THE THREE ETERNAL GRACES & A BLIND BEGGAR, Sermon Notes for Quinquagesima Sunday, 2 March 2025 Anno Domini, the Anglican Orthodox Communion Worldwide
“Jesus, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me.” Luke 18:38
The Prayer of Collect.
O LORD, who hast taught us that all our doings without charity are nothing worth; Send thy Holy Ghost, and pour into our hearts that most excellent gift of charity, the very bond of peace and of all virtues, without which whosoever liveth is counted dead before thee. Grant this for thine only Son Jesus Christ's sake. Amen.
The Epistle. 1 Corinthians xiii. 1.
THOUGH I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 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. And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.
The Gospel. St. Luke xviii. 31-42
THEN Jesus took unto him the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished. For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on: and they shall scourge him, and put him to death: and the third day he shall rise again. And they understood none of these things: and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken. And it came to pass, that as he was come nigh unto Jericho, a certain blind man sat by the way-side begging: and hearing the multitude pass by, he asked what it meant. And they told him, that Jesus of Nazareth passeth by. And he cried, saying, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. And they which went before rebuked him, that he should hold his peace: but he cried so much the more, Thou son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stood, and commanded him to be brought unto him: and when he was come near, he asked him, saying, What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee? And he said, Lord, that I may receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him, “Receive thy sight: thy faith hath saved thee. 43 And immediately he received his sight, and followed him, glorifying God: and all the people, when they saw it, gave praise unto God.
Love is associated with all things in the Kingdom of Heaven. It is the preeminent grace above all others.
Without love, none other of the gifts of the Spirit have worth. The source of that love is the same as that fountain of Living Waters and the Bread of Heaven – our Lord Jesus Christ. The love of God is transmitted to the heart by the Holy Spirit, and that love draws us to the Throne of Grace and Mercy like a great magnet draws metal of like nature to itself. This is clearly the biblical principle set forth in our Prayer of Collect.
Paul’s first Epistle to the Corinthians in chapter 13, clearly sets forth the value of the component of love in our relationship to the Triune God. It lists many gifts of the Spirit, many of which were temporary; but there is one gift of Grace that surpasses them all – LOVE. There are three eternal gifts of Grace mention – Faith, Hope, Charity (Love) – but the greatest even among these three is love. No matter the effort we put forth in keeping the commandments, we cannot do so without love. With love, the Commandments are no longer external laws by which we are governed, but inward natures by which we are conformed to the image of God.
In the Gospel text, we find Jesus on the last journey of His earthly ministry to Jerusalem. He knows full well what fate awaits Him there, but He never hesitates to continue that journey of love to its end on the cross. The shadow of the cross has cast its image upon His entire life from the wooden manger at Bethlehem until the instrument of wood on which He would suffer a terrible and humiliating shame and torture for you and me.
The miracle that our Lord performs enroute to the cross is of particular note in revealing the deep love of Christ. Even as He was going to Jerusalem to be crucified, He nonetheless took compassion on a poor blind beggar on the wayside at Jericho. My father always taught me that the best credential of character is revealed in the small graces performed by a man and not necessarily the major and impressive acts. In all ways, big and small, Christ exhibited a divine compassion that is beyond words of description.
Here is a blind beggar who is helpless to the extreme. Someone of his friends or family found it necessary to bring this man to this roadside place every day. They were, unwittingly, helping to bring him to Christ. God the Father very often brings men and women to Christ by most surprising means. Before He ever undertook His last journey to Jerusalem, Christ was aware of this poor beggar. He knew of the man’s frailty and despondency as he sat by that roadside begging the least measure of alms from passers-by. But Christ does all things in its best order and perfect timing. The beggar was one without hope in this world, but hope was on its way from the majestic palaces of Heaven to succor the man. It was a surprise of providential grace that came upon him by as he sat there day after day.
Some who passed by dropped a mite into the jar of the beggar, but most passed by without the slightest notice. No one truly cared for him save, perhaps, his kin. But there was One who was approaching who cared so dearly for this poor beggar as to die in his stead for the beggar’s sin – our Lord Jesus Christ. I say ‘surprised’ because the beggar had no idea who was the center of attention of the passing throng. Upon hearing the approaching chatter of a multitude of disciples, the beggar inquired of some stranger of the cause of the uproar and excitement. When told that it was Jesus of Nazareth, the blind man proved that his spiritual vision was better than almost any who followed Jesus. We are not told how the beggar recognized Christ as the Messiah, But he surely proved his faith by his exclamation – “Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me!” Very few had called our Lord by this prophetic title.
The beggar cried from a heartfelt desire long pent up in a frail body and the ragged robes of poverty. He cried out in all seriousness. He cried out in faith that surpassed many of our Lord’s own disciples though he had not had the same opportunity to witness the many miracles. The beggar had doubtless heard rumors of the Stranger of Galilee and of the miracles He had performed and the compassion He had for sinners.
As he made his plaintive cry for mercy, those disciples who preceded the Lord tried to silence the man. It is often true that those who seem closest to Christ are the very ones who prevent sinners from coming to Him. This is true even in many of our churches today. A stranger appears at Church who has recently come to know the Lord as Savior. He has many gifts of talents to share in the Church and is eager to do so. But often those who have the upper seats in the Church grow jealous of the stranger and try to prevent his having any role in sharing those talents. My wife describes such people as old hens that run to a younger chicken who finds a grain of corn or an insect and begins pecking it on the back of the head until he releases his spoil. Unfortunately, I believe we have all witnessed this kind of deplorable behavior at Church.
But this blind beggar is not easily deterred from crying out. This is his only moment of hope, and that moment is in Christ. The sinner never knows when his last opportunity may come to make his appeal for mercy. This poor man cannot allow the opportunity to pass him by. His prayer is persistent. In fact, he cries out even more profoundly. Though physically blind, his cries for help cannot be subdued by men of lesser spiritual sight. Persistence in prayer will result in miracles more often than those of lesser faith realize.
Notice that the man does not cry out to have his sight restored. He simply cries out for mercy, for if we are granted mercy by God, all other needs will be satisfied. We are too specific in our prayers to God in many cases. If we simply pray for mercy expecting it to be granted according to the will of the Lord, it will surely be granted. But we sometimes pray that the Lord will solve some worldly problem for us instead of giving us the strength to overcome that problem, and often we do not pray that HIS will be done instead of our own.
Do you believe that the prayers of a poor blind beggar can pause the powers of Heaven? Look at this verse: “And Jesus stood, and commanded him to be brought unto him: and when he was come near.” The prayer of the blind beggar caused the Lord to STOP. Having been granted mercy already by the Lord, Jesus asked, “What wilt thou that I should do unto thee?” Only upon making our sincere appeal to God do we offer to petition our great need. Of course, our greatest need is not physical sight, but SALVATION! The blind beggar would receive BOTH! But we must be patient to hear our Lord’s answer to our prayers before presuming too much against the powers of Heaven.
Jesus responded to the man’s plea with a double-edged sword of mercy: “Receive thy sight: thy faith hath saved thee.” Notice, the blind man received not only his sight but was made every whit whole in Christ. Christ always addresses our most serious need in considering our prayers for His grace and mercy.
How did the beggar respond? How do we respond now that Christ has set us free from sin and opened the floodgates of mercy for us in saving our souls? He immediately followed our Lord after receiving the ability to know the way and did so with rejoicing. How closely do we follow Him after receiving our own greatest need supplied? Such a testimony of rejoicing gives witness to others of the grace and love of our Lord and is contagious to those around us.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
