Luke 18
Out this chapter I prefer to say a couple words about the
very last section. In verses 35 to 43 we find a story of a blind beggar being
healed by Jesus. The story has many layers. One relates to the very famous
Christian hymn, Amazing Grace. The first stanza ends with the words: “was
blind but now I see!” (LSB 744:1). It relates to the story of conversion of the
author – John Newton – but in connection with the text in front of us.
For sure, using the eyesight is a great gift and a privilege
God provided for us in His creative powers. Psychologists believe that we acquire
up to 80% of the information via eyes. Therefore, we should not be surprised that
the beggar is so eager to get it (or get it back, Luke doesn’t specify that he
was blind from birth, so it is possible he used to see before). He hears about
Jesus, and it changes everything. He wants to reach out to the Messianic king
and be healed (note that he calls Jesus – Son of David, true Solomon). ESV says
that he “cried out” (Lk. 18:38). The Greek verb means something even stronger:
shout for help or shout in tumultuous way (Strong’s, G994). He badly looks for
Jesus’ attention. When others tried to stop the beggar, he cried even more.
More that shouting for help…
Then Jesus came near. The phrase “came near” has very deep
liturgical roots. In Leviticus 1:1-2 we are introduced to theology of the
sacrifices. The sacrifices in English mean that a worshiper should give up
something for a favor of the divine. In Hebrew though, the word Korban means “to
draw or to come near.” Yet here the roles are reversed – it is not
the worshiper who comes near (he doesn’t really know where to go to), it is
Jesus who comes near. What a great sign of mercy! He is the One who approaches
the needy one. The plot thickens…
The plot thickens even more when the beggar dares to answer
to Jesus’ enquiry: “Lord, let ME recover MY sight” (Lk. 18:41). Listen
carefully what he really says: he wants to be the one who will find the way out…
But he is blind! Yet, Jesus allows him to be the responsible one. Don’t take me
wrong, I’m not saying that the nameless beggar healed himself with assistance
of Jesus. No-no, as usual we should confess nothing but SDG – Soli Deo Gloria,
Glory belongs to God alone. At the same time, Jesus responds to his request
with very encouraging words: “recover your sight, your faith has made you well”
(Lk. 18:42). Recover stands in imperative. It is a command, you, don’t stand
doing nothing, go ahead and recover your sight!
He recovered his sight, followed Jesus, and all the people gave praise to God. If it would be a movie there would be a sign “happy end” or “he lived happily ever after” here. But I want to continue for a little while. As I said in the beginning, the gift of sight is a great privilege. By no means I want to underestimate the difficulties of a blind person, but Judean society of the Second Temple was a very generous one, the people had a well-developed system of “social services.” But from now on the beggar cannot rely on the generosity of others. He had to be responsible for his own life: his actions, words, and conduct… That’s why I see that Jesus not simply heals him, but “boosts” his sense of responsibility. From the very beginning the beggar phrases everything in a way that he is “in charge” so to speak. And the Son of David lets him have it. And leads him on to the ultimate responsibility – following the Lord, singing praises to God, sharing the Good News with those who didn’t hear the story yet!
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