Can the Blind Guide the Blind?

In Nomine Iesu!

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

Sermon Text: St. Luke 6:36-42

“And He spake also a parable unto them, ‘Can the blind guide the blind? shall they not both fall into a pit? The disciple is not above his teacher: but everyone when he is perfected shall be as his teacher.’”

Prayer in Pulpit before Sermon:

Merciful God and Father, Who makest Thy sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and art kind unto the unthankful, teach us by Thy Holy Spirit, we beseech Thee, to have compassion on all men, covering our neighbor’s frailties and faults, being always ready to forgive, and showing forth everywhere the fruits of faith; through + Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior + Jesus Christ. Amen. 

My dear friends, can the blind guide the blind? The answer is no. Our Lord + Jesus tells this parable as an illustration of what He talked about in the previous section. In the previous part in St. Luke’s Gospel our Lord says to not judge, or condemn. He says that we should forgive and give. All of this is an explanation of what this pericope from the Evangelist St. Luke begins with. We are to be merciful, as our Father is merciful. Now, mercy is not treating someone the way they deserve to be treated. This is done in two ways; mercy is shown by us in two ways. We first show mercy when we withhold vengeance upon our neighbor. We next show mercy when we show compassion upon our neighbor. 

If our neighbor, in our estimation, deserves whatever is coming to him, we are seeking vengeance upon him. We are judging him and condemning him. This is why our Lord would have us be merciful as even our Father is merciful. When we withhold vengeance against our neighbor, even when in our minds he deserves the punishment that is coming to him, we are showing mercy to him. To do so is to leave the judging and condemning of our neighbor up to the Lord God. And make note that this judging and condemning is the eternal type of judging and condemning. Our Lord + Jesus is telling us not to condemn anyone to hell for that is to be left to the One Who judges both the quick and the dead on the Last Day. Judging and condemning is to be left to the one who has the authority and responsibility to do so.

Note also, that judging and condemning is not the same thing as pointing out sin. Our Lord’s commandments show what is according to His will and what is not. The admonishment to not judge does not give someone a reason to do whatever their wicked and evil heart desires for them to do. This is not an excuse to do away with the Law of the Lord God; to do away with the Ten Commandments. It is not a beckon call into licentiousness. To not judge is an explanation of the words with which our Lord begins this pericope: be ye merciful, even as your Father is merciful. Our Lord is teaching us to show compassion, and not seek vengeance. What our Lord + Jesus is telling us is how a Christian, one who follows Him, will be. This is the same grammar as the Commandments. The Commandments are not so much prohibitions, as they are declarations of what the people of the Lord God would do. You will have no other gods. You will not murder. You will not judge. You will not condemn. He is not so much giving us something we should or should not do, but He is telling us how a Christian is to be. He is describing our nature as a Christian.

We will be merciful, even as our heavenly Father is merciful. He does not treat us the way that we deserve to be treated. He does not condemn us over our minor sins. We also should not condemn our neighbors for their minor sins. We should not hold the sins of our neighbors against them. This is how a Christian is to be. One who professes to be a Christian shows compassion for his neighbor. He understands that he has a plank in his eyes, and should be concerned about that plank first and foremost. We should understand that we are blind, spiritually blind, on account of our sins and trespasses, therefore, we should not try to lead other spiritually blind persons when we are stuck in our sins and trespasses.

It is really all about repentance and faith. Faith in the Lord + Jesus teaches us how full of sin and misery we truly are. Faith teaches us, and leads us to confess, that we are indeed poor, miserable sinners. Faith leads us into repentance. It shows us our sins, and leads us to do something about that sin. The repentance that comes from faith in the Lord + Jesus seeks to have our sight restored by the Lord + Jesus. It seeks from our Lord + Jesus to have the plank removed from our eyes. And that is really what today’s reading is all about. It is about learning to look to our own condition first and foremost. In other words, do not be a hypocrite. One who points out other people’s sins, all while continuing to do the same things which he is pointing out. To be a hypocrite is to be a blind guide. To be a manifest sinner, and to point out other people’s sins is hypocrisy.

It is better to focus on our own sinfulness than the sinfulness of other people. This should be our chief concern. If we have done this, then we can rightly point out our neighbor’s sins and transgressions. For we will then be doing it not to place ourselves above them, and make ourselves out to be a better person than our neighbor, but we will be doing it because we seek to have compassion on our neighbor. We will be desiring that they not receive eternal judgment from the Lord + Jesus to their eternal ruin. We will be desiring that they not be condemned to God’s eternal wrath and destruction. The forgiveness that we have received from the Lord + Jesus, we will also wish to give to our neighbor bound in sin. We will desire to give to them; even has it has been given to us. 

And our Lord + Jesus is abundant in His giving. Our Lord says that He will give into our bosoms, “good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over.” This is the kind of mercy that He shows to us. They same kind of mercy we will show other people if we profess to be Christians. He will give us this level of mercy: mercy that is measured out to the exact amount. Mercy that has been pressed down into the basket to add even more. It is mercy that has been shaken together—fully mixed—so that it is the perfect amount. It is mercy that fills up to the brim, and even runs over. This the way that our Father shows mercy to us. He does not treat us the way we deserve to be treated. He does not seek vengeance upon us every time that we sin. But He shows compassion upon us by patiently bearing with our transgressions so that He may continue to send His Holy Ghost to preach into our ears repentance.

Can the blind guide the blind? No, he cannot. But a disciple continues to learn from his teacher. He continues to hear the teachings of his teacher until he has perfectly learned all that his master has for him to learn. Let us learn from our Lord + Jesus, for His teaching is perfect. Following His teaching our eyes will be enlightened to learn what it is to be a child of the Lord God. It is to be merciful, even as our heavenly Father is merciful. From our Lord + Jesus we have learned what miserable sinners we are. We have learned that we can in no wise redeem ourselves. We cannot rescue ourselves from our sins and transgressions. Rather, our Lord + Jesus has perfectly fulfilled the Law on our behalf, and has paid the penalty of our transgressions with His own suffering and death. He has atoned for our many sins and transgressions. He has redeemed us—bought us back—from sin, death, and the power of the devil. With this knowledge of our own redemption from sins, we can then address our neighbors sins. 

We can teach our neighbors what true mercy is. It is trusting in our Lord’s mercy that we will not be condemned on account of the works and merits of the Lord + Jesus. It is showing the same mercy that has been shown to us to our neighbors.

Therefore, my dear friends, let us not seek vengeance from our neighbors placing ourselves over and above them as judge, jury, and executioner. But rather, let us show him compassion; the same compassion that our Lord God has shown to us. For this is how a child of the Lord God behaves. It is his nature to be merciful, even as the Father is merciful. Let us therefore follow our true Guide, our Lord + Jesus, for He will lead us not into the pit of pride and despair, but He will lead us into the way of everlasting life. In the Name of our Lord + Jesus, the Christ. Amen.

Prayer in Pulpit after Sermon:

Almighty God, be pleased to accompany Thy Word with Thy Holy Spirit and grant that Thy Word would increase faith in us; bring into the Way of Truth all such as have erred; turn the hearts of the unrepentant; and for sake of Thy Name grant succor to all heavy hearts and those who are heavy-laden, that they may through the mercy of the Lord + Jesus Christ be relieved and preserved so that they succumb not to the temptation of despair but rather that they gain the victory over the world, the flesh, and the devil; through the same + Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with the Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.

The Votum:

The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through Christ + Jesus. Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria!