Lord, Mercy Me that I May See

by Pastor Edwin Lehmann on February 28, 2025 in Luke 18:31-43

Quinquagesima Sunday March 2, 2025

Text: Luke 18:31-43 Historic Series 25:2486

Theme: Lord, Mercy Me That I May See.

It was like walking into the past – 50 years ago, maybe more. The walls were plain, so was the floor. But it was clean, very clean for its age. The attendants wore white from head to toe. A white nurse’s cap adorned their heads. The rooms held 4 beds, plain, steel-framed. A crank raised or lowered the head; nothing fancy or modern here.
We were visiting a patient in the Yangzhou hospital. Her English name was Nancy. Age-wise in her 60s, she resisted Christianity for a long time. She had taught English to some of our translators. A few years back, faith took hold within her. But she suffered a trauma to her brain. It left her skull malformed, enlarged at the frontal lobe. She could no longer speak or move. Her eyes wandered from side to side.
Emily spoke cheerfully and dearly to her. One could hear the love in her voice for her friend in the bed. We spent some time in this room of four patients, speaking words of Christ’s mercy, comfort, forgiveness, and life. I wondered if Nancy understood. But the movement of her eyes, their softness, and clarity seemed like evidence to me of the Gospel’s effect upon the heart.
Whenever I enter such a hospital situation, a devotion I read years ago comes to mind. It was based upon Jesus’ words when He said, “Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful” (Lk.6:36). The devotion began with this sentence, “Over the beautiful arched doorway of a large hospital the following words are engraved in white stone so that all who enter may read and ponder, ‘Mercy is a room in our hearts for the misery of others.’”
Mercy is, as it were, a special room in our hearts which is stored with genuine concern for others. The same word is frequently used when describing the attitude of God toward fallen sinners. The Apostle Paul writes, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercy and the God of all comfort who comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort those in all trouble with the same comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (2Co.1:3f). That day in Yangzhou I witnessed such mercy and comfort in an old hospital room.

I. The blind beggar in our text experienced it too, firsthand, from the Lord Jesus Himself. As Jesus passed by him on the road to
Jericho, the man lifted his voice in loud pleading, “Jesus, Son of David, mercy me!” I say it that way because that’s how the Greek language says it. It makes mercy an activity upon a person. “Jesus, mercy me!” He just shouts and shouts with all his might. The crowd wanted to silence such shouting at Jesus. But they reckoned with the wrong man. The more they tried to hush him, the louder he cried, “Son of David, mercy me!” Here was his one opportunity to obtain seeing eyes. If he let it slip by, it would likely never come again.
Stopping on the road, Jesus asked, “What do you wish that I should do for you?” “Lord, that I may see (again – ana?).” The opportunity for divine help had come and the blind man would not let it get away from him.
Ah, that we would be quick to cry with the beggar in our needs. Persistent in faith, not daring to allow a heavenly opportunity pass us by, for it may only come but once. In eagerness of faith seize it.
What would you take for your eyes? Would you be willing to sell them – give them away? I’m sure not! For years this beggar, possibly from birth, did not have the opportunity to see. Day after day he sat in darkness by the road, begging for a few coins from passers-by, just a few coins to help stave off the pangs of cold and hunger. Dreary were his days, lonely his nights, few his friends. Blindness and poverty combined for a picture of earthly misery.
But this day as he sat in his place, “Jesus of Nazareth was passing by.” Here was his one opportunity to see. So, he cried, “Son of David, mercy me!”
The crowd was less concerned about his opportunity and rebuked him for his cries. His wretchedness they did not feel; his pain they did not understand. They lacked mercy, the type motivated by Christian love which Paul described in our Epistle Lesson today when he said: “Love is patient, love is kind…it is not rude…it is not selfish…it puts up with all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never falls down” (1Co.13:4f). Maybe if they had approached him in such love and faith, they would not have been so cruel. But they lacked mercy and the faith of the blind man otherwise they would never have stood in his way to Jesus.
Jesus would never pass this way again. He was on the brink of His Passion. Even at that moment, He was on His way to Jerusalem, where, as He told the disciples, “Everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. He will be handed over to the Gentiles. They will mock Him, insult Him, spit on Him, flog Him and kill Him. On the third day He will rise again.” But the disciples didn’t understand. They did not see with eyes of faith who Jesus fully was; nor did the crowd. But the blind man did. He cried: “Lord, Mercy Me that I May See!”
Have you ever imagined yourself as a blind beggar sitting by the roadside? Can you see yourself in such darkness – hopeless, helpless, separated from family and friends? What a fearful condition!
This is just the picture that the Scriptures draw of us before God in our fallen state – blind towards Him, robbed of eternal life, “dead in trespasses and sins…Yet, because He is rich in mercy and because of the great love with which He loved us, God made us alive with Christ. In His mercy and by grace He saved us” (Ep.2:1,4f).
Thank God for His mercy towards us in Christ. He will not pass us by either. Even now in this text, He set His face towards Jerusalem to stretch out His arms on the cross to unfold us in His forgiving love. Those arms are never so short that He will not reach out to help and save the sinner who cries: “Jesus, Son of David, Mercy Me.”

II. With those words the blind man revealed that he saw more deeply than most who Jesus was. He saw the Messiah, the promised Son of David, capable not just to heal, but also to save, not just the body, but the soul eternally. He saw the Savior from sin. In many ways that is the most important part of this account.
Jesus was headed to Jerusalem. He could not go into His death without full assertion to His Messiahship. The disciples had just shown that they did not understand it all. But all must see it as clearly in Him as this blind man did. Jesus must die as He truly was – David’s promised royal Son, the Messiah, the Savior. In all this wide, wide world there was no one to help us in the greatest needs of life except the Lord Jesus.
If only we saw our eternal needs more clearly and felt sin’s wretchedness as keenly as this beggar did, we too would in eagerness of faith seize the opportunity to cry out long and loudly, Lord, Mercy Me. And He would say, “What do you want me to do for you?” “Lord, That I May See in You, my Savior from sin.” And He would grant it like here, saying, “Receive such sight.”
How wonderful Jesus must have looked to this beggar – once blind, but now eyes, clear and strong. Thousands look upon Jesus, but few see the eternal love, kindness, mercy, and grace in His divine countenance as the Savior like this man did. As little as a blind man could himself remove his blindness, so little can a sinner remove his sins and save Himself. But Jesus can do both and did.
That is what the Lenten Season we enter this week reminds us. Pray that the Savior opens the eyes of our understanding again this season to see Jesus more deeply in His main role in our lives. May He help us grow in our trust in Him, rejoice in His mercy and love, and take comfort in His redemptive work. Then, we too will behold the true beauty of the Christ who died and rose again to life for all.
That day in a hospital in Yangzhou I witnessed the comfort that the Savior brings to troubled souls. Nancy could not express it with her mouth, but her eyes, still clear and strong, could reveal it.
When life’s experience comes on us in some crisis, as she knew, the power, light, and comfort of Christ’s eternal mercy and grace mean everything. They alone grant us peace. God grant us to see it and grant us merciful hearts to share it in our lives of faith, for Jesus’ sake.

Amen.

Zion Lutheran Church of Springfield

4717 S Farm Rd 135 (Golden Avenue)

Church phone: 417.887.0886 Pastor’s cell phone: 417.693.3244

www.zionluthchurch.com email: revelehmann@gmail.com

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Quinquagesima Sunday – Pre-Lent 3 March 2, 2025

“Look, we are going up to Jerusalem and everything that is written through

the prophets about the Son of Man will be accomplished.” Luke 18:31

Welcome: The family of Zion welcomes you as we worship the Lord today. We encourage children to worship with us. However, if you need to leave with your child, there is a nursery room to the right as you exit the sanctuary. The rest rooms are located in the hallway between the sanctuary and the fellowship hall. Visitors, please sign our guest book to the right, just outside the sanctuary. We’re glad that you are here and pray that through our worship the Lord grants you peace.

U p o n E n t e r i n g G o d’ s H o u s e

“In You, LORD, I have taken refuge; let me never be put to shame. Into Your hands I commit my spirit, deliver me, my faithful God. My times are in Your hands. Save me in Your unfailing love” (Psalm 31).

W h a t T h i s S u n d a y i s A b o u t

Open Our Eyes to See Your Merciful Love for Us. Today is the last Sunday of the pre-Lenten season, exactly 50 days before Easter (Quinquagesima means 50). This week marks the entrance into the Passion season which begins in 3 days on Ash Wednesday.

In the appointed Gospel Lesson for this day, Jesus tells His disciples, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled.” But Jesus could not go into His death without the full assertion of His Messiahship, which takes place in the second half of the Gospel in the healing of the blind man.

In His determination to go to Jerusalem where the cross awaited, we see displayed His great love for us. That love is made evident in His healing of the blind man who called upon Him for mercy and in His patient dealing with the disciples who just could not “see” His ultimate mission of dying and rising again for our forgiveness, life, and salvation.

To that end we pray, O Lord, mercifully hear our prayers. Having set us free from the bonds of sin, open our eyes to see You in Your mercy and love for us that never fails; for Your name’s sake we pray. Amen.

T h e W o r d o f G o d f o r T o d a y

(The Lessons of the Day are from the Historic Pericope Series of the Christian Church.)

The Old Testament Lesson: Jeremiah 8:4-9

The Lord lamented Israel’s spiritual blindness. They did not see a need for repentance and turn to Him for healing. They knew better; for they had His Word. But they refused to listen to it. Birds had a better understanding of what to do and where to go than God’s people did.

The Epistle Lesson: 1 Corinthians 13:1-13

In speaking of the gifts which the Holy Spirit bestows on His Church, the Apostle Paul testifies that Christ-like love is the greatest gift. All other qualities and endeavors are worthless unless they are carried out in such love. It is rooted in Him and reflects His redeeming love to us.

The Gospel Lesson: Luke 18:31-43

With the time of His suffering and death right before Him, Jesus told His disciples explicitly what would happen to Him, but they did not understand. Then He set out for Jerusalem. Coming to Jericho, He healed a blind man who called for His help as David’s Son, the Messiah.

O u r P r a c t i c e o f H o l y C o m m u n i o n

Out of deep love for the truth of God’s Word and precious souls, we follow the practice of Close Communion in our congregation. This has been the practice of Christians for centuries and reflects the Bible’s teaching on unity of faith in the reception of the Supper (1 Cor.10:17). It does not judge a person’s heart but anticipates agreement in that which God says. Since we do not wish to put anyone in the position of declaring such agreement with us before study in the Word is possible, we ask that only those who are communicant members of this or another Wisconsin Synod or ELS congregation come to receive the Sacrament.

The Organist: Jane Rips The Preacher: Pastor Edwin Lehmann

Point to Ponder: At the time that Jesus told the disciples exactly what would happen to Him, they did not understand it. Was it useless for Jesus to waste His breath on them? Not at all. When all was fulfilled, then the fact that Jesus foretold it exactly would mean much. The same is true with us. Many a Scripture word means very little to us for the moment. But when life’s experiences come upon us in some crisis, the power, light, and comfort of that word mean everything to us.

Adapted from RCH Lenski on Gospel Selections of the Ancient Church

Outline of Our Worship

The Preparation

Opening Thoughts on the Service

The Entrance Hymn: #563

Order of Worship: The Service: Setting One with Holy Communion: page 154-160

Prayer of the Day

The Ministry of the Word

Jeremiah 8:4-9

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Gospel Acclamation: Epiphany pg.161

Luke 18:31-43

Sermon Hymn: #576

The Sermon: Luke 18:31-43 Lord, Mercy Me that I May See.

The Nicene Creed pg.162

Our Response to the Word

Prayer of the Church: pg.164

The Offering

The Lord Blesses Us

Preparation for Holy Communion Hymnal page 165-169

(Visitors: Please read the above regarding Holy Communion)

Consecration and Distribution

Distribution Hymn: #670

Thanksgiving & Blessing Hymnal page 170

Closing Hymn: #420 st.1&6

Silent Prayer

Quinquagesima Sunday – Pre-Lent 3 Historic Series

Old Testament Lesson: Jeremiah 8:4-9 God’s People Do Not “See” Him

⁴You are to tell them that this is what the Lord says: Do people fall and not get up again? If a person turns away, doesn’t he turn back again? ⁵Then why has this people turned away? Why is Jerusalem always turning away? They hang on to deception and refuse to let it go. ⁶I have paid attention and listened, but they do not say what is right. No one repents of his wickedness. No one asks, “What have I done?” Everyone pursues his own course, like a horse charging into battle.

⁷Even the stork in the sky knows her seasons. The turtledove, the swift, and the thrush observe the right time for their migration. But my people do not recognize the just judgments of the Lord.

⁸How can you say, “We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us,” when in reality the lying pen of the scribes has changed it into a lie? ⁹Your wise men will be put to shame. They will be shattered and captured. Since they have rejected the word of the Lord, what kind of wisdom do they have?

Epistle Lesson: 1 Corinthians 13 – Love Is the Most Excellent Way

¹If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. ²If I have the gift of prophecy and know all the mysteries and have all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³If I give away everything I own, and if I give up my body that I may be burned but do not have love, I gain nothing.

⁴Love is patient. Love is kind. Love does not envy. It does not brag. It is not arrogant. ⁵It does not behave indecently. It is not selfish. It is not irritable. It does not keep a record of wrongs. ⁶It does not rejoice over unrighteousness but rejoices with the truth. ⁷It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. ⁸Love never comes to an end.

But if there are prophetic gifts, they will be done away with; if tongues, they will cease; if knowledge, it will be done away with. ⁹For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part, ¹⁰but when that which is complete has come, that which is partial will be done away with.

¹¹When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put away childish things.

¹²Now we see indirectly using a mirror, but then we will see face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I was fully known.

¹³So now these three remain: faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love

Gospel Lesson: Luke 18:31-43 – Jesus Starts Out for Jerusalem.

³¹ He took the Twelve aside and said to them, “Look, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written through the prophets about the Son of Man will be accomplished. ³² Indeed, he will be handed over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, mistreat him, spit on him, ³³ flog him, and kill him. On the third day, he will rise again.” ³⁴ They did not understand any of these things. What he said was hidden from them, and they did not understand what was said.

³⁵ As he approached Jericho, a blind man sat by the road, begging. ³⁶ When he heard a crowd going by, he asked what was happening. ³⁷ They told him that Jesus the Nazarene was passing by. ³⁸ He called out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” ³⁹ Those who were at the front of the crowd rebuked him, telling him to be quiet. But he kept calling out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

⁴⁰ Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him. When he came near, he asked him, ⁴¹ “What do you want me to do for you?” He said, “Lord, I want to see again.” ⁴² Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight. Your faith has saved you.” ⁴³ Immediately he received his sight and began following Jesus, glorifying God. All the people, when they saw this, gave praise to God.

Calendar & Announcements for Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church

Today

March 2

Mon.

March 3

Tues.

March 4

Wed.

March 5

Thurs.

March 6

Fri.

March 7

Sat.

March 8

Next Sun.

March 9

9:00 am

Divine Worship Service

with Holy Communion

online -Facebook

10:15 am

Fellowship & Bible Study

Quinquagestima (50)

Midweek Supper and Service at Peace

6 & 7 pm

Ash Wednesday

Midweek Lent

5:45 pm

Supper

6:30 pm

Midweek Service

9:00 am

Divine Worship Service

online -Facebook

10:15 am

Fellowship and Bible Study

Invocabit – Lent 1

“He will call upon Me.”

A Brief Bible Study on God’s Word for Today

On the threshold of Lent, Jesus reveals His wondrous love. Our answer to His love for us should be the same kind of a love to our brethren. The kind of love that Jesus had and we are to reflect in our lives will sustain us amid all the labors, burdens, trials, sufferings, and persecutions that may come our way because of faith in the Savior. Love is the fruit of a living and abiding faith. The greatness of it is governed by the strength and the intelligence of faith.

The Epistle Lesson: 1 Corinthians 13 (the answers are found below)

What gifts did the Corinthians most desire?
What is the greatest Christian gift, according to Paul?
Why does love rate as the greatest gift?

Those We Remember In Our Prayers: Greg Miller; William & Laurie Moon; Libya, (Jodi Milam’s granddaughter); Barbara Long; Liz Lisenby; Pastor Roger Neumann from Oskaloosa, IA; Dee and Angela Bruck.

Divine Call Sent At the joint call meeting of Zion and Peace this past Thursday, Pastor Norman Wayne Halldorson was selected to whom our call for pastor will be sent. He is 49 years old and presently serves Grace Lutheran Church, Scroggins, TX – east of Dallas. He and wife Rachel are blessed with 1 child, 19 years old. Please keep Pastor Halldorson and family in your prayers over the next weeks as he prayerfully considers where the Lord would have him serve in His Kingdom of Grace.

Looking Ahead at Lent The Lenten Season begins this coming week. Our suppers and services at Zion are held on Thursday evenings at 5:45 & 6:30 pm. At Peace in Marshfield they are held on Wednesday evenings at 6 & 7 pm. The theme this year centers on the Prophet Zechariah’s Prophecies Concerning Holy Week. Each service seeks to reveal the intimate connection that exists between the Old Testament and New Testament. The New Testament lies hidden in the Old, and the Old Testament lies open in the New. This week’s focus will introduce the lessons based on 1 Peter 1:10-12. Not only we but the prophets themselves searched their own writings to understand them. Will you join us in the search?

Forward in Christ’s next edition for March has arrived. There are plenty of copies for family and friends in the narthex. Also, the next edition of Meditations’ daily devotions, beginning today, will be found there.

Looking Ahead

Thursday, March 6 – First Midweek Lent Supper, 5:45 pm, and Worship with Holy Communion, 6:30 pm

Friday-Saturday, March 7-8 – Youth Retreat at Peace LC, Jefferson City, MO – “I’m In the Lord’s Army”

The Week in Review

Last Sunday Worship: 28; Bible Study: 16; Offerings: $1,268

Next Sunday’s Lessons:

Lent 1 – Invocabit: Genesis 22:1-14; 2 Corinthians 6:1-10; Matthew 4:1-11 (Historic Pericope Series)

Answers to Today’s Epistle Lesson Brief Study:

The Corinthians wanted to have those gifts that would most readily put them in the spotlight. They wanted to be prophets, apostles and teachers. They wanted to perform miracles and speak in other languages.
Paul argues that the greatest Christian gift is love. It is the gift that we should most desire.
Love is the greatest Christian gift because love is what makes all other gifts valuable. It is the mirror of who God, how He relates to us, and how we relate to others as His people. If we have many gifts, but do not use them lovingly in service to others, they will be of no benefit to others and will not bring glory to God. Eventually these gifts will be taken from us and given to someone who will use them wisely (Mt 25:28-30).