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+ + + In Nomine Jesu + + +
Please join me in prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. (Amen.)
In today’s Gospel Reading, a blind beggar named Bartimaeus cried out to Jesus for mercy, and Jesus showed Bartimaeus mercy, by giving Bartimaeus his sight, if not also by giving Bartimaeus his eternal salvation. The Greek verb used there for what Bartimaeus’s faith had done is elsewhere usually translated “save”, but the Greek verb can also be translated as “heal” and the like (Strong’s #4982). Although, in this case, of the 63 English versions available online at BibleGateway.com, the vast majority translate that Bartimaeus’s faith had done such things as “healed him”, “restored him”, “made him whole”, or made him “well” or “safe”. Only eight of those 63 English versions translate “saved”, and one of those 63 English versions says both “saved and healed” (The Message). Regardless of what the English versions might say about Bartimaeus, this morning I pray that, by our considering today’s Gospel Reading, the Holy Spirit leads you to realize that “Jesus mercifully heals and saves you”.
In today’s Gospel Reading, the “mercy” for which Bartimaeus asked Jesus has a rich Old Testament background and certainly can refer to the Messiah’s, or Savior’s, deliverance from judgment (Bultmann, TDNT 2:482-485 with n.102). That Bartimaeus calls Jesus “the Son of David” is said to indicate Bartimaeus’s hope for healing and deliverance (Lohse, TDNT 8:845). Those reluctant to translate “saved” may be forced to do so in other cases when there is no indication of any physical afflictions for Jesus to “heal”. And, admittedly in this case, when Jesus asked Bartimaeus what he wanted Jesus to do for him, Bartimaeus said “to see”, which Jesus clearly enabled him to do, though that answer and Jesus’s action need not necessarily rule out Jesus’s also saving the beggar from his spiritual affliction,.
In the Large Catechism, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther asks us to imagine a rich emperor who asked a poor beggar to ask for whatever the beggar might desire, saying that the mighty emperor was prepared to give great and princely gifts, but the foolish beggar asked only for a dish of beggar’s broth, maybe what one today might receive at a shelter or a soup kitchen. Luther says that the beggar rightly would be considered a rogue and a scoundrel for mocking the emperor’s gracious invitation, and Luther says that we reproach and dishonor God, Who offers and pledges so many inexpressible blessings, when we despise those blessings, when we lack confidence that we will receive them, and when we scarcely venture to ask for a morsel of bread (LC III:57). Luther says that, in praying for our Father in Heaven’s Kingdom to come, we are praying for far more than a crust of bread, namely, for everything that God possesses (LC III:56), and Luther says that, when we pray for the Kingdom, we will also have all the other things in abundance (LC III:58, with reference to Matthew 6:33).
In today’s Gospel Reading, Jesus certainly does not criticize Bartimaeus’s request but arguably heals and saves Bartimaeus. What about our requests? Do we pray for our Father in Heaven’s Kingdom to come? Do we pray for our eternal salvation? Do we pray for our physical healing? Do we pray for a morsel or crust of bread? Or, do we pray at all? We sin in those ways and in other ways, for we are sinful by nature, and so we deserve nothing but temporal and eternal punishment. Even if there is not a specific cause-and-effect relationship in each and every case (John 9:1-3), in general, physical afflictions and death are the result of sin’s being in the world (for example, Romans 6:23). For his part, Bartimaeus’s interest understandably was not in the cause of his blindness but in its cure (Schrage, TDNT 8:297). Like Bartimaeus, led by the Holy Spirit, in the public liturgy and in our personal prayers, we call out to Jesus, the Son of David, for mercy. When we are sorry for our sins and trust God to forgive us, then God does forgive us. Out of His great love and mercy, God forgives us for Jesus’s sake.
In today’s Old Testament Reading, God through the prophet Jeremiah foretold of His people’s return from exile in Babylon, describing them as calling for salvation, coming from the north country, with the blind, and with pleas for mercy (Jeremiah 31:7-9). That return from exile is like our deliverance from sin that Jesus immediately went on from Jericho to accomplish, entering Jerusalem to calls for salvation—in the shouts of “Hosanna!”—with a former blind man who had pled for mercy (Mark 11:1-10). This mercy shows itself in actions (Strong’s #5842)! Jesus’s giving sight to those like Bartimaeus who were blind showed that Jesus was the merciful Messiah, the Savior, God in human flesh (for example, Isaiah 35:5). Jesus answered those and our calls of “Hosanna” by taking our sin to the cross and there dying for us, in our place, the death that we deserved. And then, Jesus rose from the dead. Our faith in the crucified and resurrected Jesus does not save us in and of itself, but our faith saves us as it receives the benefits of what Jesus did for us. As today’s Epistle Reading put it, Jesus offered Himself once and for all and lives to intercede for us and saves to the uttermost those who draw near to God through Him (Hebrews 7:23-28).
We draw near to God through Jesus by seeking God’s forgiveness in the ways that God has given for us to receive His forgiveness: namely, through His Word and Sacraments. As I this past week studied and reflected on today’s Gospel Reading in preparing to preach this morning, I noted Bartimaeus’s asking for mercy, Jesus’s asking him what exactly he wanted, and then Jesus’s giving him his sight. That sequence is quite similar to our rite of Individual Confession and Absolution, in which a baptized penitent asks the pastor to hear his confession and pronounce forgiveness, the pastor asks whether the penitent believes that the pastor’s forgiveness is God’s forgiveness, and then, as the penitent believes, so the pastor forgives the penitent’s sin on God’s behalf (Lutheran Service Book 292-293). So absolved, we are admitted to the Sacrament of the Altar, where, more than just a plain crust or morsel of bread, we receive bread that is the Body of Christ given for us and wine that is the Blood of Christ shed for us, and so we receive forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation.
In today’s Gospel Reading, at first when Bartimaeus began to cry out to Jesus, many rebuked him, telling him to be silent. Perhaps they were from Jericho and knew Bartimaeus and considered the blind beggar to be unworthy of Christ’s attention (TLSB, ad loc Luke 18:39, p.1755). Or, they may have been trying otherwise to steal the hope that he had in Christ (Marcus, ad loc Mark 10:46-48, p.763). Then, after Jesus stopped and called for Bartimaeus, maybe some of those same people, or perhaps more‑likely others who were traveling with Jesus, told Bartimaeus to “take heart”, for Jesus was calling him. Jesus likewise calls us, and so we likewise can “take heart”. Such “taking heart” or “having courage” comes from faith in the One Who is victorious over all the evil forces in the world, and so we do not need to fear whatever the world might bring—whether in the form of election results, physical afflictions, or even death. With our eternal salvation comes not temporary relief from physical afflictions but ultimately the glorification of the body for eternal life with God free from sin and all that comes with it.
So, despite the translations, as Jesus arguably did with the blind beggar Bartimaeus, “Jesus mercifully heals and saves you”. In part with Reformation Day on Thursday this week, I was reminded of what are called Luther’s “last words”, found on a scrap of paper in his pocket after he died was written, “We are beggars, this is true”. God mercifully invites and answers our begging pleas for salvation. And so, like the exiles returning to Jerusalem in today’s Old Testament Reading, we can sing aloud with gladness. As we did in today’s Psalm, we can sing, “The Lord has done great things for us; we are glad” (Psalm 126:1-6; antiphon: v.5).
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +