Fr Peter Helman

Dear friend,

We find in this morning’s Office Gospel reading two related accounts, the first a prediction and the second a healing.

There are in fact three predictions in Luke’s Gospel that Jesus makes of his impending death and resurrection, and ours this morning is the third and final. Each of the three, when taken together, clarifies what it means in Luke’s Gospel for Jesus the Christ to be rejected.

In the first prediction of his death and resurrection, Jesus says his rejection will come at the hands of the religious leaders of Jerusalem: “The Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised” (Luke 9:21-22). The consideration of his end comes in this instance when Jesus poses to the disciples a question about his identity: “Who do you say that I am?” The answer to this question is hard to stomach for the promise of suffering it brings. The devout among the people, the religious, will see and reject him. Even his own disciples will abandon him.

The second prediction that Jesus makes is only in passing when he tells his disciples, “Let these words sink into your ears: the Son of Man is going to be betrayed into human hands” (Luke 9:44). In the final prediction, Jesus says, “[The Son of Man] will be handed over to the Gentiles; and he will be mocked and insulted and spat upon. After they have flogged him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise again.”

It is curiously telling that the three predictions and their respective settings in the Gospel, when taken together, show a broader view of the end towards which Jesus journeys. He will be rejected by the devout, betrayed into human hands, and at last delivered to the court of the Gentiles, the Roman Empire.

As mentioned, the Gospel moves straightaway from the prediction of Jesus’ end to an account of him healing a blind man along the road to Jericho. The man hears a gathering crowd and asks what the fuss is all about. “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by,” they say. From a distance the man shouts, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Those standing in his way berate and order the man to be quiet, but he shouts all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” That he calls Jesus the “Son of David” is a beautiful recognition, for he sees what no one else does: that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, “the Anointed One of God.” In each of the predictions mentioned above Jesus is known by another name "the Son of Man."

The irony here is thick, isn’t it? The disciples, who hear Jesus’ predictions again and again and in each instance fail to understand and accept the truth he plainly speaks, cannot see Jesus for who he is.

The blind man, though, whose sight is restored because of his sight, shepherds the way: when we hear the voice of Jesus speaking, we must listen and cry out for eyes to see, for our vision to be restored. We are to take up the cry of the man along the road to Jericho: “Have mercy on us!” Jesus stood still and the man was brought to him. “When he came near, he asked him, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ He said, ‘Lord, let me see again.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Receive your sight’ … Immediately, he regained his sight and followed him, glorifying God.”

Let us pray for eyes to see. Praise be to God that Jesus has come indeed to seek and save the lost.

Yours in Christ,
Fr. Peter