A Sermon from Luke 4 – “Blind Man’s Bluff”
Jesus dared us to have eyes to see. He spoke in parables so that those
without eyes to see would not be able to see. He challenges us even
today to have eyes to see. Because some days we’re walking blind. We
allow the world to put up blinders to keep us from seeing God’s
promises. We allow ourselves to worry about tomorrow when Jesus has
already given us eyes to see the beauty of today, if only we would let
God to peel away the scales from our eyes that we might see.
Just after the temptation of Jesus, he goes home, back to Nazareth,
back to people who have seen him so much through the years that they
do not have eyes to see the Messiah, just the carpenter’s boy. In Luke
4:14-21, Jesus unrolls the scroll of Isaiah and states his mission:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives,
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Imagine a world where a messiah has come and the blind have recovered
their sight. Sure, Jesus physically healed some blind people. Real
blindness to real sight. But I cannot help but be more interested in
the blindness that I carry around every day, and the way Jesus offers
to heal us. Because one of the things that stand in the way of our
sight is us. We choose the ways of the world over the eyes of God.
We spend more of the hours of our day on the news and politics of this
world, and not enough time on cultivating the fruit of God’s Spirit.
We spend more time on the internet than we do in the word. On our bad
days we take the people we love for granted instead of listening to
them with ears of kindness. And on our real bad days, we purposefully
choose to see our self-made illusions.
When we were children we played “Blind Man’s Bluff.” One kid would put
on a blindfold and walk around the yard trying to find the kids who
were sometimes hiding in plain sight. Or if you were near a swimming
pool you played “Marco Polo.”
But there again, on our bad days, we play “Blind Man’s Bluff.” We let
the world tie a bandana around our eyes while we grope for worldly
things. We bounce around the pool shouting “Marco!” while the world
shouts back to us “Polo!” all the while giggling because if there’s
one thing the world takes advantage of at any and every opportunity it
is our voluntary blindness.
But thanks be to God for the Gospel of Jesus who simply says, “Open
your eyes” and have eyes to see the difference between lies and truth.
If you’ve ever seen the musical “Jesus Christ Superstar” you know the
story of people all around Jesus who were trying to get him to be who
they wanted him to be, over against who Jesus was calling them to be.
How often do we try to get Jesus to fit our expectations, and how
often are we simply open to the leading of God’s Holy Spirit to make
us more than we could be if we depend on little more than our own
understanding?
Are we ready to come as a suffering disciple, or as an agent of our
own triumphalism?
No more “Blind Man’s Bluff.” No more “Marco Polo.” The work of the
kingdom is not about our institutions and everything we attempt to
juggle and keep up in the air. If the opening ministry of Jesus Christ
can remind us of one thing, it is a reminder that the church should
have a simple mission that Jesus defined from an ancient passage.
The work of the kingdom is about letting the Spirit of the Lord fall
fresh on us.
The work of the kingdom is bringing good news to the poor and the poor
in spirit.
The work of the kingdom is releasing captives.
The work of the kingdom is giving sight to the blind, even if the
blind include us.
The work of the kingdom is setting free the oppressed.
The work of the kingdom is proclaiming the blessing of the Lord.
Anything other than that usually has more to do with us impressing ourselves.
Jesus could have started his public ministry with just about anything.
A miracle. A news-making spectacular display of power. A new word. But
instead, he read a common passage of Scripture. He read a passage of
Scripture from Isaiah 61 that would tell the story of what it is to
have the presence of the Lord, what it is to live in a world where God
is with us.
The opening moment of Jesus’ ministry helps clarify what is to be our
mission: Quite simply put, no more “Blind Man’s Bluff.”
Amen.
