I've heard it said before that "for Lutherans it's always Lent." I guess what was meant by that jibe is that Lutherans always seem to be preaching and teaching the things of Lent: repentance for our sins and the suffering and cross of Jesus. Well, Lent IS coming! And these are the things we think about more fervently, more intensely, not because they are somehow more important during Lent, but to remind ourselves what is most important of all: Jesus suffering for our sins. The world makes fun of Lutherans for preaching that because the world doesn't want that kind of Jesus. When the blind man is crying out to Jesus, begging for mercy from the Son of David, the crowd tells him to shut up. No, Jesus isn't about paying attention to beggars. Jesus is the King on His way to get rid of the Romans. He is the Good Teacher who shows us how to get right with God. The world doesn't want to hear about the suffering of Jesus because then the world would have to repent of its sins which brought our Lord to such suffering. Brothers and sisters in Christ, hear what I'm saying. If you go talk about Jesus in the world, everybody will smile and agree that Jesus was a swell guy! A good teacher. A moral and virtuous man. A rebel. A Reformer. The world will have all kinds of things nice to say about Jesus until you start talking like Jesus does today: The Son of Man goes to Jerusalem to be handed over, to be mocked, spit upon, killed and the third day rise again. Once you start talking about the Jesus who suffers in our place, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world by shedding His blood, Jesus the ONLY name under heaven whereby we are saved—well then forget it. The eyes of the world glaze over, the ears of the world are shut, and the preachers are told to shut up and stop talking about sins and suffering and all that.
But here's the kicker. The world we expect to respond that way to the preaching of the Gospel. But in the Gospel reading for today we hear these words about Jesus' own disciples. Jesus speaks of His coming suffering and death and Luke records: "They understood none of these things, and this word was hidden from them and they did not know what He was saying." Jesus' own disciples don't get it. Those to whom it was given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God (like we heard last week) don't have a clue what our Lord is talking about! All this suffering and dying and rising talk makes no sense. And it would not make sense until the Lord was risen from the dead and the Holy Spirit was poured out at Pentecost and repentance and forgiveness began to be preached in Christ's name. Throughout Luke's Gospel we hear that the disciples did not understand and did not recognize Jesus, until He Himself preached to them the fulfillment of the Scripture, that the Son of Man had to die and rise and that repentance and forgiveness be preached in His name. Or, to put it another way, the salvation that Jesus accomplished on the cross was not understood by the disciples until Jesus explained that it was done FOR THEM. In fact, this is why you and I have such a hard time believing and caring what Jesus tells us in His Word. We hear the "facts," that Jesus suffered, died and rose again. But we like to think that our sins aren't really that bad as to need the Son of God to die for them. We like to think we're smart enough and wise enough that we don't need to live by EVERY word that comes from the mouth of Jesus. Repent, dear Christians of only hearing the bare "facts" of salvation. Hear again that this suffering and dying and rising is done FOR YOU. For YOUR sins. For YOUR salvation. Jesus' suffering, death and resurrection is the Lord having mercy upon YOU! Just as He had mercy upon the blind man.
Brothers and sisters. God has no mercy for you, no salvation, no forgiveness, no love, apart from His Son who is handed over, mocked, spit upon, humiliated, killed and raised the third day. THAT is our salvation. All of our enemies—the devil, the world, and our sinful nature—are ruined and defeated by THAT Jesus who takes our place on Calvary and suffers at the hands of sinful men (our stand-ins) and goes to the cross to save us (as our stand-in!) It is Jesus, the Son of God in the flesh who fulfills all that the Scriptures said about Him, from the very first promise of a Savior in the Garden of Eden to all that Moses and the Prophets and Psalms promised about Him. Samuel anointed David King over Israel because from David's line would come this very Savior. As the psalm verses of our Introit repeatedly point out, He has redeemed us, had mercy on us, saved us by His outstretched arm—the arms stretched out on the cross of death. But all of this suffering of the Son of God is no Good News until we attach to it these words: FOR YOU. The Suffering of Lamb of God, the salvation and forgiveness of sins won by Jesus are no good to you unless they are FOR YOU. This is why St. Luke records, right after the comment about the hard-headed disciples, the healing of the blind man.
When the blind man is healed, we see that Jesus is FOR YOU. The blind man cries out for the Lord to have mercy upon Him. What does it mean to have mercy? Jesus asks him, "What do you want me to do FOR YOU?" "Lord," says the blind man, "that I may see." That He may see and receive this Jesus who is FOR HIM. The prayer, "Lord, have mercy upon me!" is a prayer for salvation; it is a prayer to see Jesus; it is a prayer that what He does He does FOR ME. Jesus answers this prayer by doing exactly that: saving this man. What is mercy? It is Jesus delivering His salvation FOR YOU TO YOU. The answer to the prayer, "Lord, have mercy!" is for Jesus to do AND deliver His saving work. The mercy of God in Christ is given to us through His Word. The Word and water of the font. The Word of Absolution. The Word read and heard. The Word preached. The Words of Institution. By these very means, the Lord opens OUR eyes of faith to see Him and behold Him and to receive His salvation accomplished for us. The Word that is given in the water, into our ears, and into our mouths, is the Word that says that the Jesus who suffered, died and rose did so FOR YOU. As long as the disciples heard Jesus' prediction as just more information, it made no sense, it didn't help them, it was not Good News to them. But the blind man knew. He knew that in order to be saved, Jesus had to be FOR HIM. So he cried out the prayer for mercy. The world's crowd tried to shut Him up, but it is the crowd which is silenced as Jesus stops to save this man by His Word and open the man's eyes so he could see his Savior.
Brothers and sisters, learn to pray like the blind man: "Son of David, have mercy on me!" Learn to cry out to the Lord that begging prayer, "Have mercy upon me!" What is it for the Lord to have mercy? We pray, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" The Lord's answer? He goes to Jerusalem to be handed over to evil men, to be beaten, mocked, spit upon, killed and rise again the third day." "Son of David, have mercy on me!" His answer? In the waters of Holy Baptism He forgives you your sins, rescues you from death and the devil and gives you eternal salvation. "Son of David, have mercy on me!" His answer? When the called ministers of Christ absolve us it is just as valid and certain in heaven as if Christ our dear Lord dealt with us Himself. "Son of David, have mercy on me!" His answer? The words "given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins" show us that in the Sacrament of His body and blood forgiveness of sins, life and salvation are given. Brothers and sisters in Christ, repent of not paying attention and thinking the words of Jesus are just talk, just facts, just holy chatter. Rather, hear in them the very words of salvation. Hear in Jesus' words the delivery of His mercy. Hear in Christ's Words that all He has done is FOR YOU.
Then hear the words of Jesus to the blind man: "Be seeing! Your faith has saved you." What is your faith? Is it not Jesus who has done all these things FOR YOU? The blind man's faith is his trust in this Jesus who has come to save sinners and open the eyes of the blind. The man's faith is not in himself. He is, after all, just a beggar, someone who owns nothing and has no claim on the Lord, except this one promise, that the Lord would have mercy. And the Lord DOES have mercy upon the blind man. "What do you want me to do FOR YOU?" And FOR YOU, dear Christians, our Lord goes to the cross and grave and rises and ascends to the Father. Now from font, altar and pulpit, He delivers His salvation FOR YOU. Be seeing, dear Christians, all the way into this coming season of Lent and beyond. See Jesus, lifted up for you, coming to you in His gifts in His church. Then do as the crowds did when they learned the FOR YOU Good News: give glory and praise to God who with the Son and Holy Spirit is blessed forevermore. Amen.