Sermon-5th Sunday after Epiphany
(@Nordic Church, Liverpool, 8th February 2015
[Is. 52:13-15; I Cor. 13:1-13; Lk. 18:31-43]
Grace to you and peace from God our father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Since we don't have a service on the third Sunday of the month, this is our last service before the start of Lent.
The Christmas and Epiphany seasons, the happy seasons, are coming to a close. The next time we will meet, will be in the quieter, more reflective, even sadder period of the Church year.
Indeed our readings from the prophet Isaiah this morning and Jesus’ own prophecy about His suffering and death point us on this journey, a pilgrimage seemingly of pain and of death.
But, however, as with all things with God, this journey, this pilgrimage to pain and death also has a positive happy and joyous intermezzo or occasion; as with all things with God, even this darkening event has its point of light, its point of faith, hope, love.
Once again we are on the road between Jerusalem and Jericho, a road that was riddled with danger and with the excitement; just think of the story of the good Samaritan for example.
Travelling from north to south, to the Jerusalem capital, Jesus and his disciples pass by this very famous and ancient city. The reception seems to be amicable, welcoming even, and those leading the way want to make sure that the rabbi, the Master, is not disturbed.
Yet then all of a sudden, seemingly out of the blue, a voice rises from among the crowds: "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"
The desperate cry emanates from a blind man. A man with a physical disability, perhaps from birth, perhaps through an accident, perhaps through an act of violence, we don't know.
What we do know, is that in Jesus’ day physical disability was seen as a result of sin. It was a person's own fault. It meant a life of isolation, ritual uncleanliness, poverty and sometimes prostitution and crime. The blind man is not just blind, he is abandoned, rejected!
And yet… It seems that the man though physically blind, spiritually he sees more than the crowds and the leaders leading Jesus and his disciples to Jericho.
Because even though the people around him inform him that a certain Jesus, Yoshua -a very common name in those days-, a Jesus of Nazareth is passing by, he immediately seems to realise who exactly this famous celebrity they are talking about is. Not just a Jesus, but thė Jesus!
"Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”, his voice grows louder ever, unafraid, because he literally has nothing to loose.
Those leading the way for Jesus, perhaps even His apostles, try to shut him up, rebuke him. Yet still his voice grows louder.
And then that turn of event, that pivotal moment so common in the Gospel stories; there is a central theme, yes (Jesus on His way to die in Jerusalem), and then all of a sudden the story takes an unexpected turn.
Jesus stops.
Jesus stopped, God incarnate on His mission to redeem the world in the Holy City, stopped and listened to the cry, the prayer, of this blind, shunned outcast.
One can only imagine the confusion among the disciples; weren’t they supposed to be on a mission, didn’t they have a goal and now suddenly the Master changes the planning? For a blind beggar, a wayward by the road shouting heaven-knows-what?! We’re abandoning a religious quest, for this this this…???
And what about those city folks from the famous Jericho; such a VIP in their midst and then He unexpectedly alters the timing and the schedule? What a protocol nightmare!
For whom? For someone no-one really wanted there in the first place?!
Jesus stops and orders the man to be brought to Him.
How often do we, the religious, not always maliciously but often in our zeal, and often also with malice, rebuke and spit and ignore those way-wards sitting by the roadside shouting, most of the time we don’t even know what they’re shouting because we probably don’t even care.
And then God, Jesus of Nazareth, stops and orders us to bring that person to Him, acknowledge their presence, their existence, their worth!
This blind man saw more than those around him and Jesus, even on His way to His own physical pain, insists on meeting him, talking to him –no avoiding eye contact or a conversation- and then healing him. Jesus on His way to the cross, for the redemption of all stops and takes the time to meet with the one.
We may wonder, that when Jesus was talking to His twelve disciples about insults and mocking and being spat at, whether or not He was actually talking about Himself, or at least not just about Himself.
In the same way Christ knew the road He was taking, He knows many people in this world take: the handicapped, the silenced political opposition, people of faith in many regions of this world, the so-called unclean, Ebola and AIDS patients, religious reformers, or just people who stand by the road calling for a chance to be heard, to be recognised, to be met.
Like Jesus and with Jesus they too will rise up from this, because of His love and mercy and interest. That is the pivotal twist in the darker Lenten story.
God’s love for us;
and for many this is not easy to accept or even believe, some don’t count themselves worthy of such love.
Our love for God;
again not everyone has it or bothers with it, and many claim it and boast about it –like clanging cymbals and sounding brass.
Our love for each other:
God was willing to take time out -so to speak- in His mission to show us how it’s done!
There’s the famous quote by Martin Luther: “A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none. A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject of all, subject to all.” (On Christian Liberty, 1520).
In other words: redeemed and free in order to serve!
That holy special time that Lent is, on our way to Good Friday and Easter; the culmination of Jesus’ life and ministry; it sets an example, not just eternal salvation, but also in the here and now.
We wish to go on this pilgrimage to the cross with Christ through this Lenten season, when He died for our sins, to redeem us; we shall, it will happen!
But with purpose, out of love, for God, for neighbour, for ourselves.
If we want to worship the Son of Man suffering for the world, we shall, and then rise with Him to living in faith, loving all and bringing hope to the world.
If we wish to worship the Suffering Servant of Isaiah, then we too must stop, listen and become servants ourselves.
And the love of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.