“THE SON OF GOD
MAKES SONS OF GOD”
Saint Luke 18. 31-43
Saint Luke 18. 31-43
QUINQUAGESIMA: 2 March Anno Domini 2014
Fr. Jay Watson
SSP
In The Name + of
Jesus
Peter’s name was Simon; Simon Bar-Jonah
which means son of Jonah (i.e. son of
John). My own surname has its antecedents in someone who was once the son of
Wat; hence also Anderson, Johnson, Peterson, etc. The blind man that Christ encounters is named only by his
family name, not his first name, and not yet…by his “Christian” name.
Blind Bartimaeus…the son of Timaeus, is
really to be the son of a man, and, is to be blind. To be Cain, or even Abel,
is to be a son of old Adam and to be blind, deaf, dumb, impotent and an enemy
of The Lord.
There was a theory that the last image a
person saw before they died was exactly what they saw before they breathed
their last breath—a potential boon to crime/murder detection—or so it was
thought.
All men born of man are born dead in their
trespasses. Dead men see nothing. Dead men hear nothing. Dead men cannot do
anything. Hence the false-teaching of Protestants—Arminianism and even Romanist
and Eastern Orthodox synergism—is refuted by nature as well as by Holy Scripture!
How surprised the blind man must have been.
He did nothing and Jesus did everything. Jesus came to him. Jesus came to him
even before the Lord’s corporeal Body and Blood walked down the alley way near
to where Bartimaeus was begging. The Word of God had been planted in him,
somehow, from and by someone, even before that fateful day. The Word works.
Only the Word works. Bartimaeus was as surprised and amazed at this gracious
gift (GRACE: undeserved mercy) as were the workers hired at the 11th
hour, and as the ground that had fertile seed sown and strewn into it!
Repent. Only the blind who know they’re
blind desire to see. Only the man who laments the fact that he’s always angry
and bitter craves to be at rest and peace. Only the gossiper who constantly
tastes the bile and acid of a mean tongue and poison heart yearns for a loving
voice and a charitable heart. The Law of Christ shows in a mirror of truth and
clarity just how fall from the mark you really are. Only those who refuse to
forgive are bound in their chains. Hardness of heart only leads to hardness of
body in time and in eternity. A stiff neck and an unforgiving soul will be
stiff as wood as it’s forever burned over and over again into coal in
hell-fire. Repent. Repent not just in cheap words but in earnest Holy-Spirit
wrought desire. And when you don’t “feel”
that compulsion, pray for more mercy from Jesus the healer of the blind, and
come to Confession to speak with the lips which He has opened for you in your
own Baptismal healing.
The Grace that forgives you and Bartimaeus
from your sins and sin, is the Grace that restores your spiritual sight to
behold the face of God in the face of Christ Jesus. His face, while no longer
visible is nonetheless present. His face speaks through His Word of Holy
Scripture. His face continues to wet you down + from the heat of the day and
soothes your parched trials. His face is the face of your real and true
Communion Server who gives you the Blood and Body from the Face of His Cross,
the Face of His Resurrection, and the Face of His current enthronement on the
Right Hand of Majesty!
“For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then
face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am
known.” Come and join the man once known as Bar-Timaeus but now known as a “Son of God”—Abba Father, and abide in
the presence of Peace! “Receive thy
sight!”
“And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three;
but the greatest of these is charity.”
In The Name of
The Father and of + The Son and of The Holy Ghost
