And Jesus Stopped :: Luke 18:31-43
[Introduction]
One would think that when you’ve been a Christian all your life ... that when you are a baptized, thoroughly catechized member of the church, dedicated to reading through the Bible every year ... that when you worship every Sunday for 20, 40, 60, or 80 years more or less ... that you’d have a good grasp on what the Scriptures actually say ... that you’d have a thorough understanding of all that Jesus tells us to do and an actual eagerness to do it (v 34).
But then it happens ... you are reading the Scriptures, hearing the Word of God, and behold, you come to a verse like Luke 18:40, and your lack of actual understanding hits you upside the head. Jesus stopped.
1. Jesus stopped?
How many times have we heard our Gospel reading from Luke 18, or its parallels in Matthew 20 and Mark 10, and never recognized that Jesus stopped? How many times have we sung a verse from this passage and never realized Jesus stopped?
When you read any of the Gospels, you hear Jesus always going, always doing. Mark loves to add the word immediately. He is going to pray. He is going to the mountain. He is preaching. He is teaching. He is weeping. He is healing. He is raising. He is breaking bread, and feeding thousands upon thousands and then upon thousands upon thousands. He is walking on water, and calming a storm, living and dying and rising and ascending ... and he is doing all of this for you. As we heard last week, the Word of God, which is Jesus, is living and active ... effective ... always achieving the purpose for which he is sent.
Yet today, Jesus stopped.
This is an amazing moment that has eternal significance for you! ... Jesus stopped.
2. We need to stop and hear this Word today.
On Wednesday, we will enter again into the season of Lent, with all of its wandering. Our Gloria is about to be silenced. The Alleluias will disappear. But the Kyrie Eleison ... Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy ... will never stop. And as you cry out all the more for the next forty days, you need to know that Jesus stops to hear you. He will stop his most important work. He will stop and bring all who see the knowledge of the truth. Despite the clamor of the crowd going before him, Jesus will stop for a lowly blind beggar. Jesus will stop to answer a plea for mercy. When he hears your groan, Jesus will stop to say what do you want me to do for you. And the world will praise God in response.
3. Just before Jesus stopped, he had informed his disciples for the third time this most important work that he is doing.
Luke writes, Then having taken the twelve aside, he said to them, ‘Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all that has been written about the Son of Man by means of the prophets will be finished. For he will be given over to the Gentiles, and will be mocked, and will be treated arrogantly, and will be spit upon. And after they have flogged him, they will kill him, and on the third day, he will rise.’ But they didn’t understand these things. Even this Word was hidden from them, and they didn’t know [what] he was saying (v 31-33).
Then it happened ... (v 34a).
If ever there was a time when Christ could have excused himself from intervening for someone else, you’d think it would be now. Jesus is on a mission. As Luke told us in chapter 9, Jesus set his face toward Jerusalem (9:51). He became bound and determined to go to Jerusalem. And now his Exodus (9:31) is in full stride. By Luke’s reckoning, Holy Week is about to begin, and the crowd is all too eager to lead the way for our Lord ... to clear the way in front of him.
And Luke writes, As he drew near into Jericho, one blind man was sitting alongside the way, begging. But when he heard the crowd journeying through, he began to inquire, what’s [happening]? And they announced to him that Jesus, the Nazarene, is coming by. So he cried out, saying, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me! And those going before [Jesus] began rebuking him in order to silence [him]. But he cried out much more, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me! (vv 35-39).
Brothers and sisters in Christ, we see beggars everywhere, not only in Springfield and Kansas City, but in Clinton and Butler, and yes, even Appleton City. Have you ever stopped for them?
They hold out their signs for all to see and hear. They seemingly come out when we least expect them. And then ... all too often ... we rebuke them under our breath, thinking they probably have an SUV in a nearby parking lot. So we act like they aren’t there, silencing them. All too often we look away from the poor, the blind, the widows, the orphans, trying to ease our conscience. We tell ourselves we are just following Jesus. We are going the way he’s going. We have important things to do.
But Jesus stopped. He always stops when he hears a cry of faith. This is a fulfillment of Isaiah 35, which says the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped (v 5).
4. Jesus stopped to announce the forgiveness of sins for ONE man who is humbled ... unlike everyone else around him.
Jesus stopped and listened to ONE plea for mercy ... the same plea we sing every Sunday after the Introit. Jesus stopped so that WE can see who he really is ... and what he really does. Jesus stopped and ordered his disciples to bring the man forward. And when he came near, he asked him: What do you want me to do for you? And the man said ... [Looking down with hands outstretched] ... Lord, I would like to look up (vv 40-41).
Brothers and sisters in Christ, this man didn’t just ask to see ... to be healed. His confession is clear ... He’s praying for mercy that Christ would stop for him and allow him to look up, literally, to see the face of God. He’s praying for mercy, knowing he isn’t worthy to go to Jesus, but that Jesus is worthy to come to him. Whereas the world around this poor man thinks of Jesus as being just a good man with a good word about good living ... they called him Jesus of Nazareth ... here, the blind man ... who is named Bartimaeus in the Gospel of Mark ... knows better. By calling Jesus the Son of David, the blind man whose name means son of honor confesses Jesus to be the Christ, the Messiah, the living God, the one we have all been waiting for, the one the prophets told us about ... the one we all long to see coming toward us, serving us, calling us, enlightening us, sanctifying us, forgiving us. The blind man confesses true faith.
This is why Jesus said to him, Look up! Your faith has saved you!
Why do so many of us act like Jesus hasn’t saved us, too?
Why do so many of us rebuke people around us who long for the same mercy, telling them to be quiet as they plead for Jesus to come in his Divine Service to deliver forgiveness?
Why do so many of us act like we don’t need that?
Jesus stopped for the blind man. Will he not stop for you?
Throughout his ministry, Jesus amazed us by cleansing every sinner who cried out to him for mercy ... by healing every sinner who knows there is nothing we can do or say to be saved ... by eating with every sinner who learns that’s how Jesus comes into communion with us. And today he stops to teach us yet again that the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost (19:10).
5. Therefore, you who have ears to hear ... Stop what you are doing and Look Up!
Look Up! And recognize that Jesus has stopped here at Trinity to serve you ... too ... to give you forgiveness, life, and salvation in his name, too.
Look Up! So that you can say one more time before Lent ... Hallelujah! He is risen! ... He is risen indeed! Hallelujah! ... knowing what this means for you.
Indeed, Look up! And know that Jesus saved you not because you asked ... but because he went to Jerusalem so that all that was written by means of the prophets about the Son of Man would be finished ... that his innocent suffering at the hands of arrogant men and his horrific death on a cross actually atones for all your sins ... and that his resurrection actually means you the promise of eternal life is yours.
Yes, Look up, knowing Jesus has saved you in Holy Baptism, which he continues to pour out upon you. Look up, hearing his Word of Absolution that your sins are forgiven on account of the blood he shed. Look up, seeing that he is calling you to be in full Communion with him ... eating and drinking with other sinners who need forgiveness, too.
[Conclusion]
Brothers and sisters in Christ, though we are all sinners who can’t stop ... we can all look up because we have been saved by grace through faith. Therefore, let us join all the people, glorifying God with unending praise in his Divine Service ... in Jesus’ name.