Sermon - Quinquagesima 2019 - Luke 18:31-43

When God commanded Samuel to anoint the king of Israel who would replace Saul, Samuel did so reluctantly, fearing the wrath of that powerfully wicked king. The sons of Jesse stood before him, of those sons his first pick was the strongest, yet that wasn’t the Lord’s choice. Instead, the Lord told Samuel “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.” 

So instead of the oldest and the strongest, the Lord chose the youngest shepherd boy out tending the flocks. In walked David, “ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome.” In walked a kid, with tender skin rosy red from the harsh winds, a pretty boy, not a manly man, gruff and hairy and covered in scars and ready to go to war, but a tender youth. David didn’t look like a king able to take the throne back from king Saul, not like a warrior ready to lead an army into a grisly battle, but He was chosen by God.

David didn’t look like what you would expect a king to look like. But again, the Lord doesn’t see as man sees. Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks upon the heart. In a way, the eyes of man are blind to things of God. And so, the Christian life doesn’t necessarily look like what we’d expect, but Jesus opens our eyes to the truth in today’s lessons.

When you picture the Christian life, what does it look like? If you were to imagine the perfect Christian family, what do you see? Maybe you picture happiness and smiles, joy and laughter, well dressed people, living in nice houses, driving new cars, greeting everyone with a smile and a corny joke. You picture people living their best life now. 

But that’s not a realistic picture of the Christian life. I suppose really what you imagine is upper middle class America. You picture success and wealth, youth and happiness. You picture a greeting card or one of those cheesy stock photos of a happy family. But that’s not what Christianity necessarily looks like.

Now I suppose there is some truth to the idea that if you’re a Christian who delights in God’s law, you will generally, probably, live a calmer life. Afterall, the fourth commandment comes with a promise, “honor your father and mother, that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” Likewise, with other commandments, you can see how life will be calmer if you keep them. If you don’t kill other people, you won’t be hunted down by the government and put in prison for murder or executed. If you don’t sleep around, you’re much less likely to get an STD, and your family life will be a lot calmer if you’re not trying to hide an affair from your spouse and kids. If you don’t shoplift, you’ll probably get along a lot better when you walk into stores. If you’re not a lazy worker, you’re more likely to get a promotion. If you don’t gossip about other people, other people might like spending time with you and developing closer relationships with you. The list only goes on and on and on. If you try to keep the law, then you’ll have fewer consequences of the law to deal with. 

However, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll have a better life. So you’re honest, great! But someone else could lie about you and your life could be ruined. You can be a great steward of your body and your family, caring for their wellbeing everyday, and yet get cancer or die in an accident. In fact, keeping the law of God may even give you a worse life now. You’re not willing to do certain things that violate your conscience, so you don’t make as much business and maybe even lose your job. 

So look at your own life, does it look like that picture of the perfect Christian life you imagined? Has everything always worked like you thought it would because you’re a Christian? 

Odds are, no. You’ve made mistakes and suffered their consequences. Your work was never quite as satisfying or fulfilling as you thought it’d be. Your marriage isn’t as healthy as it should be. Your kids haven’t turned out like you raised them. Money and more stuff never really completed your life. Accidents have happened. People have gotten sick or hurt. Stuff’s happened, life has sometimes been miserable, for week or months or even years it’s like you’re living in a fog of anxiety and depression.

So you wonder, am I really a Christian? Do I have enough faith? Does God actually love me? Do I even belong here in the church?

To help us answer these questions, consider what Jesus said to the twelve as they journeyed to Jerusalem. “The Son of Man will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise.” But they understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said.”

They didn’t get it, they were blind to what Jesus spoke to them. They were more blind than the beggar on the side of the road. Like Samuel, they were expecting something else. They weren’t expecting another shepherd boy like David, they were expecting his stronger older brother Eliab. They were expecting a strong man to come and conquer. They weren’t expecting a suffering man to be arrested and crucified. Moreover, they weren’t expecting the suffering that entailed for them. 

They were blind to who Jesus really is and what He came to do, they were blind to what the prophets had long foretold. Likewise, so are we blind to what Jesus came to do and blind to what the Christian life must look like today. If you want to know what the Christian life looks like, then look no further than Jesus.

Afterall, who is the only one who lived a perfect life according to the will and law of God? Who is sinless? Who is perfect, holy, and righteous? Who still retains the image of God because He is Himself God? Jesus. If you want to know what your Christian life may look like on earth, then look to Jesus.

He was delivered over to the heathens by His own people. He was mocked by both alike. His face covered in their spit. His body covered in bruises and open wounds. Nails pierced His flesh as His naked body was hung on a splinter covered cross. He died. He suffered. We Christians should expect no less, since Jesus tells us that we must take up our crosses and follow after Him.

Why is your life the way it is? Why have things turned out as they have? Why do so many bad things happen to you? I’m sorry, I don’t know. I will weep with you, but I don’t have all the answers. But one thing I do know: On the third day, the Son of Man rose from the dead.

King David was a terribly weak sinner, but from His seed the Messiah burst forth from His three day rest in the tomb. The blind beggar on the side of the rose outside of Jericho received sight from this Messiah. At first not physical sight, but spiritual sight, since while his eyes were still blind he knew that this man was the son of David. By faith, the blind man could see and behold the face of Jesus, but spiritually and physically. In time, the eyes of the apostles were given sight to see what Jesus said, and no longer was this saying of His hidden from them, for they had faith in Jesus as the Son of Man. 

So too does Jesus open our eyes by faith in Him through the Holy Spirit. Our eyes, which are blind to the realities of this life and only want to see happiness, wealth, and success will be opened. By faith, your eyes can see the reality of sin in your own life. Indeed, by faith we must confess that we’re not unlike the blind beggar who cries out for mercy. We’re in a load of trouble, carrying a cross that’s too heavy, blind and unable to walk where we ought.

To us Jesus speaks and declares, “Recover your sight; your faith has saved you.” Our cross is too heavy, our burden is too great, our blindness is too intense. That’s why the Son of Man went to Jerusalem with His followers, to carry their crosses, to shoulder their burdens, to give them sight. Jesus opens your eyes and gives you faith to see. So let us begin anew our Lenten journey with Jesus to Jerusalem this Ash Wednesday. Let us see clearly that we are dust, and to dust we shall return. Let us see clearly, with eyes wide open, that Jesus became for us dust and on the cross returned to dust with us, so that we would rise with Him and see Him face to face.