Bad Church People

Luke 18:35-43

I think this gospel shows us one of the aspects of the relationship between Jesus and the church. If we understand the multitude that's walking with Jesus as representing the church, I think that there's something interesting to learn there. This blind man is sitting someone who's in need, in particular of Christ and his healing power, and he hears this multitude and he asks, “who is this?” and they tell him “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” That is the mission, the role of the church to proclaim Jesus. That's what we do. That's what we're supposed to do. We go to the needy, those who are in need of God's grace, and we tell them, "This is Jesus. That's who we're supposed to be." Then he says, "Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me." Then we see another aspect of the church. They rebuked him, telling him to be silent. That's not what the church is supposed to do, but it is what the church sometimes does. We proclaim Jesus. We name him. We point him out to those who are in need. And then at the same time, basically in the same breath, we become an obstacle standing in the way, blocking people from understanding and from knowing Jesus directly.

That's what we do sometimes as a church. And it's noted here that it was those who were in front that rebuked the blind man and told them to be quiet. Sometimes it's the people that are the most prominent in the church that are the greatest obstacles between people and Christ. Whether that's the people that are the most devoted, the most pious, the most religious, or even the clergy, even bishops and popes who can be obstacles. And the gospel doesn't tell us why they told this man to be quiet. It doesn't tell us their motivation. What? Why? Were they jealous? Were they just self-righteous? Were they in a hurry to get to Jericho? We don't know. It doesn't say why they did it. We just know that they did it. They tried to stop this blind man from encountering the son of God who was able to heal him. We don't know why because it doesn't matter. And why we as a church become obstacles to people. It doesn't matter if it's because we're selfish or it's because we're sinful or because we're ashamed or because of any other reason. It doesn't matter why. It's wrong no matter what. And yet we proclaim him and we're also an obstacle. But through our proclamation, those who are in need cry out to Christ. And despite our obstacles, Christ encounters those who are in need. And so God makes use of our preaching and somehow he overcomes our weakness when we become obstacles. And we who are in need, because at the same time, we're both the multitude that's following Christ, but we're also the blind man sitting on the path. And we who are in need, remember this. We hear of him and we hear him proclaimed by those who are in the church. But sometimes the people in the church are going to lead us astray, and they're going to lead us away from Christ, and they're going to act as obstacles.

There's always going to be that duality in all human beings. Remember that it's there even in the gospel. And so receive the teaching. Let the church introduce you to Christ. And anytime anybody, any member of the church starts to become an obstacle, ignore them. Ignore them. What they say is pointless. It's irrelevant. What's important is this is Jesus of Nazareth, the son of David. That's the important part. No, be quiet. Don't cry out. No, that part, ignore it. The second anybody stands between you and Christ, ignore them, whoever they are. And then at the end, the irony that I think Luke is pointing out, oh, he was healed and then he followed him glorifying God. And all the people when they saw it gave praise to God. All the people that were an obstacle, they saw this blind man, blind man healed. They started giving praise to God. Yeah. No thanks to you or very little thanks to you. We all will fail. All of us are going to be the ones that are obstacles to Christ because every time we sin and we who represent Christ who are baptized, every time we commit a sin, we are creating obstacles. We are creating a scandal for the people that are looking at us and expecting to see Christ and instead they see a block between them and Christ.

All of us are going to fail. And yet Christ is still Christ and we are still in need of him. and he will still hear us crying out and heal us both because of other members of the church and despite them. And Christ will reach those in need both because of us and despite us because Christ for all of our failings Christ is always going to be Christ and in the end all glory will belong to God.