Quinquagesima Sunday, 2020
Pastor Gregory L. Jackson
Lyrics are linked in the hymn number.
The melody is linked in the hymn title.
The Confession of Sins
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16
The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19
The Epistle and Gradual
The Gospel
The Preface p. 24
The Sanctus p. 26
The Lord's Prayer p. 27
The Words of Institution
The Agnus Dei p. 28
The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
The Benediction p. 31
The Hymn #657 Beautiful Savior
Prayers and Announcements
- Treatment and recovery - John Hicks, Rush Limbaugh, Kermit Way, Christina Jackson.
- Pray for our country as the major trials begin.
- Thanksgiving - Glen Kotten is doing well, Pastor Shrader is clear on scans. Christina has the last of her radiation treatments tomorrow.
- Understanding Pilgrim's Progress is being finished.
- Wednesday is Ash Wednesday, followed by The Gospel of John in Greek, starting slowly for newcomers.
The Epistle. 1 Corinthians 13
Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.
4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
8 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.
The Gospel. St. Luke 18:31-43
Luke 18 31 Then he 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.
32 For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on:
33 And they shall scourge him, and put him to death: and the third day he shall rise again.
34 And they understood none of these things: and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken.
35 And it came to pass, that as he was come nigh unto Jericho, a certain blind man sat by the way side begging:
36 And hearing the multitude pass by, he asked what it meant.
37 And they told him, that Jesus of Nazareth passeth by.
38 And he cried, saying, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me.
39 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.
40 And Jesus stood, and commanded him to be brought unto him: and when he was come near, he asked him,
41 Saying, What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee? And he said, Lord, that I may receive my sight.
42 And Jesus said unto him, Receive thy sight: thy faith hath saved thee.
43 And immediately he received his sight, and followed him, glorifying God: and all the people, when they saw it, gave praise unto God.
Background for the Gospel - Luke 18
The way we read the Scriptures has everything to do with the message coming across as the Word of God.
- For some, parts can be seen as wise sayings about ethical conduct, but not about Jesus as the Savior. The Jefferson Bible.
- For others, the truth is not apparent, but from so-called scientific methods, the kernal of truth can be found. Modernist Biblical "scholarship." This misses the forest for the trees and consumes a forest in writing dissertations, books, and articles.
- But as the Word of God conveyed by the Holy Spirit, it is the medium which brings Jesus the Savior to us.
If read in the wrong frame of mind, the Bible remains what it is, but the reader does not even begin to see the wealth of spiritual treasures within, least of all the true nature of Jesus the Son of God.
The Emmaus disciples (reproduced, oddly at the tri-Lutheran Emmaus Conference each year)
Luke 24:31 And their eyes were opened, and they knew Him; and He vanished out of their sight. 32 And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while He talked with us by the way, and while He opened to us the Scriptures?
They knew all the events, but the Scriptures were closed to them until the risen Lord opened them to the truth. Then they ran back to Jerusalem to tell the disciples of the resurrection of Christ.
When clergy dazzle and confuse others with their orations, the best approach is the Scriptures, which we often have to hear and read many times over to lose the layers and filters provided by mankind.
The Word of God is much more startling than soothing at first, and that is because the waxen layers begin to fall off. Who is the only one who sees Jesus as He is in this Gospel lesson? - The blind man.
The Scriptures have only one purpose, to teach Jesus the Son of God. The Word does not merely give information, but it actively brings Jesus - in both Natures - to us. This active, living, divine Word plants faith in our hearts and strengthens that faith.
As long as we remain on the True Vine (John 15), we continue in His ministry of forgiveness through faith in Him, so we are cleansed in order to be fruitful in good works glorifying Him
Seeing Jesus
Luke 18 31 Then he 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.
The Gospels show us that Jesus predicted His death and the meaning of that death and resurrection. However, the disciples heard the words without understanding them. Nevertheless, this had to take place because it was the beginning of their greater faith. After the death and resurrection, Jesus taught them again as the risen Lord and the Spirit brought to mind everything that happened.
32 For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on:
33 And they shall scourge him, and put him to death: and the third day he shall rise again.
Jesus would be betrayed to the pagans - Gentiles - the Romans - for torture and for execution. And yet He would rise again. Those are powerful and alarming words. As examples, the disciples showed that the Word can be given and yet seem to bounce off, not understood, or even heard.
34 And they understood none of these things: and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken.
Hearing without understanding is not the same as never hearing at all. Many things come back to us later. It is no waste of time to teach children these stories, because the truths are in their hearts and minds. It is said that the revivals in America came because people without churches in America were reminded of the Gospel.
The miracle following is an ironic counterpoint to the plain declaration of Jesus and the disciple's inability to grasp it at the time.
35 And it came to pass, that as he was come nigh unto Jericho, a certain blind man sat by the way side begging: 36 And hearing the multitude pass by, he asked what it meant. 37 And they told him, that Jesus of Nazareth passeth by.
Just after being told that the Twelve heard but did not hear, even though they had already seen many miracles, we read that a blind man heard this commotion of Jesus coming through town, Jericho, and wanted to know what was happening. According to Lenski, Jericho was quite the beautiful city at that time, and it served as a great resting place before the final ascent to Jerusalem, a city so well fortified that it was said no army could defeat it in battle.
To understand Bartimaeus' response to Jesus, it is important to remember the sensation caused by the miracles of Jesus and His fame. The "rumor" or "report" had gone everywhere, so the entire region was aware of His power. "Faith comes by hearing the Report," as Isaiah 53 and Romans 10 remind us. He heard and he had faith.
There is a difference between knowing in general - as the crowd did - and knowing this miraculous event was personal, individual, an event for him, a blind beggar.
38 And he cried, saying, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me.
λεγων ιησου υιε δαβιδ ελεησον με
39 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.
The crowd rebuked Bartimaeus. Everyone turned toward him to silence him. This verb is very strong, used when Jesus rebuked the wind, when Peter rebuked Jesus for predicting His Passion, and Jesus rebuking Peter - "Get behind Me, Satan!"
There were stages in Peter's faith. He confessed to Jesus, "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God." But he did not like Jesus describing His torture, death, and resurrection. He rebuked Jesus for saying those things - Mark 8. Jesus rebuked Peter for having man-faith, not God-faith.
Peter was loyal yet terrified into denial during the trial of Jesus, yet he was quick to look for tomb empty and for the risen Savior who was observing their fishing (end of John).
The crowd's rebuke can be two-fold, even three-fold.
- Who is Bartimaeus the beggar to ask anything?
- Why should interrupt the journey of this great Teacher?
- Why should he ask for his own miracle in this great crowd?
What they miss with all their senses being intact - the blind man sees that this Jesus is the Promised Messiah, and Bartimaeus has faith in His divinity and His love for a poor beggar.
The more they rebuked Bartimaeus, the more he cried out, repeating Son of David, have mercy on me!
The rebuke of the crowd should be familiar to faithful Lutherans, as Luther promised in the graphic below.
It is not divine work if everyone is happy and thankful for it. No one has a word against it. This is what church bureaucrats long for, and if they cannot get it, they have their printing presses make it up.
However, if we do not run into all kinds of contradiction, hatred, and disagreeable things, persecution, shunning, and so forth, it is not God-pleasing.
One thing hard to learn is that the moment the Gospel begins to take root, Satan raises his troops to uproot it - or at least trample the tender shoots growing. That is the origin of the word sabotage. Peasants used their wooden shoes, sabots, to trample the grain as it emerged from the soil, to punish the farmer.
Because people shun the cross, they also shun the Gospel and convert it into a feel-good prosperity rabbit's foot.
40 And Jesus stood, and commanded him to be brought unto him: and when he was come near, he asked him,
41 Saying, What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee? And he said, Lord, that I may receive my sight.
Bartimaeus is the only one (apparently) who truly saw Jesus. He saw and confessed Jesus as the Messiah. Previous stories - the Report - proved that to him. He confessed Jesus as God, calling him Lord and asking for a divine miracle - that he receive sight.
Those who mock and distort the miracles do not see Jesus at all. As they said about one great German theologian and philosopher, "He looked down a well and saw his own reflection, a middle class German, not the Savior at all." The only things this man could say were about someone in his own profession, nothing more.
The same is true of those who only see a revolutionary - a revolutionary yes, but not their kind!
And those without faith, or even more hardened - who had faith and rejected it - like The Last Temptation of Christ - see Jesus as having no faith in Himself, even though this is the theme of the Gospels, the entire Bible.
Lenski, Luke p 933.
Now that Jesus is going to his death at Jerusalem he accepts the Messianic title openly before the multitude, accepts it with all its implication of royalty (1:32, 33). He had hitherto avoided it as much as possible because of the wrong political and worldly ideas the Jews connected with the Messiah-King they were expecting. Only in Samaria, to a lone woman, Jesus declared himself to be the Messiah. In Matt. 9:27, where the blind men address him as the Son of David, they are told to tell no man about their healing; and in Matt. 15:22, etc., Jesus is far away from the crowds, where no danger attended the use of the title. But now the time has come for all Judaism to know that Jesus is David's royal Son and Heir, the true Messiah, who is about to die as such. Politics and nationalism present no dangers now. The aorist imperative expresses great fervor in prayers; but here the petition is also for one great act of mercy from Jesus; hence , "mercy me," ελεησον με extend an act of mercy to me. What the act is to be need not be stated.
10. First, he hears that Christ was passing by, he had also heard of him before, that Jesus of Nazareth was a kind man, and that he helps every one who only calls upon him. His faith and confidence in Christ grew out of his hearing; so he did not doubt but that Christ would also help him. But such faith in his heart he would not have been able to possess had he not heard and known of Christ; for faith does not come except by hearing.
11. Secondly, he firmly believes and doubts not but that it was true what he heard of Christ, as the following proves. Although he does not yet see nor know Christ, and although he at once knew him, yet he is not able to see or know whether Christ had a heart and will to help him; but he immediately believed, when he heard of him; upon such a noise and report he founded his confidence, and therefore he did not make a mistake.
12. Thirdly, in harmony with his faith, he calls on Christ and prays, as St. Paul in Romans 10:13-14 wrote: “How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed.” Also, “Whoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
42 And Jesus said unto him, Receive thy sight: thy faith hath saved thee.
43 And immediately he received his sight, and followed him, glorifying God: and all the people, when they saw it, gave praise unto God.
The great and wise tell me "faith is bad, it is the work of man and opposes grace," but Jesus always extols faith in Him, because those people have grasped the truth.
Just as Bartimaeus received Christ, he also received the good things of Christ - his sight in this case. And he did not praise himself but God.
Some people feel bad that they were misled in their concept of the Christian faith. But very few of us were born with a KJV in one hand and the Book of Concord in the other. The many contending confessions (or denials) sharpen our grasp of the Gospel and allow us to look at everything new.
So it is today. We should thank those who stir things up with their confusion, personal attacks, and bitterness. It motivates us to read more, to work at more clarity, and to appreciate how powerfully the Word works in us to lead, comfort, and enlighten us.
Luther said much the same thing, since he was trained in a monastery and ordained as a Roman priest.
