25 March 2020 St. Athanasius Lutheran Church
Lent 4 Midweek
Vienna, VA
“Vision Problems:
Glaucoma”
Text: 1 Kings 12:1-20;
John 18:28 - 19:16a
In the Name of Jesus. Amen.
Astygmatism. Far-sightedness.
Near-sightedness. Macular
Degeneration.
Those are the vision problems we’ve thought about
so far this 2020 Lenten season, thinking about having 20/20 vision, and how
these can be not just physical vision problems, but spiritual
vision problems, too.
When our vision becomes curved in on ourselves
and we don’t focus outside of ourselves, on God and on others. We considered
that on Ash Wednesday - how we sometimes get too self-aborbed,
too self-focused.
Then we considered the disciples and how
they (and we) can focus on heaven and eternity too much, and forget to look at
the here and now.
The opposite of that was Judas, who looked
too much on the here and now and forgot to look toward the end, the long-term,
and how our Lord is working all things toward that for us.
And then we considered the Jewish leaders,
and how the things swirling all around them prevented them from seeing what was
right in front of them: the promised Messiah! And how that can so easily happen
in our lives as well, and how focusing on all that’s swirling
around us can make us miss the Christ that is right in front of us.
God’s Word is the cure for all of that. To keep
our faith, our spiritual vision, clear and right and focused where it should
be.
The vision problem we’ll consider tonight is pressure.
If too much pressure builds up in your eye, it can make you blind. It’s called glaucoma.
And it affects a lot of people.
But what about spiritual
glaucoma?
Do you think the pressure in your life can impact your faith and your spiritual
vision? Do you think the pressure in your life can lead you to make bad
decisions? Do you think the pressure in your life, if left too long, can lead
to the spiritual blindness of unbelief? Of course it can. And which of us does
not have pressure in our lives? So this is a dangerous thing for us.
Tonight we heard two stories from Scripture about
this. The first was the story of Rehoboam. Some of
you might not know who he is. He was the son of King Solomon who became king of
Israel after Solomon died. You may remember that during King David and then
King Solomon’s time, Israel was enjoying it’s
greatest and strongest and wealthiest time. Things were good . . . on the
outside. But in reality, by the end of Solomon’s reign, Israel was sick.
Israel’s faith and spiritual vision was not well. And it came to a head with Rehoboam.
When Rehoboam took over
as king, he was pressured on what to do. On the one hand, his father’s old
advisors told him to do one thing. On the other hand, his buddies told him to
do the exact opposite. And so instead of ruling in a godly way, instead of
looking to God for the answer, he succumbed to the pressure and made a bad
decision - one that split the kingdom of Israel. A split that resulted in his
new rival king instituting new worship and leading the people away from God and
His Word - from which they never recovered. Pressure.
And pressure was also what Pontius Pilate had.
Many of you might never have heard of Rehoboam, but all
of you have heard of Pontius Pilate. We say his name in the Creed every week.
Pontius Pilate was the Roman governor of Judea, the man to whom the Jewish
leaders brought Jesus for trial. They wanted Jesus put to death, and only
Pilate could order that.
The thing is, Pilate was
under a lot of pressure. He had already messed up a couple of times as
governor, and he was on his last chance with Caesar. Mess up again and he would
probably lose his governorship. So when this Jesus problem lands on his plate .
. . what to do? He wants to do the right thing. Three times he pronounces
the judgment that Jesus hasn’t done anything wrong; that Jesus is not guilty.
But with each passing moment, the pressure keeps increasing on Pilate. The
Jewish leaders keep pushing, and then when they make the veiled threat of
tattling to Casear if Pilate doesn’t do what they
want, he succumbs to the pressure. If it’s going to be him or Jesus that he
saves . . . well, that’s an easy answer. Pressure.
Now what about you? What pressures are weighing
heavy on you? The list might be long. There is pressure at school, to fit in
and be a certain way. There is pressure at work, to perform and be successful,
and maybe in ways you don’t agree with or by making sacrifices that you know
you shouldn’t. Peer pressure is always strong, no matter how old you are, to think
like others do, to do as other do, and be as they are. Maybe you have family
pressures, or financial pressure, to provide for your family, or the pressure
of worrying about others and how to care for them. There are health pressures,
and relationship pressures, to do what you know you shouldn’t. And then there’s
the pressure of fear, especially these uncertain days and not knowing what is
going to happen next.
Like Rehoboam, pressure
can make us make bad decisions. Like Pilate, pressure can make us make bad
choices. Pressure can make us so focus on the thing or things pressuring us
that we become spiritually blind to God. We can forget His Word, go against His
Word, doubt His love and help, and fail to see Him in our situation and lives. How He is using this to help us, or for us to help others.
But we don’t see it because of our spiritual glaucoma. The pressure.
Lent calls us to repent of this, and turn to the
Word of God for the truth. Not necessarily to make the pressure go away - it
may not! But to see again the one who is with us in it, and sustaining us
through it. On our own, all the pressures of life can and probably will crush
us. They will certainly cause us to do things we don’t want to do. But we’re not
on our own. We have a Saviour with us. A Saviour who carried the cross for us.
A Saviour who bore our sins on that
cross. A Saviour who was
tempted for us and whipped for us. A Saviour
who has bid us cast our burdens on Him. A Saviour who
cannot be crushed, for when crushed on the cross rose victorious. And now lives
to give that victory to us.
And we have a Saviour
who does and is all that for us because as we especially remember this day,
March 25th, He is the Son of God born as a man for us. Today is exactly nine
months before our celebration of Christmas, and so the day we celebrate the Anunciation of Our Lord, or, when the angel Gabriel came to
Mary, told her she was to be the mother of Jesus, and Jesus was conceived. That’s
today. Jesus’ conception day. It is a day of joy in
the midst of Lent. But talk about pressure! What pressure must have been
on Mary, knowing that being pregnant before her marriage to Joseph was going to
bring all kinds of problems! How could she do it? How could she agree to such a
thing?
Well, it wasn’t her. It was the Word of God, and
the Spirit of God working through the Word that gave her the faith and strength
to say let it be to me according to your word (Luke 1:38). On her own, like us,
the pressure would have been too much. But the Word of God gives the strength
and sight and faith we need in a world full of pressure.
So when the pressures of life are pressing down
hard on you, and they’re all you can see and feel . . . When you’re tempted to
give in or go against what you know is right . . . When fear seems overwhelming
and tomorrow seems so uncertain . . . remember Rehoboam,
remember Pilate, and remember Mary. Satan wants to use this pressure to make
you like Rehoboam and Pilate. Your merciful Father
would use this pressure to make you like Mary, to hear His Word, believe his
promises, and look to Him for all you need. For His Word is the medicine we
need to heal our spiritual glaucoma. And though it won’t be easy and
life may even get harder, your Father, your Saviour, and His Spirit will not let you down.
For you are baptized! You are His child. He was
crucified for you, so don’t crucify yourself. His Word and Spirit will provide
all you need. When the pressure is great and when it is little. He went through
it all, so He can help.
So be careful, be safe, be smart, and be wise,
but do not fear. As we sang, O little flock, fear not the foe (LSB #666). The victory is yours,
in Christ. Your uncrushable Rock and your faithful
Redeemer.
In the Name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.