Sermon Audio

Today’s Gospel reading is a two-part story on blindness. It tells us about the two types of blindness with which the world is or can be afflicted. And, in both cases, it shows us the cure to the blindness.

The second part of the story is the part with the obvious blindness. In part two, we encounter a man who is blind. Jesus and His disciples were on their way to Jericho, and He had a multitude of people following Him. Unable to see what was going on, but hearing the crowd, the blind man asked what was going on. Those who heard him told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by.

The blind man cries out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” The blind man was warned to be quiet, but he refused, crying out louder, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” It’s hard to say how well the blind man knew about Jesus, how much he had been told about Jesus, how much he was taught about Jesus with regard to the Scriptures; however, the blind man demonstrates his faith when he calls Jesus, “Son of David.”

While lineages were important facts to know in the ancient world, and still interesting information these days, it’s unlikely that everyone knew everyone else’s pedigree. Yes, there is a chance that the blind man knew that Jesus was a descendant of David, the greater chance was that he didn’t. However, whether he knew or not that Jesus was a descendant of David, he still calls Jesus, “Son of David.” This label does more than acknowledge Jesus’ earthly lineage, but acknowledges that Jesus was the legitimate heir to king David’s throne.

Here’s the kicker, though: for hundreds of years, a descendant of David hadn’t sat on the throne. As a result, the title, Son of David, was used more and more in its Messianic sense; it referred to the Promised Messiah who would finally and eternally sit on David’s throne and save God’s people more than a simple descendant—by the time the blind man used it, more than ever before. By calling Jesus, “Son of David,” the blind man was confessing his God-given faith in Jesus to be the Son of God, Redeemer, Savior, even the very Lamb of God, whether he understood all of what he was saying or not. He saw Jesus for who He was, though he was blind to everything else going on around him.

Jesus asked him, “What do you want Me to do for you?” Here is a man who sees Jesus for who He is, though those around Him do not, and the man asks for his sight. “Lord, that I may receive my sight.” “Receive your sight; your faith has saved you,” Jesus replies.

Here is where your English translations do you a great service—just about all of them. Read the text in your Bibles, and Jesus tells the man, “Your faith has made you well.” He says the same thing to the woman with the flow of blood (cf. Luke 8:48) and the leper we hear about at Thanksgiving. (cf. Luke 17:19) Every time you read Jesus say, “Your faith has made you well,” or, “Your faith has helped you,” the original text reads, “ἡ πίστις σου σέσωκέν σε,” or, “Your faith has saved you.”

“Your faith has made you well,” can be a very problematic translation. This is especially true for those who would base their theology and doctrine on translations. What you can come away with is the idea that should illness or injury come your way, then you weren’t believing hard enough. I can’t tell you the number of times I have encountered this when I made hospital visits as the institutional module part of my seminary education—people feared the loss of their salvation because they were ill and hospitalized. “If only I believed harder. If only I prayed more,” I would hear from them.

This makes for a very teachable moment, as do those English translations. Jesus healed the man, giving him sight. The more important thing is that the man had received faith to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, trusting in Jesus for the things that only God could grant, such as forgiveness, life, and salvation. So it is, as Jesus announced, his faith had saved him. With forgiveness, life, and salvation comes the promise of restoration; so, while the man may have died blind had Jesus not encountered him and healed him that day, in the last days, he would have lived out what Job once declared: “And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another.” (Job 19:26-27) Rev. Peter Bender writes, “Forgiving sins and restoring life to a diseased body [are] the same thing!” Furthermore, writing of the healing of the paralytic (cf. Matthew 9:1-8),

One sinner is plagued by paralysis, another by cancer or heart disease, but the common infection of sin infects us all. The corruption of sin, which separates us from God, is the source of all human ills and manifests itself in the vast array of ailments which affect the entire person: body, mind, psyche, and spirit. Jesus’ point is this: if I have taken away sin, then I have taken away the disease of the body and bondage to Satan, and I have delivered from death. “Where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation.” The word of absolution delivers God’s forgiveness for Jesus’ sake, and it is the pledge of the resurrection of the body—from corruption and mortality to incorruption and immortality.

That word of absolution is the constant reminder of salvation and eternal life. This is what we all have to look forward to, our hope in Christ by God-given faith.

In sharp contrast to the blindness of the man is the blindness of the disciples in the first part. Here, Jesus had pulled aside His twelves and tells 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. They will scourge Him and kill Him. And the third day He will rise again.

What was the disciples’ reaction? “But they understood none of these things; this saying was hidden from them, and they did not know the things which were spoken.” The saying was hidden from them—they could not see it. For us, this side of the Resurrection of Jesus, there is nothing cryptic, symbolic, or even unimaginable in this, but the disciples just didn’t get it—it was hidden from them. They were inwardly blinded to what Jesus told them.

Why? It’s hard to say. The text doesn’t tell us, so we’re left to speculate. Perhaps Jesus was simply preventing them from preventing Him from doing these things, much as Peter tried to do once. (cf. Matthew 16:22) Perhaps this was told to them, yet hidden from them so that once it happened, they could proclaim it with the knowledge that Jesus knew these things were going to happen to Him, similar to what Jesus told Peter, James, and John as they came down from the mount of Transfiguration (cf. Matthew 17:9), yet He never once backed out or refused to go through with the plan of salvation.

This second possibility reassures us that the suffering Jesus went through, He went through determined, willingly, and purposefully; it gives substance and force to the phrase, “for you.” In other words, Jesus had you in mind when we took on flesh, was circumcised and baptized, went to Jerusalem, was delivered into the hands of Gentiles who mocked Him, insulted Him, and spat upon Him, who scourged Him and killed Him, and when He rose again on the third day—that is to say, Jesus died and rose again for you, so that you wouldn’t have to die an eternal death and so that you could rise to eternal life!

That’s the point of both parts. Jesus does it. He does it all! Jesus is the cure for blindness, spiritual, physical, mental...what have you. As Jesus gave sight to the blind man, so He has opened your eyes—that is to say that He gives you faith to trust in Him. In this faith and trust, you see the Son of David hanging on the cross, bleeding and dying, and there see the mercy He has for you and all mankind: He has taken what you deserve!

Jesus Christ went to Jerusalem where He was delivered to the Gentiles, mocked and beaten, nailed to a cross, and died. He rose again on the third day. And He has done all of this for you, in order to bring you through death into life, where this corruptible will put on incorruption and this mortality will put on immortality.

[T]hen shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory."
“O Death, where is your sting?
O Hades, where is your victory?"
The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:54-57)

As we heard last week, it is given to you. That’s the grace of God at work! Jesus gives you sight; only He can. Like the blind man in today’s text, by the sight that Jesus gives, you see Him for who He is: the Son of David, the Son of God, your Messiah, your Redeemer...your Savior. Should you be blind or go blind or suffer from some other illness—no matter the infirmity—you know that Jesus Christ has taken these from you and promised you that when the last day comes, you will receive a body like His glorious body (cf. Philippians 3:21), free from illness and disease, restored to a perfection that hasn’t been seen since the beginning, and you will see Him with your own eyes.

From Jesus, you have received your sight. Your God-given faith has made you well—it has saved you—by it you have received the forgiveness of all of your sins, and life, and salvation.