. Relevance? Jesus is in your very midst; your dirty and rotten sinful midst to again cleanse you cleaner than clean. You have been + Baptized so your soul has been washed. He again this morning cleans your “feet” by absolving you in Word and Sacrament. The killing Law, your death sentence, has been commuted, fulfilled by someone else—the One Who has given you Peace. Everything that should have been done to you, that should be done to you, has been forgiven you. You want real relevance? The only thing you need is Christ the Word: “He [was] delivered unto the Gentiles, and [was] mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on; and they [scourged] Him, and put Him to death…and [this] third day He [lives again ‘for you’].”
This is the “sight” you receive. And you people give praise unto God.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of The Holy Ghost
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