SHAP October 16^th, 2022.

‘OK…so this is huge’, Jesus says to his friends as he draws them aside.

‘You are about to witness the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy [around 300 OT prophecies according to scholars] …concerning the betrayal, arrest, abuse, murder and resurrection of God’s anointed rescuer, the Son of Man’.

Jesus’ words (in Luke 18:31-33, that I’ve just paraphrased) are clear, specific, urgent, and compelling…and it is not the first, nor is it the second, but the third time his closest friends have heard this kind of language from Jesus (cf: 9:21; 9:44)

Yes – these are they who witnessed their Lord forgiving a paralysed man his sin (5:17), raising the dead (7:11; 8:40ff), calming a terrifying storm with a word (8:22), casting out legions of demons (8:26), feeding 5,000 people with kippers and crusts (9:10ff).

With their very own eyes they had seen the Lord Jesus, God-in-Christ, demonstrate his power and his authority, over the natural elements, the created order, dark malevolent spiritual forces, over sickness and even death itself.

And this, as we noted at the outset, was the third time they had heard Jesus speak of his imminent death and resurrection; the means by which people will be put right with God.

And can you believe it?

The disciples were completely befuddled by what he has to say.

Did they not know him by now?

They’d had three years together!

Look at verse 34 – ‘The disciples did not understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what Jesus was talking about’.

And just before we accuse them of having cloth ears, do please recall that most people with whom we mix, and with whom we share our lives, are likewise hearing but not ‘seeing’, as it were.

Here’s what I mean:

The average life expectancy in Australia is 83.79 years. 

Let’s call it 84 years.

So, the ‘average Australian’ therefore has had 84 reminders of Jesus’ birth – we call it Christmas; 84 reminders of Jesus’ death – we call it Good Friday; 84 reminders of Jesus’ resurrection – we call it Easter Day. 

And it is not like you can miss those events as we even give people a day off work and school to celebrate– every year!

My point is that in our lifetime we are given at least 252 reminders of Jesus’ birth, life, death, and resurrection, and yet only 4 in 10 Australians (and that is being generous) identify as Christian.

Why?

Answer: There is a very important spiritual dynamic in play here and it has to do with God opening our eyes and hearts to the truth of the gospel; to the power of the person and work of Jesus – for us.

A rather inadequate way to explain it, is that it may be a bit like ‘autostereograms’ or ‘magic eye’ images…you know those pictures that appear like random patterns until such times as your ‘vergence’ (which has to do with sight and focus) is aligned with the image.

That is, you can look at the image over and over again – and see absolutely nothing, until you do.

And then you have one of those ‘aha!!’ moments.

‘Yes!’, you say excitedly, ‘I can see the crocodile in the river!!’…or whatever the image is.

And the only way we can have what we might call, ‘spiritualvergence’, and see Jesus for who he is truly is – is when Godgrants us that sight; that focus; that clarity; that conviction. 

Jesus himself said (as recorded by St. Luke – in Acts 26:18) – in his commissioning of St. Paul, that through gospel preaching, the eyes of the Gentiles would be opened and people would turn from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they might receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are being set apart by faith in Jesus.

And this from II Corinthians 4:6, ‘For God, who said, “Let light shine out darkness,” made his light shine in our own hearts, to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory, displayed in the face of Christ.”

Or this from Ephesians 1:17ff where Paul says, “I pray that God may give you the spirit of revelation…and that the eyes of your hearts may be enlightened in order that you may know that hope to which he has called you…and the power that God exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in his heavenly realm…”.

Here’s a real-life example from the text. 

And there’s a measure of irony in it too.

A blind beggar, a person quite possibly on the margins, with little or no education, treated with contempt by those with power and privilege (as evidenced by the rebuke and upbraiding he receives from Jesus’ ‘handlers’ v. 39), ‘sees’ for who Jesus is.

Yes, unlike the disciples and the crowds, the blind man, ‘sees’; he has spiritual insight.

The crowd explain that the man, ‘Jesus of Nazareth’ is passing by – that’s the limit of their understanding.

With God given insight, the sightless fellow – recognises and addresses Jesus as the Messiah: “Jesus son of David’ have mercy on me”, he cries into the darkness.

He uses Old Testament language (from II Samuel 7:12-16) – to identify Jesus as the promised eternal deliverer from heaven, the Messiah – come to rescue his people….and when the crowd tries to shut him down, he becomes even more urgent in his cry for help, “Son of David have mercy on me” verse 39.

Now we know, from Jesus’ response to Peter when he once spoke of Jesus as the ‘Messiah, the Christ’, that a person can only do so when God the Father reveals this truth to them(Matthew 16:17).

And the blind man places his faith – his everything, in Jesus’ true identity..

And that is why Jesus says to his request for sight, “Receive your sight, your faith [in me] has healed you”.

And immediately it was so.

In seeing, he was able to see! 

Do you see? 😊

You know one of the most dramatic (and non-normative) examples I’ve seen of God granting insight to the spiritually blind took place in 1994.

Jane and I had started a church in western Sydney and Barbara invited her friend, Joy, to a service. 

Joy described herself as ‘irreligious’. 

I was preaching an evangelistic message that Sunday and at the end, I invited people to give their lives to Christ; to ask Jesus to be their Lord and Saviour.

Joy did just that.

Afterwards, she disabused me of any notion that it may have had something to do with my preaching.

She said, “I have no recollection of anything you said, Stuart. None. No, what I do remember is a clear vision of Jesus, whenyou were preaching. He told me he loved me, that he’d given his life for me, and that by placing my life in his hands, I would be forgiven my sin and adopted into God’s family. And that is what I did”.

And I take great comfort in that because the Scriptures say that no one can truly say, ‘Jesus is Lord’ – except through the empowering and renewing work of the Holy Spirit – I Corinthians 12:3.

A more normative example of a person’s eyes being opened to the truth of the gospel was Joy’s 19-year-old daughter, Angela.

Angela was astounded at the transformation in her mother’s life, so she quietly slipped into the back of church one Sunday morning to check out this ‘Anglican cult’ into which her mother had been clearly ‘sucked’.

Angela enjoyed the service so much that she signed up for a Christianity Explained course. Over the next few months Angela engaged with the stories of Jesus, his claims, his miracles, his teaching and in due course, she said, ‘yes – I now see that it is true – Jesus is Lord, the Christ, the Messiah’.

Angela’s experience was akin to the disciples on the road to Emmaus – who engaged with the Jesus of the scriptures and over a meal – quote: ‘their eyes were opened, and they recognised him’ – Luke 24:31.

Angela went on to marry an Anglican minister and they are now serving Christ in full time ministry.

Here are some take-home’s from what we’ve pondered together today:

First – God is actively at work in opening people’s eyes and hearts to the truth of the gospel. That is cause for great celebration. God will build his church and the forces of darkness will not prevail – Matthew 16:18.

Second – keep on praying for your friends and loved ones – that God himself will open a door to the gospel with them – Colossians 4:3.

Third – invite people to church (or a small group) to hear the bible read and taught…for it is in that context that God so very often calls people to faith and belief – Acts 13:48.

Last – Always be ready yourself – to give an account for your trust in Jesus – as Joy did with Angela. And you’ll do it with gentleness and respect – I Peter 3:15ff. And on the first Monday in November (for 4 weeks) we’ll be holding a Zoom course to assist in that very exercise.

The Lord be with you.