"We'll See" Sermon for the Fifth Sunday in Lent

We’ll See
Lent 5 (Narrative Lectionary 3)
March 17, 2013
Luke 18.31-19.10

I loved to read as a young boy, and I still do, but particularly enjoyed biographies of famous people. These were not “adult” biographies, but stories of people as children growing up. One that I remember in particular was of Teddy Roosevelt, our 26th President. That book told of a time when Roosevelt was out hunting and came upon a barn with an ad painted on the side. Roosevelt couldn’t read the writing on the barn and it was then he realized he needed glasses. (I’m glad I wasn’t out hunting with him!) That story resonated with me because my teacher, parents, and I discovered as a young boy I couldn’t read the blackboard in school. As I have gotten older, advancing to bifocals and then trifocals, being able to see has become even more precious to me.

Did you notice how important seeing is in our Bible lesson for today? The first word Jesus says to his disciples is, “See…” yet as he tells them what is going to happen in Jerusalem, they don’t see or understand what he is talking about. Then there is the man who is physically blind but who sees far more than anyone around him. He recognizes Jesus as the Son of David who is able to grant the mercy of miraculous healing. Finally, there is Zacchaeus, whom others see as nothing but a rich, sinful tax collector. Yet, after Zacchaeus climbs the tree he sees Jesus in a whole new way that transforms his life.

The irony is that the ones who we would expect to see Jesus, the ones who are travelling with him, are the ones who have the hardest time seeing who Jesus is and what he means to them. To be fair, one does not fully see Jesus for who he is and what he means until the other side of the resurrection. It’s on the road to Emmaus as Jesus opens the scriptures to the disciples that they will begin to see him for who he is. Yet it is the lost, the ones Jesus came to seek and to save, who are able to see best, perhaps because they need him most. There is a blind man whose “sin” puts him begging outside the community and a tax collector whose physical stature mirrors his public identity as corrupt official on the take.

A remarkable thing happens when Jesus comes by. First, Jesus always meets us where we are in our lives and those places are often at the point of our deepest needs, even if we don’t know it at the time. When Jesus meets us and we see him for who he is, the crucified and risen Messiah, we begin to see ourselves and our lives in a different way as well. We are no longer constrained by others’ opinions of us. The former blind man is able to see himself as one who is blessed by God’s mercy and grace. Zacchaeus now sees himself as whom he was all along: a child of Abraham welcomed by God.

Still there is more, because there is always more with our encounters with God through Jesus. When we see Jesus as the crucified and risen one who came not to be served but to serve, we are then able to see others in the world as Jesus sees them, children worthy of mercy and love. We are invited to abandon our preconceived notions of what it means to be a sinner, correct our spiritual blindness, and come down out of our trees and serve those who in need wherever they are at. Seeing Jesus, Zacchaeus now sees what it means to be a child of Abraham, serving the poor and making restitution to those he may have defrauded. To whom much is given, much is expected.

As you heard earlier, our Saved by Grace Confirmation youth had their eyes opened in new ways a few weeks ago. They not only saw “the least of these, our sisters and brothers” in a new way, but they also saw the face of Jesus in the ones they served. Seeing Jesus has helped them see themselves in a new way, too. Encountering Jesus and serving others has helped them become more of who God intends them to be. Where is God opening your eyes today, inviting you to see where Jesus is meeting you? Where are you seeing Jesus in those around you? As we draw nearer to Jerusalem, to the cross and beyond, God calls us to the crucified and risen life. It’s the only life worth living. Amen.