March 26, 2017 - The Fourth Sunday in Lent

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