Christiaan Huygens was a Dutch mathematician, astronomer, and inventor in the mid to late 1600s. He invented the pendulum clock. He came up with the standard formula for centrifugal force. He improved telescopes and measured the distances between the planets. While he was doing that work in 1655 he pointed his telescope at Saturn and saw something no one had ever seen before. Saturn had a moon, a large one, now known as Titan. That must be a pretty amazing feeling to look at something and to know that no one has ever seen this before. In fact, no has been able to see this before. It was maybe a similar feeling when almost exactly 350 years later, in 2005, the Huygens probe sent by NASA landed on Titan and sent pictures back to earth. If you haven’t seen any of those pictures you can look them up online. They’re amazing to see.
From our vantage point we sometimes look at Jesus’ disciples and ask, “How did they not see? How did they not see what it was that Jesus was doing? How did they not understand his plain words? How could they be at times so slow to believe?”
And someone might answer and say, “Well, we have some advantages. We know what happened to Jesus. We know how it all ends. When Jesus talks about his suffering, we picture the crown of thorns, the beatings, and the cross. When Jesus talks about his death we remember how he was hastily taken down from the cross and placed in the tomb. When Jesus talks about his resurrection we see in our mind’s eye the empty tomb, the women who went there, the angels, and then how Jesus appeared and showed his disciples his hands and side.
But knowing the ending is not really what makes the difference. The disciples were never going to see what this was all about without some help. It wasn’t a better telescope or a space probe that was going to help them see what Jesus was talking about. Rather, these things are discerned by faith. And Jesus is the one who gives such a faith. He opens our eyes to see his grace. Don’t ridicule Jesus’ disciples. We’re in the same boat. Like the blind man, we need to pray, “Lord, I want to see.” And Jesus answers us with a great miracle, “Receive your sight.”
Our Gospel for today comes from Luke 18, and this is a perfect account to meditate on just before we begin the season of Lent. Right now the Winter Olympics is going on and you could think of this Sunday as the Gospel equivalent of the skier at the top of the ski jump. There’s no turning back. We’re about to go sailing into Lent – down down down – until we hit the bottom with Holy Week and Good Friday and fly back up into Easter.
Of course, Jesus was never going to turn back. He had come for this and was determined to go all the way to the cross for us. That’s what he explains to his disciples, once again, in the first part of our Gospel. Luke says,
31He took the Twelve aside and said to them, “Look, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written through the prophets about the Son of Man will be accomplished. 32Indeed, he will be handed over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, mistreat him, spit on him, 33flog him, and kill him. On the third day, he will rise again.”
They were already on the way to Jerusalem when Jesus said this. And it was no secret that the Jewish leaders wanted Jesus dead. It wasn’t all that long before this that even heading into the vicinity of Jerusalem was considered so dangerous by Jesus’ disciples that they were conflicted about it until Thomas declared, “Let us go and die with him!” We’re also told that there were people who didn’t think Jesus would go to Jerusalem for the Passover. “Oh, he wouldn’t dare show his face around here!”
But none of this made him hesitate at all. He boldly set out for that city. And what’s wonderful about this is that he didn’t go there under some sort of human hubristic opinion that he was untouchable. This isn’t like Julius Caesar crossing the Rubicon or Napoleon returning to Paris from Elba Island. Jesus was not marching on Jerusalem as an aspiring emperor. He very specifically told his disciples he was going to die. Not die a noble and honorable death. No. He’ll be mocked. They’ll spit on him. They’ll flog him. And when they’re done with all of that they’ll kill him. And he told his disciples this with complete resolve, not wavering one bit.
And the disciples? Well, they didn’t understand what he was saying. And when we hear this we say, “Really? How could they not understand? This is as plain as plain can be. What part didn’t they understand?” Luke says “They didn’t understand any of it.” Were there certain parts of it that were tripping them up in particular? Was it that they thought there must be some sort of secret meaning to what he was saying? Luke doesn’t say, and there’s a reason for that. The problem was not that they weren’t smart enough. The problem was not that they had never studied the Old Testament. The problem is that what Jesus said was hidden from them.
The Word of God is not difficult to understand. There are dozens of translations out there that put it into plain English. And yet there are so many people around us who have no idea. It’s not just that they haven’t read it. There are Bible scholars out there who have the most crackpot ideas about who Jesus is and how the Bible came to us and what it means to be a Christian. Some of them are complete charlatans. Some of them seem to be genuinely nice and well-meaning people. How is it that they and the people who follow them can be so off-base? What Jesus says is hidden from them, and they do not understand it.
That’s pretty sad, isn’t it? It’s a good thing we’re not like them. Those disciples of Jesus were so foolish. Those worldly people of today are so spiritually blind. But hold on. Don’t go boasting in your own wisdom and insight. Isn’t that what the Pharisees did, even as they completely abandoned God’s Word for the traditions of men? If there’s something to criticize with Jesus’ disciples here, it’s not that they struggled to understand. It’s that they didn’t ask for help.
But then on the other side of an arrogance that boasts of our own wisdom and insight is a great fearfulness that says, “How can I ever know? How can I ever be sure that I’m seeing things correctly? Jesus’ own disciples didn’t understand, even with Jesus standing right there and explaining things to them. Brilliant scholars who have dedicated their whole lives to studying the Bible in Greek and Hebrew argue over what these things mean. How can I ever reach that kind of understanding? Different Christian denominations all argue that they see things the right way. How can I know? How can I even be a Christian?
But the answer is right here in Luke’s gospel, in a miracle that followed this conversation. Jesus was on his way through Jericho when he met a blind man. The guy that Luke is talking about is probably the same guy as the one Mark says was named Bartimaeus. He was at the city gate begging. When he heard the crowd he asked what was happening and when he heard that it was Jesus who was passing by he started shouting, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” People told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more. Finally Jesus stopped and ordered the man be brought to him. And he asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus knew, but he wanted to hear his prayer. “Lord, I want to see again!” And Jesus said, “Receive your sight. Your faith has saved you.”
So many people are blind to the message of the Gospel, and yet here we are, seeing so clearly. We might be tempted then to prideful arrogance that boasts of my own wisdom, or to fearful doubt that despairs over any certainty. But the problem with both of those is the same. Both are completely centered on me. They lead nowhere except away from Christ. This would be like pointing a telescope at my feet and then wondering why I don’t see any stars. Bartimaeus knew the answer. He couldn’t make himself see. But Jesus could. And so he prayed to Jesus, boldly. And Jesus didn’t turn him away. He didn’t say, “You’ve got this.” He didn’t say, “No, figure it out for yourself.” He didn’t say, “Why would I help someone like you?”
Jesus came to die for Bartimaeus. He came to die for his disciples. He came to die for you and me, and for the whole world. The only way that you can see Jesus’ cross, see his death and resurrection, and know and understand that this is for you and for your salvation, is if Jesus opens your eyes so that you may see. And he does. He doesn’t leave you in the dark. He wants you to see the height and depth and breadth of his love which is greater than any pictures from space. He wants you to know that your sins are forgiven, and that your death has lost its sting, and that your home is with him in heaven. He gives you the faith to discern him in Word and Sacrament for your comfort and your assurance.
Like Bartimaeus, let us follow after Jesus, with our eyes of faith miraculously opened, glorifying God. As we meditate once again on Jesus’ Passion, on his suffering and death and resurrection, pray for wisdom, pray for understanding, pray for eyes of faith. “Lord, I want to see.” “Receive your sight.” Amen.