The Blind Servant

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

In the ancient world, and even into the middle ages, to be blind left open a peculiar set of employment options. Two jobs often reserved for blind men were poet and prophet/priest. In many cults of the past, the prophet or priest or seer was often blind. It was thought that a blind prophet had his power to see the physical world replaced with an ability to foresee the future, or to see the will of the gods.

The blind poet is a stock figure in history. Legend has it that the great Greek poet Homer was blind, as well as John Milton, James Joyce, and several other significant writers throughout history. Church history even has its own blind bard, if you will – the fourth-century Alexandrian theologian Didymus the Blind, known for his incredible memory and stirring theological insights. The archetype of the blind poet assumes that because one has been deprived of the physical sense of sight, the eye of the mind is opened to other ways of thinking and processing, and thus new forms of creativity.

Today's Old Testament lesson speaks of the blind and deaf servant of the Lord.

God Has A Mom

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

It is fitting that we should pause in our Lenten observance, these nine months before Christmas, and contemplate the joy of our Lord’s Annunciation. For it is God’s good and gracious will that those who are humbled and fatigued by the grief of penitence and who mourn deeply for their sins, might be consoled by the Word and promise of God whose Son, born of Mary, takes away the sins of the world.

The angel sent from God comforted Mary with these words: “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.”

He promised more than a Son to the Virgin. In this, he also promised pardon to the guilty, redemption to the captives, and opening of the prison to them that are bound. He announced the Kingdom of the Son and in that Kingdom the glory of the righteous and the reward of faith. The Name Jesus – The Lord who saves – is the terror of Hell and the joy of Heaven.

Water and Marriage

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Today you have heard about the encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well. Like most of the vignettes in the Gospels, a great deal of ink has been spilled in attempting to tease out the meaning and significance of this account.

The structure of this account bears striking similarities to the account of Abraham's servant seeking out Rebekah for marriage to Isaac. Only here the bridegroom is not the far-off son of an unknown master, but the Great Bridegroom Himself, the very Son of God, only-begotten of His Father from all eternity. And the Bride is not just one beautiful woman, but the one most desirable to the Bridegroom – the bride whom He has washed clean and sanctified by His own blood and with His innocent suffering and death.

Today, our Lord gives us a lesson in the importance of the Church.

An Example of Trust

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us.” Thus sings David, and thus the Church of God lives. What refuge is there for the man of God but to trust in God at all times?

Today, the Church calendar provides us with an example of what it means to trust in God at all times. St. Joseph was a just man and faithful to the Law of Moses. He was honorable and righteous, and he sought to do the right thing. He was betrothed to the Virgin Mary, and was willing to do for her according to the Law and the customs of their people. And Joseph no doubt expected her to live up to her end of the contract also. So it should come as no surprise to you that he was knocked for a loop when “she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.”

What is an honorable man to do when him fiancee is found to be with child, and he is certain that it cannot be his, since they have not known one another? He would have been within his rights to stone her for fornication, or at least certainly to divorce her publicly and smear her name irretrievably. But “Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.” From this, the Church has often inferred that Joseph did genuinely love the Blessed Virgin, that he would not seek the full measure of the Law's justice upon her.

But did he trust her word, about the origins of the child she was carrying? Would you?

Signs and Idols

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“Of ourselves we have no strength.” We make this confession in the appointed Collect for today. And indeed, we have no strength. Neither you nor I have any strength in us to do anything useful. Our wills are corrupted and our bodies are weak and feeble. We live in a dying world, among the walking dead. Of ourselves we have no strength, because of ourselves we are dead.

One of the things for which you have no strength is resisting temptation. Even the regenerate man, the person baptized into Christ and marked with the Name of the Lord, still faces temptation, and more often than not gives in to it. Today's Gospel lesson alludes to a great temptation – the temptation of images and signs.

On one hand, there is the temptation toward idolatry. Depicting God in any form, even the face of Jesus Christ, runs the risk of creating an idol, an object of worship, or at least dependence. This is why the Reformed traditions reject all forms of church art or visual depictions of God. They assert that to depict God in any way, shape, or form is to diminish His glory, because the glory of God is beyond the capacity for human beings to represent. Furthermore, they assert that to depict Jesus in visual form is to rob Him of His divinity, because the divine cannot be expressed in visual terms. Finally, the Reformed claim that God commands His people to worship Him and to deal with Him only in Word and Spirit, and that to depict Him visually is a direct disobeying of this edict.

Light and Shelter

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? With these words, God tenderly invites us to trust in Him for hope and salvation, just as David did. Since the Lord is your light and salvation and your refuge, what have you to fear?

When you might be assailed by fear and temptation, remember these words, and then remember your Baptism. In Holy Baptism, you were marked with the sign of the holy cross upon your forehead and upon your heart. You were engraved with the Name of the Lord God Almighty, and your name was inscribed in the Book of Life. Your salvation is secure, therefore. Fear not; who can harm you now?

Remember what happens in the Rite of Baptism.

Coyote in a Trap

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Coyotes are known for being tenacious and relatively fearless creatures. They are also obsessively stubborn in the pursuit of something they want. One peculiar characteristic of the coyote is how he will react to being caught in a trap. It has long been known that if a coyote is caught in a trap, he will do anything to escape, even down to gnawing off his own foot or leg in order to get free. Of course, that more than likely means that he will die of blood loss, infection, or starvation. But he will die free! A friend told me that he has never caught a coyote minus a foot, but he has often found severed feet in a trap.

Between last week and today, a line has been crossed. We have entered from the blissful season of Epiphany into the penitential season of Lent. And another line has been crossed in today's Gospel lesson. Jesus, fresh out of the waters of the Jordan where He was baptized by John, is immediately driven out into the wilderness to fast and to be tempted by the devil.

Notice that there is no lolly-gagging about at the Jordan. No party, no cake, no massive to-do or society debut. Right upon the heels of Baptism, Jesus begins to suffer and to be tempted by the devil. The trap has snapped shut. There is no turning back, if there ever was anyhow.