Blessed Are the Eyes Which See What You See | Trinity 13

Sermon on the Gospel from Luke 10:23-37 for Trinity 13 by Rev. Jeff Hendrix. The title of this sermon was going to be a “Master Class in Law and Gospel,” because today’s lessons do seem to be a Master Class in Biblical Interpretation – that is, how to understand the Bible.  But I realized (after the service folders were already printed) that Master Class is exactly the wrong message: that’s all the Lawyer who came to Jesus in our Gospel thought God’s Word was – mere information, instruction, a how-to-manual on how to get into heaven.   And that’s also the way many people wrongly understand the parable of the Good Samaritan Jesus tells, I think it’s why it's the world’s favorite parable: for many it’s just about morality, being a good person.  But notice that Jesus said at the start to His disciples, “many prophets and kings have desired to see what you see, and have not seen it, and to hear what you hear, and have not heard it” because they have missed the point of the Word of God.   Like the oft-quoted but terribly depressing acronym, B.I.B.L.E. – “Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth” – If that’s all the Bible is, comparable to a dishwasher instruction manual, there can be nothing more worthless to spend your time on. Not only does Scripture itself tell us that there’s more to the Word of God than that, how to understand it and what its main teachings are (namely, Law and Gospel), but the Word actually has power and it works on me, like a refiner’s fire, through its two main teachings: the Law and Gospel, or Command and Promise.   To rightly distinguish these two is the most difficult and highest Christian art, only the Holy Spirit can teach this.  But distinguishing the Law and the Gospel provides wonderful insight for understanding all of Holy Scripture.  In rightly dividing the Word of Truth, Scripture opens itself and becomes a book of Comfort, and Consolation – in short, a Book of Life.