Quinquagesima, 2022
Rev. Thomas Van Hemert
St. Luke 18:31-43
Quinquagesima
February 27, 2022
In the name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit.
According to Luke’s Gospel, Jesus has already set His face toward Jerusalem and “Taking the twelve, Jesus said to them, ‘See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise.’ But they, [the disciples] understood none of these things.”
The last half of the verse gives us more insight. “This saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said.” So it’s not like they’re stupid, that they just don’t get it, that they’re buffoons or simple-minded. The saying was hidden from them, kept from them, hidden. Now why would Jesus tell them exactly what was going to happen and then hide this saying from them so wouldn’t understand? This saying was hidden from them because Jesus doesn’t need or want any outside interference. He is going to Jerusalem so that all that the prophets wrote about Him might be accomplished: that He would be delivered over to the Gentiles. He will be mocked, shamefully treated and spit upon. He will be flogged; they will kill Him. But on the third day, He will rise. All of these things Jesus said would happen have long been spoken of by all the prophets since the beginning of the world. This is what Jesus came to do. It is His work alone to do. He does not want anyone stopping Him or trying to assist Him with His mission. Much like the Father’s voice from the cloud on the Mount of Transfiguration telling the disciples to listen to Jesus, nothing, not Peter, not James, or John will stop Jesus from finishing His purpose. Thus, this prediction of His death remained hidden from the disciples.
Now this saying is not hidden from us. We know what it means. We know what happened. We know what will happen come Good Friday. We remember and commemorate it every year, “He will be despised and rejected by men; He will be smitten, stricken, and afflicted. He will be wounded for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities. Upon Him will be the chastisement that brings us peace, by His wounds we are healed. He will be oppressed and afflicted, yet He will not open up His mouth. He will be cut off from the land of the living and although He had done no violence and there was never any deceit in His mouth, they made his grave with the wicked.” We know and we understand most of these things and how they point to Christ, such as Isaiah’s prophecy, because we have the gift of the Holy Spirit who convicts the whole world concerning sin and righteousness and judgement. The Holy Spirit reveals the truths of God and He guides us into all truth because what He hears from the Father, He speaks to us. And it is only by the Holy Spirit that we are enlightened and able to study the Holy Scriptures to learn what the point of Holy Scripture is.
Now of course, there are sayings in the Bible that are still difficult for us to understand. Sometimes there might be parts of the Bible, teachings in the Bible, stories in the Bible that may seem like the meaning is hidden from us. Or we may not immediately understand how these things point to Christ and to His cross, death, and resurrection. All of Holy Scripture points to Christ! For example, do we really understand or have you every really connected the dots that the Passover of the Lord—when in the Old Testament, the Angel of the Lord passed over the houses of the Israelites whose door posts had been stained with blood—that this prefigured our Lord’s passing over from death back to life on the third day? Have you ever thought about that? Or for example, when the Assyrian king Sennacherib laid siege to Jerusalem, the angel of the Lord struck down 185,000 Assyrian troops in one night, this prefigured the utter destruction that will become of our sins and our enemies at the hand of Christ before the consummation of the age? So you see, all these things are related.
Some of these things are difficult for us to understand, difficult for us to connect the dots. But all the Law and the Prophets and the Psalms point to Christ in His atonement and resurrection. The meaning of Psalm 22 is not hidden from us. Psalm 22 is a Psalm that describes Jesus in His agony and suffering while hanging on the cross: He was made to be a worm and not a man, having taken on our sins and nailed to a cross; all who see Him on His cross mock him they made mouths at Him, they wag their heads, saying things like, “He trusts in the Lord, let Him deliver Him, let Him rescue Him for He delights in Him!” Not only this, but He feels utterly alone. Bulls encompass Him they open wide their mouths at him like a ravening and roaring lion. Dogs, that is, His enemies, surround Him on Golgotha; they have pierced His hands and feet; because of being whipped and flogged, He can count all His bones; they stare and gloat over Him; they divided His garments among them and for His clothing, they cast lots. Jesus is poured out like water, all His bones are out of joint. His heart melts like wax, His tongue cleaves to His jaw, and He is laid in the dust of the earth. And yet, it is finished. Salvation for all mankind is accomplished. This is what Jesus goes to Jerusalem to do. And for all this, as the end of Psalm 22 says, we who are Christians, a holy nation, God’s own chosen people, will “Come and proclaim His righteousness to a people yet unborn, that He has done it.” He has done it. He has fulfilled His Father’s will. He has redeemed us with His blood. Thus, every part of Psalm 22, and all the Psalms and the Law and the Prophets point to Christ. These things are now being revealed to us, who have the Holy Spirit. They are not hidden from us.
But that’s not all. Even now, in the time after the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Christ, He has not stopped loving us. He gives us further instruction through His apostles and evangelists who likewise give us exhortation to search the Scriptures because they make us wise unto salvation. These things are not hidden from us. The book of Song of Songs does not merely describe the beauty of the relationship between a husband and wife. It describes the great and tender love that Christ has for His bride, the Church, and for all who now rest from their labors, safe and secure in the Holy Ark of Christendom.
So you see, all these things, all of Holy Scripture points to Christ. These things are not hidden from us. We have the Holy Spirit. We study the Holy Scriptures because they make us wise to salvation. And should time come in your own personal study, in your own devotions, that something doesn’t make sense, that it may seem hidden from you, don’t get frustrated. Don’t give up. Don’t give up trying to understand. Keep trying, keep studying, keep learning. For God’s Word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. God’s Word lights the way to true understanding. We who were once in darkness have seen this great light. It is Jesus revealed to us in Holy Scripture. Have you found Jesus? Yes you have. He is where He has promised to be in His Word as the light that lightens the darkness. Let us then use this light to recover our sight. But let us not only pray that God the Holy Spirit would help us illumine our hearts and minds, but also that we would continue to receive the very image of God, that we would be restored to this image of God, and that we would continually be restored by His grace.
Jesus is going to Jerusalem. Let us follow Him with newfound eyesight, with clear hearts and pure minds. For He restores us to Himself, being the perfect sacrifice for us.
In +Jesus name.
