Quinquagesima February 23, 2020 The Sunday of Jesus Predicting His Death and Healing a Blind Man
Quinquagesima
Luke 18:31-43
February 23, 2020
Say to the Heart, “Be Strong; Fear Not!”
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Why do bad things happen to good people? It’s an honest question and one that we will look at today in our Scripture readings. Of course, we won’t ever have a perfect answer until we get to heaven. Because God’s ways are higher than our ways. We won’t ever understand everything God does. But Jesus gives us windows into the answer. He gives some reasons why bad things happen to good people. (I’ll define those terms later.) And the biggest window He gives us is this: bad things happen to show the mercy of God. Bad things happen to show the works and mercy of God.
Some examples. You remember when the Israelites arrived at the Red Sea and they didn’t have any way to get across. They finally get away from Pharaoh in Egypt. Leave their lives of slavery. Everything is going well. God is with them. And then they get to the Red Sea and they’re stuck. The Egyptians are pursuing behind. And the Israelites cry out, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” Obviously those aren’t the exact words. But they do cry out and they’re upset. They’re the good guys. The Egyptians are the bad guys. So why are these bad things happening to the good guys?
Well, Moses tells them exactly why. He says, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.” So that’s why this happened! God will fight for them. And they will see His power and His mercy. In fact, this will become thee greatest sign of God’s mercy—the EXODUS—in all of the Old Testament history. That’s why this bad thing happened.
A second example is Job. The whole book of Job is basically him and his friends arguing about why these bad things happened to Job. All his friends think he deserved it. “Bad things happen to bad people,” they say. But the truth is Job didn’t deserve for all his children to die and all his livestock to be taken away. The whole reason Satan goes after him is because he’s a good person. But Job learns in the end of the book that he’s not God. He learns to trust God and that God uses bad things to show His mercy. And God does show mercy to Job. Much of it.
And one last example—a current one. Nine people died in the helicopter crash a month ago, one of which was Kobe Bryant. It was surprising how many people this affected. It turned out to be a massive event of grieving for our country. And I venture to say a lot of it was this question, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” By most respects, the people on the helicopter were good people. Why did this happen to them?
But, of course, you see there’s a bigger question here about death itself. Why does death happen? Especially death at a young age? But we know the answer to death—God shows His power and mercy in death by giving eternal life. Jesus rose from the dead. Defeated it! So now even death, which is a very bad thing, even the worst thing, must show God’s mercy and power because He takes believers to heaven.
I would say the most under-reported thing about Kobe’s death is that he, by all accounts, believed in Jesus. He was in Catholic church that morning of his death and apparently attended mass often with his family. And all who believe in Jesus Christ have eternal life. For believers, even death must show the mercy and work of God.
Now a general question then—if we could reverse all the bad things that ever happened to us, would we do that? Think of all that would be lost. What if the Israelites never got stuck by the Red Sea, for example? We would lose the times of God’s greatest works. And to get to the heart of the issue—if you took away all the bad things that happened to good people then you would take away the most important thing that ever happened—the suffering and death of Jesus.
What if bad things never happened to Jesus? Jesus, of course, is the only truly good person. We, of course, are all sinners. But Jesus is 100% good. He’s perfect. So why should any bad things happen to Jesus? What if Jesus had decided not to endure the suffering and death?
In our Gospel reading, Jesus, for the third time, announces exactly what bad things are going to happen to Him when He goes to Jerusalem. Exactly. He will delivered over, mocked, shamefully treated, spit on, flogged, and killed. If you were on your way somewhere and you knew you were going to be arrested, mocked, spit on, flogged, and killed—would you turn around? Jesus doesn’t.
Jesus gives us the ultimate answer to why bad things happen to good people—He says, “Look, we’re going to Jerusalem and very bad things are going to happen to Me. But you will see why. I will rise from the dead for your salvation. You’ll see why God allows these bad things to happen. And you will rejoice in it forever.”
Now that Jesus has suffered for our sins and risen for our salvation, all the bad things that happen to us serve to bring us together with Jesus into His suffering so that we can see God’s mercy at work in our lives also.
Some further examples of this. Two blind men. In John chapter 9 Jesus and His disciples come across a blind man. The disciples ask Jesus, “Why did this bad thing happen to this blind man? Did he sin to deserve this or did his parents sin?” And Jesus says, “No, you’ve got it all wrong. This blindness isn’t some punishment for a sin. Of course, he’s a sinner. But he didn’t do any specific sin for this blindness. But, in fact, this blindness was given so that the works of God might be displayed in him.” And Jesus goes on to heal him and show he mercy and work of God.
Also, in our Gospel reading today, after Jesus predicts His death then He again runs into a blind man. This time the blind man is crying out, “Jesus, have mercy on me.” His disciples were telling him to be quiet because in their minds Jesus doesn’t have any time for bad people like this blind beggar. Bad things happen to bad people—that’s what they think. But no, Jesus will show them this blind man is a good person—because of faith. Because he believes in Jesus as the Son of God.
So Jesus asks, “What do you want me to do for you?” “Let me recover my sight,” the blind man asks. And Jesus says, “Recover your sight; your faith has made you well.” Can you imagine any greater thing coming out a bad thing? This man’s blindness is still showing God’s mercy and work to us 2,000 years later. His faith is still setting an example for us 2,000 years later.
We’re about to enter the most somber time of our whole Church year—the season of Lent. This Wednesday is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the 40 days of Lent. This season of Lent reminds us of all the bad things. It’s meant to do that. We’re reminded of our sin, of the work of the devil, and of death. We put ashes on our forehead and hear, “Remember you’re dust.” Why would we remind ourselves of all these bad things?
Remember, the bad things serve to show the work of God’s mercy. Lent is there to show us Easter. We remember we’re dust so that we can rejoice that Jesus rose from dust. We remember our sin so that we can rejoice that Christ died and rose for our sin. We remember death so that we can rejoice that Jesus is Life.
So, to close today, our readings give two words from God today that you can use when you also must face bad things in this life. The first one comes from Isaiah 35 when God’s people were staring some very bad things in the face. God told Isaiah, “Say to those who have an anxious heart, ‘Be strong; fear not!” Sounds very similar to Moses by the Red Sea. “Be strong; fear not!” The Lord will be with you and will fight for you and will bring you through.
Jesus is risen and living! This is your guarantee that God will indeed bring you through all the bad things of this life to the good things of the life to come. Be strong and don’t be afraid. If God is for you, who can be against you? The Lord is your light and your salvation, of whom shall you be afraid? No bad things can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Stand firm and see God bring you through all the bad things.
And also Jesus’ word to the blind man today. “Your faith has made you well.” This is also true for every believer no matter what bad things you must face. “Your faith in Jesus Christ is making you well.” God is working in you, through all the bad things of this life, to show His mercy and to show the tested genuineness of your faith. Don’t be afraid. Your faith in Jesus is making you well.
In Jesus’ name. Amen.