27 Feb 2022
The Gospel. St. Luke xviii. 31.
Then Jesus took unto him the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished. For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on: and they shall scourge him, and put him to death: and the third day he shall rise again. And they understood none of these things: and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken. And it came to pass, that as he was come nigh unto Jericho, a certain blind man sat by the way-side begging: and hearing the multitude pass by, he asked what it meant. And they told him, that Jesus of Nazareth passeth by. And he cried, saying, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. And they which went before rebuked him, that he should hold his peace: but he cried so much the more, Thou son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stood, and commanded him to be brought unto him: and when he was come near, he asked him, saying, What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee? And he said, Lord, that I may receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him, Receive thy sight: thy faith hath saved thee. And immediately he received his sight, and followed him, glorifying God: and all the people, when they saw it, gave praise unto God.
“Behold we go up to Jerusalem”, Jesus tells us. In the Gospel today, Jesus tells the disciples what it means for Him to go up to Jerusalem--with them and us:
Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished. Christ is speaking about His passion. We must admit that both the disciples and we understand very little about what he accomplishes there. This is why the Church has us go through the pilgrimage of Lent every year, to refresh our understanding of what our Lord accomplished for us. Ultimately, this is the Way of the Cross for Him, for his disciples, and for us now in the twenty-first century.
As we learn in Jericho, the problem is our blindness. The blind man who confronts the Lord there had faith that Jesus could make him see. His faith was such that Jesus knew the blindness could be lifted, and that is what he must find in us this Lenten season. We must demonstrate our faith in Him, that He can lift the blindness from our eyes, from our minds, and from our hearts. The prophets knew ages before He came to live among us, that this Son of man and Son of God would be horribly misused, tortured, and killed for our sakes. In the Lord’s lifetime, blindness ruled the world and demonstrated this in their treatment of Him. That blindness is still with us—just examine the news internationally, nationally, and in our very streets and neighborhoods. Everywhere a blindness of wickedness prevails despite many who do everything they can to make things better, despite the many who pray for peace and an end to hatred.
We as Christians have one great advantage over those who idolize the things of this world: we KNOW we are blind and ignorant and do not always act in accordance with God’s laws and commandments. We know that the answer to this blindness is Our Lord’s saving passion, and God’s mercy offers us the fulfillment of the promise we long for Above all, we must be thankful that God has so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son for our sake. This is true love—love without limit—love unmerited—unquestioning love. It is a great and powerful gift that vitalizes all creation. We do well to wake up every day with a fresh appreciation of it that we translate into compassionate acts and prayer for others.
Lent is the pilgrimage of love. It is the season of mercy. We are called to repentance
for without that we cannot turn to God. The love of God is made visible to us in the drama of Christ’s going up to Jerusalem. Will we go with him?
Source: Sunday called Quinquagesima
Fr. David Curry
Christ Church Windsor NS, AD 2003
Bishop Ed Tompkins
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