Quinquagesima 2019
Luke 18:31-43
March 3, 2019
Zion Lutheran Church + Nampa, ID
It was around the year 1050 BC and it was the end of the era of the judges in Israel. The prophet Samuel was an old man by this time, his sons were corrupt, and the elders of Israel wanted a king. Not only did they want a king, but they demanded one to judge them like all the other pagan nations, who would go out before them and fight their battles. Samuel didn’t like this one little bit, and neither did God, for making this demand they rejected God from king over them. Samuel warned the people with God’s own words that this was a bad idea and that it would not go well with them. But they wouldn’t listen and doubled down on their rejection and hardness of heart. And so God gave them what they asked for.
For 20 years Saul reigned as king, and it was not good. Saul turned from following God and did not follow His commandments. And so when the time was right, God sent Samuel to the house of Jesse from Bethlehem to anoint someone new, for God had provided form Himself a king from among his sons. Jesse’s youngest son, a shepherd, ruddy in appearance, beautiful eyes and handsome. He wasn’t really considered to be much. But God’s doesn’t care about the external appearance, rather he looks at the heart and seeks one who will not run after other gods. David, whose son would be a greater king, was anointed by Samuel and the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him from that day forward.
Before Samuel’s time, the Lord’s spirit is not mentioned all that often before the time of the judges. But now, the rush of the Spirit upon David indicates something important has happened. The Spirit of the Lord abides with God’s chosen leader. This bestowal of the Spirit ought to make us remember Jesus’ anointing at His baptism, the Holy Spirit descending upon Him. And on Pentecost the outpouring of the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples. Unbelievers who repented and believed in Jesus were invited to be baptized into Christ for the forgiveness of sins and to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This sets the pattern for the church. Christian baptism is the divine anointing with the Spirit. In the Old Testament priests and kings were anointed, and now all are welcome to receive this anointing into the royal priesthood of all believers in Christ.
When a king of Israel is called the “anointed one” it is always God’s anointed one, not Israel’s. The anointing, as is Baptism, is God’s choice, and God’s work, not man’s. When God chose Saul He gave the Israelites the king they had requested, their kind of king. In rejecting Saul, God also rejects Israel’s way of choosing. The choice of a new king was not because of the people’s demand, as it was for Saul, but now because of their need, according to God’s criteria – “a man after God’s own heart.” The people got the king they wanted in Saul. Now, it was time for God to give them the king they needed. Samuel’s focus is directed away from Saul’s ruined potential to what God will do through the branch of Jesse, David, a man after God’s own heart.
In our Gospel reading today, Jesus explains to His disciples, for the third time, what it means that He is the Son of David, that He is the great David, the greater king. But Jesus isn’t the kind of king that most of them want, but He is the King they need. He doesn't look the way a king should look, yet his heart is Divine. He heals, He preaches, He teaches, He gives life to the lifeless, and forgiveness to the sinner. And His kingship is expressed upon the cross. Crowned with thorns, He is be mocked, spit upon, shamefully treated, flogged and killed. This isn’t how kings were supposed to be treated. Through these things, He will fulfill what was written about Him by the prophets.
The disciples don’t get it. But the blind man does, for by faith, he sees clearly who Jesus is. When He hears that Jesus is coming, he cries out not once, but twice, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me” (Luke 18:38). By faith, he recognizes who this Jesus is: the Son of David. Jesus, David’s greater Son, brings health and salvation to him who believes. And what’s more, this man follows Jesus, glorifies God, and others who see it, give praise to God as well.
And so do we. Jesus isn't the King you always want, but you are no longer blind to Him, and He certainly is the King that you need. He doesn't bow to your will, He doesn't worship you, He doesn't thank you for gracing Him with your presence in church this morning. He rejects your prideful, self-importance and vanity as surely as He rejected Saul. This is how He judges, not like the nations of the world, but in righteousness and holiness, condemning your sinfulness and taking your sin and guilt upon Himself. This is how He goes out before His people and fights your battles – by the cross. And He is victorious, for you, over your sin and over your death. Here is not just a man after God’s own heart, but in Jesus we see the heart of God Himself, on His way of sorrows but also to His resurrection glory, and now ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of God the Father almighty.
Lent begins this week. This is not the kingdom that the world wants, and even many a Christian. The ash on the forehead, the sign of the cross, fasting, and almsgiving, and heightened prayer. These things show a theology of the cross, a time centered upon Christ and Him crucified, the King crowned with thorns and pierced for our transgressions. And we follow Him all the way, to rise with Him in the newness of life. But to follow Him requires much love for Him. It means more than loving what He has done, but to follow Jesus with seeing eyes of faith, sure and certain hope of the resurrection, glorifying God along the way, living not for ourselves but for Him who died and was raised on the third day.