The Wednesday of Laetare

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Our texts for today direct us to consider the Sacrament of Holy Baptism. Ezekiel prophesies of a time when the Lord would sprinkle His people with clean water to cleanse them from their filthiness and idolatry. And likewise Isaiah speaks of a washing which cleanses sins: “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow” (Isaiah 1:18b). Christ beautifully illustrates the power of this Holy Baptism in the healing of the man born blind. The Lord instructs the man: “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing (John 9:7). Then immediately after the washing which works a miraculous healing, the formerly-blind man is sent as Christ’s representative to bear witness before the Pharisees and religious leaders of the Jews. And what is very clearly revealed in the discourse that follows is that not only has the formerly-blind man been healed of his physical blindness, he has also been healed of his spiritual blindness in Christ’s washing of regeneration and renewal. The eyes of this man’s heart have been opened to see Christ for who He really is. And he confesses Him boldly before the Jews.

In short, this is the essence of the Christian life—to receive the new birth of water and the Spirit, and then to be sent out by Christ to be His hands, feet, and voice in the world. Notice how the formerly-blind man doesn’t have it all together right away. He does not know where Christ is, nor does He fully confess the truth about Him right away. He has an inkling of the truth, and so He confesses Christ to be “a prophet” (John 9:17) at first. But after a further encounter with Christ, the man’s knowledge grows and so does his boldness to confess the whole truth about Christ, which he has now come to know: Then he said, “Lord, I believe!” And he worshiped Him” (John 9:38).

The Christian life, then, is a life of growth. This is why we have devoted such a significant amount of time this Lenten season to considering Christian Virtue and Discipline. Christ is not content to justify you and nothing more. Can you imagine if Christ healed the man who was born blind and then left him alone? The pestering of the Pharisees in our text is only the beginning of the troubles that this man would face. He would undoubtedly have been continually harassed by the Jewish religious leaders until he was so ostracized from society that people no longer believed him as a credible witness to the true power of Christ, at which point his life would be, in effect, ruined. Which is to say, as soon as the Lord healed this man’s blindness, there was a target on his back.

This is what the new birth of water and the Spirit does to us as well. As soon as the waters passed over your head, the devil had you in his crosshairs. He is intent on going to any lengths necessary to bring you back under the power of sin and death. If one is baptized and rarely goes to church, only prays begrudgingly at family meals, and does not seek to grow in godly virtue, such a person is not saved. He has despised his baptism, and the powers of Satan will overwhelm him. This is why growth in Christian virtue and discipline is necessary—not to justify us or to deliver ourselves from Satan’s power, but so that we might learn how to cling to Christ and to resist the allures of the devil and his temptations.

To this end, we have spent the last four weeks considering the traditional four Cardinal Virtues of temperance, justice, fortitude, and prudence. Temperance is controlling pleasure, that is experiencing the good in life without overdoing it. Justice is rendering that which is due to another person, which is always focused on the other and is never a selfish ploy to gain something. Fortitude is doing the right thing in the face of fear, which involves learning to suffer well. And finally, prudence is a practical wisdom that acts—a wisdom that is not gained overnight but is the culmination of a virtuous life.

Now, to some extent, these four virtues are universal—all men, whether Christian or not, are able to cultivate these virtues through disciplined living. But because these virtues are created by God, no one can fully cultivate these virtues apart from Him. The theological virtues of faith, hope, and love—which are our topic for today—these three theological virtues are uniquely Christian virtues. This is to say that apart from Christ they cannot be cultivated. Someone may object to this and say, “But I have seen unbelievers demonstrate faith, hope, and love to varying degrees. How can you say that faith, hope, and love are uniquely Christian virtues?” It is true that an unbeliever can demonstrate faith, hope, or love at various times. But acting in faith, living in hope, or speaking loving words hardly constitutes virtuous living. To have faith, say in the Muslim god, is not the same as possessing the virtue of faith. To hope for a good outcome is not the same as possessing the virtue of hope. To love another person is not the same as possessing the virtue of love. In other words, to possess the virtue of faith, hope, or love is to have them as a part of your character and being. The theological virtues of faith, hope, and love are not so much about what you do, they are rather about who you are.

When it comes down to it, the virtues of faith, hope, and love are the essence of the Baptized life—and it is all a gift. For Scripture says:

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that is not of yourselves; it is the gift of God (Ephesians 2:8).

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead (1 Peter 1:3).

In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins (1 John 4:10).

These verses, along with many others, demonstrate that the Baptized life is a life which receives from God. Faith is the substance of our Christian belief. Without faith we are not Christian. Hope is looking forward to the fulfillment of God’s promises. Love is the giving of self in the way that Christ has loved us. This is what makes a Christian. And it is all received from God.

This, however, does not mean that the Christian is to sit around doing nothing. God has made this world in such a way that He invites and expects our participation in it. We are not puppets on a string. He has given us agency and responsibility. And yet, we still cannot become better Christians by our own efforts. To be sure, we can, through hard work and discipline, work to cultivate in ourselves the cardinal virtues, as we have discussed in past weeks. But to cultivate the virtues of faith, hope, and love is not our work. It is God’s work. And yet, we can still do something. What do I mean by this?

I mean that you can put yourself in positions to receive from God, or you can put yourself in positions where you cannot receive from God. A person, for example, cannot learn a foreign language on his own. But he can take classes, study hard, and seek out native speakers and other instructors from which to learn and by so doing grow in this way. This is not a perfect analogy, but it does, at least in some measure, illustrate that growth happens by receiving. This is true in academics. It is even more true in the Christian faith.

And so, if you want to grow in the virtues of faith, hope, and love, you should seek to grow in the virtues of temperance, justice, fortitude, and prudence by practicing the disciplines of fasting, prayer, and almsgiving. Through these efforts, we learn to depend more on God, to receive His continued grace, and to more faithfully live the baptized life as those who have both been washed and sent by Christ.

God grant it.

In Jesus’ name. Amen.