None So Blind
Listen here.
There is an old saying; I tried to
find its source, but apparently it has been used so widely and for so long that
no one is sure where it actually came from! The saying is: There is none so
blind as them that will not see. There is, sometimes, a willful blindness – a
refusal to see the truth in people, especially when that truth deals with our
sin. It’s even in us. Even in God’s people.
Our reading from Isaiah shows God
speaking of his salvation to his servant Israel. Just before this reading
everything this was third person – talking about God – now it switches to the
first person as God says, “I.” There is urgency in his message, because what he
is talking about is saving his people, and that is always and urgent matter to
God!
For a long time I have held my
peace;
I have kept still and restrained
myself;
Now I will cry out like a woman in
labor;
I will gasp and pant.
Just like with pregnancy there is a
period of time with God’s salvation when it looks like not much is happening,
but in reality there is a lot going on, and when the moment comes it is urgent!
God sometimes looks like he’s not doing much for his people … but there is
actually a lot going on that we just don’t see, he works in humble ways, he
works in hidden ways – and then the time comes! His judgement will roll forth
and everything that was solid, everything the world thought was dependable will
dry up and be laid waste, and, for us, all that will matter is that God will be
there. He will take us by the hand. He leads us, even now, in paths we have not
known and rescues us from dangers and pitfalls we cannot see that are part of
his destroying judgement. He leads us to salvation, and we follow by faith. He
says, “These things I do, and I do not forsake [my people]!”
But. But! There are those who trust
in idols, it says. They trust in other gods. Shockingly, he says, his servant,
Israel, trusted in other gods, and because they trusted in these other gods
they were blind to what he was doing! Deaf to what he was saying!
Hear his frustration, his longing
for his people – his longing to save them! – as God says, “Hear, you deaf, and
look you blind, that you may see!”
But they won’t. They are blinded by
their idols. They are deafened by their gods. So God laments, “Who is blind but
my servant, or deaf as my messenger whom I send?”
Friends, it is completely possible
to see many things – to know what God’s Word says – but to not observe that God
is stretching out his hand to rescue us from sin – especially if the idols of
our day and our culture blind us to our sin and our need for a savior. It is
completely possible to hear God’s Word, for it to flow into our ears and beat
against our ear drums as sound, and yet to not hear – not listen – not receive
that Word as it calls us to faith in the one who would give us the light of his
salvation – especially if we listen to the lies and temptations of this dark
age that tell us that we see, we know, we perceive, and we understand much
better than people did long ago. And it is possible to see and to hear in
degrees – seeing here, turning a blind eye there – as God seeks to deal with
our sin and lead us in His ways – especially the powers of this present
darkness urge us to place ourselves over God’s Word, over God himself, as the
final word of what is true, just, or right.
Remember, friends, at one time we
were darkness, but now we are light in the Lord. Walk as children of the light.
Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness!
All people are spiritually blind by
nature. You, however, have been touched by the Gospel. The good news of God’s
love and forgiveness through the sacrifice of Christ on the cross has come to
you. It is as if Jesus spit on the ground and made mud, and wiped it on your
eyes so you can see! The glory of God is revealed in you as He opens your eyes
to see his forgiveness, his love, and his salvation. He has opened your eyes to
see His Word which reveals our sin and his incredible mercy and grace.
Today it is as if Jesus takes you
aside and says, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
You reply, “Who is he, sir that I
might believe in him?”
And he says to you, “You have seen
him, and it is he who is speaking to you.”
You have seen Jesus – in your
baptism. You have seen him in the forgiveness proclaimed to you. You have seen
him in the Word of Scripture read and proclaimed. You have seen him in his
Supper as he feeds you, reminding you that all this – the cross, the tomb, the
forgiveness, and the salvation – it’s all for you!
How will you respond? “Do you
believe in the Son of Man?”
“Lord, I believe!”
[Sigh], but some will not see. Some
cling to their idols and are blind. And sometimes we, too, see, but don’t see.
But even in that, the works of God are displayed in us, for he never gives up
on us and he leads us in our blindness – leads us to the place where we will
see rightly – in the light of his glorious presence! Amen.
Comments