How blind can you get?

Luke 18:31-43

"Then Jesus took the twelve aside and said to them, 'Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be accomplished. For He will be delivered to the Gentiles and will be mocked and insulted and spit upon. And they will scourge Him and put Him to death. And the third day He will rise again.' But they understood none of these things; this saying was hidden from them, and they did not know the things which were spoken. Then it happened, that as He was coming near Jericho, that a certain blind man sat by the road begging. And hearing a multitude passing by, he asked what it meant. So they told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. And he cried out, saying, 'Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!' Then those who went before warned him that he should be quiet; but he cried out all the more, 'Son of David, have mercy on me!' So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be brought to Him. And when he had come near, He asked him, saying, 'What do you want Me to do for you?' And he said, 'Lord, that I may receive my sight.' Then Jesus said to him, 'Receive your sight; your faith has saved you.' And immediately he received his sight, and followed Him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God."

In the Name of Jesus Christ, Who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light, Dear Fellow Redeemed,

It's been thirty years now since a play appeared on Broadway which was immediately acclaimed a smash hit. The play was performed before packed theatres for a long time, and was finally even made into a movie. It was the story of a little girl who was deaf, dumb and blind, but who amazed the world by living a full life in spite of her handicaps. That play, called "The Miracle Worker," tells the story of Helen Keller, a woman who was totally blind in the usual sense of the term, but still had an astounding vision which enabled her to face life while living in a world of darkness.

I guess that when we hear the word "blind," we think of a man slowly tapping his way along the sidewalk with a white cane. Or we visualize busy fingers passing over the textured pages of a thick book, while empty eyes stare off into space. But the truth is, many blind people have learned to see with their other senses.

In fact, the opposite is often true of people with perfectly normal eyesight. Have you ever misplaced something and then searched long and hard for it, only to find it right under your nose? You may have said, "How blind can you get?!" And that's our theme for today...

"How blind can you get?" A Question We may Ask of:

I. Blind Bartimaeus II. The crowd around him III. The disciples, and IV. Ourselves.

How blind was Bartimaeus? With his physical eyes, he couldn't see a thing. He was totally blind. Our text says, "A certain blind man sat by the road begging." Because he couldn't see to work, Bartimaeus had to beg for a living. His day to day sustenance depended on the people who dropped money in his cup. To the casual passerby, he probably appeared as a dirty, rundown, unkempt beggar. His blindness put him in a lower class of humanity.

And yet, maybe he wasn't so blind after all. He saw more on that one day described in our text than anyone else. He perceived that a crowd was going past. He asked what the excitement was all about, and got the answer that Jesus of Nazareth was passing through. And with a flash of spiritual insight, he cried out, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" Bartimaeus wasn't just looking for a generous handout from another Passover-goer, he was asking Jesus for a miracle: "Lord, that I may receive my sight." Here was a blind man that saw Jesus as a person totally different from anyone else. With God-given vision, He saw Jesus as the answer to His problem.

Blind Bartimaeus may not have understood everything about the work and purpose of Christ, but he sure had better vision than many others who were trudging along behind Jesus that day. The multitude pushing and crowding close to Jesus was far blinder than he was. They could see a filthy beggar getting in their way, impeding their progress and embarrassing them with his loud cries. They saw themselves a fine religious people going to Jerusalem for the Passover, who were worth ever so much more than a beggar who could only hold out his hands for charity.

They saw Jesus, too. They were impressed with Him. They liked the miracles. They were intrigued with His speech. What better company could you want for the trip to Jerusalem?

And yet, they were blind to Jesus' real mission - the salvation of sinners. To most of them, Jesus was little more than a wise teacher. And a few days later, when they saw how things went against Him in Jerusalem, they would quickly jump ship, and join His enemies in shouting, "Crucify Him!"

Those disciples were pretty blind, too. Even with three years of discipleship under their belts, they still didn't understand the real meaning of what christ was doing. They should have been able to see far better than Bartimaeus or the crowds, because they had had plenty of private instruction. Every event which they experienced showed them the love of God a little more clearly. And yet, their vision was blurred by one blind spot. They just couldn't see how the love of God included going to Jerusalem to die. In fact they tried to prevent Jesus from going there. Little did they realize how blind their good intentions were.

So, how blind are we? I mean you and I! Not physically, but spiritually. Is our spiritual vision what it should be?

Maybe we're blinded to the fact that God loves us even when things are going wrong in our lives. After all, it's easy to recognize the Lord's goodness when things are going our way. We think of Christianity as something nice to be a part of - we push along with the crowd. But then...trouble strikes. Plans fail. We find ourselves put on the spot for our Christian faith. Then our vision of the Lord's kindness and love gets a little blurred, and difficult to understand.

Or maybe we are blinded like those first disciples were. The facts about Jesus' death are plain enough. The reasons for His death are obvious to us. In a few weeks, when Lent begins, we will again make our journey to Jerusalem to hear the story of Jesus' suffering and death. Every year the same facts emerge. Will we stifle a yawn because of the regularity of it all Will we quietly think: "I heard all that last year?" Will we be blinded to the fact that we ourselves are not just innocent bystanders, but actual participants in this drama? If we just sit and thoughtlessly listen to the message of Jesus' passion without ever applying it to our own lives, we too have a serious blindness that needs to be cured by Jesus.

In his request for sight, blind Bartimaeus showed that he had already seen God's love. he recognized Jesus as the Son of David, the Messiah, and deliverer from sin and death. Knowing that, he didn't hesitate to ask Jesus for healing. And by the power of God, his sight was restored. More than that, he received the assurance of the forgiveness of sins, when Jesus said, "Your faith has saved you."

Even the crowd had a momentary glimmer of spiritual sight. While the main point of the lesson went right over their heads, they at least marvelled at the miracle, and for a time joined in praising God.

The disciples benefited from seeing this miracle, too. Later they understood that on this day Jesus had also shown great love for them. It was the love of Jesus that moved Him to carefully prepare them for the dark days that lay ahead. He carefully showed them that healing a man's afflictions and infirmities wasn't enough. The Son of God must go to Jerusalem and accomplish all things which were written about Him by the prophets. He would have to be delivered to the Gentiles, be mocked and spit upon, scourged and put to death. But the third day He would rise again as the proof of our forgiveness. The disciples didn't understand it all then, but later, by God's grace, they saw clearly why Jesus did what He did. This was real vision - the kind of real sight that only Jesus can give.

In the weeks ahead, Jesus will once again invite you and me to walk with Him on the road to Calvary. He wants to give us the special "sight" it takes to look beyond the outward circumstances of His suffering and death, and to look with wonder at how He there paid for every one of our sins. He will show us the agony He bore and the terrors of hell He experienced on the cross...just so He could make you and me heirs of His heavenly kingdom. It all takes a special "eyesight" that only our Savior can give us.

Those of you who wear glasses - have you ever gone in to have your eyes retested? Anyone who has glasses knows that this can be quite an experience. With a stronger prescription you are suddenly amazed at all the little things you'd been missing - the leaves on the trees, all the individual blades of grass in the lawn. Everything suddenly seems so clear; you now can see what before was only taken for granted. Maybe we Christians need to renew our spiritual prescription. May God the Holy Spirit sharpen our vision, and enable us to see clearly everything that our Savior Jesus has done for us. Let's learn to pray the prayer of Blind Bartimaeus: "Lord, that I may receive my sight!" AMEN.

ONE THING IS NEEDFUL

Lutheran Sermons for the Church Year by Pastor Paul Naumann