Preparing for Worship - February 15, 2026

This Sunday is known as Quinquagesima Sunday in the One Year Series. (Quinqua is the Latin word for the number “five” and continues the countdown to Ash Wednesday and the beginning of the Lenten season on February 18. In the last few weeks, we have heard of God’s gifts to us: His “grace” and the “Word of God,” the Holy Scriptures, centered in Christ our Savior. This week’s readings focus on the gift of “love” - God’s great mercy and love shown to us in sending Jesus and His great sacrifice for us that we hear of especially in this Lenten season. (Those churches using the three-year series of readings this week will hear of the Transfiguration of Jesus, a great revelation of His being the “Beloved Son of God” that we heard about on January 25 in the One Year Series.)

The Old Testament lesson is 1 Samuel 16:1-13. We hear of God’s rejection of Saul as king because of his continual failure to follow God’s will. The prophet Samuel is reluctant to anoint a new king because King Saul will kill him for doing so. God sends Samuel to Bethlehem, though, to anoint the person He will choose. The Lord looks at the heart of people, not the height or outward appearance. All the sons of Jesse are passed over, until the youngest son, David, doing the work of a shepherd, is called. “This is he,” the Lord says. Samuel anointed him, and the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him from that day forward. David became king, and from his line would eventually come Jesus, the Son of David and our Savior, as we will hear.

An alternative Old Testament reading is Isaiah 35:4-7, in which God’s people, with anxious hearts, are encouraged to be “strong” in the Lord and “fear not,” for He will “come and save His people.” When He came, in the person of His own Son, Jesus, miracles would happen, like “the eyes of the blind being opened” (our Gospel lesson), and the Water of eternal life would be provided, through Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit. (See John 7:37-39, for example.)

The psalm is Psalm 89:18-29. The Lord had predicted, through the prophet Nathan, that David would have an “Offspring” from whom the steadfast love of God would not depart, as it did from Saul. This King, from the line of David, would establish an everlasting kingdom. (See 2 Samual 7:14-17.) Now, in this psalm by Ethan the Ezrahite, the Lord adds to this prediction, mentioning the “vision” given by Nathan to David. and saying that another from the line of David would come, chosen and anointed by God. This was Jesus, and He would be strengthened, and the enemy (Satan) would not outwit or humble Him (Matthew 4:1-11). God’s faithfulness and steadfast love would be with Him, and He would be the “Horn of salvation” for His people (Luke 1:68-70). He would have power over the sea (Mark 4:35-40). He would call God His Father and the Rock of His salvation (John 8:20-30). While the people of Israel were called God’s “firstborn son” and rescued from slavery in Egypt (Exodus 4:21-23), Jesus would be the ultimate “Firstborn,” higher than any king on earth. (See Luke 2:7, Colossians 1:15, 18, Hebrews 1:6, and Revelation 1:5.) This One, Jesus, would be kept forever in God’s love (though He would suffer and die, carrying out His Father’s plan of salvation for the world) and then would be “Firstborn from the dead.” He would fulfill the “new covenant” of His Father (Jeremiah 31:31-34) and have many spiritual “offspring” who will live forever, even beyond death (Romans 8:29, Hebrews 12:22-24), rejoicing at His heavenly throne.

The alternative Psalm is Psalm 146, where the psalmist praises the Lord and calls us to trust in Him and His everlasting reign in Christ our Savior. We are not to trust in other earthly leaders, who cannot save us, who are only men, not like the true “Son of Man, who came to seek and to save the lost.” (See Matthew 20:28 and Luke 19:10.) This psalm also predicts that when Jesus, the true Savior, came, He, as Lord, would “open the eyes of the blind.”

The Gospel lesson, Luke 18:31-43, tells of the coming fulfillment of many Old Testament prophecies we have just been reading about, as Jesus now approaches Jerusalem as our Savior. Jesus tells His disciples to “see” what is going on, for He says, “everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished.” He then predicts being turned over to Gentile authorities, the Romans, and being shamefully treated and killed, yet would rise from the dead on the third day. Sadly, His own disciples could understand none of this, though. They were blinded and did not grasp what was being said. A crowd of people accompanied Jesus, and a blind beggar heard the commotion and then learned that Jesus of Nazareth was coming by. He must have heard of Jesus, and though blind, could hear and see and trust that Jesus could actually help him. He cries out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.” People try to shut the blind man up, but he keeps crying out, and he has it right. Jesus was the promised Son of David, and He could have mercy and help this blind man. Jesus asks the blind man what he wants. The man was not just wanting a handout or some money from Jesus. He had faith that Jesus could help and heal him. Jesus then says to him, “Regain your sight,” and literally, Jesus says, “Your faith has saved you.” Immediately, the man was able to see, physically and spiritually, and followed Jesus (what Jesus ultimately wants all of us to do, by His grace and mercy and power), glorifying God. The crowd also praised God for this miracle, and whether they realized it or not, this was exactly what the promised Messiah, Jesus, could and would do. He was the promised Savior and full of mercy for all who would be brought to faith in Him, including the blind man and you and me.

The Epistle lesson is 1 Corinthians 13:1-13, often called the “love chapter” of the Bible. It describes what Christian love should look like. The only one who has perfectly lived out this love, though, is our Lord Jesus. “We love,” the Scriptures say, “because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19). John, inspired by God, adds, “Love is from God and whoever loves (in the truest Christian way) has been born of God and knows God” (1 John 4:7). We see the clearest example of this love in Jesus and His sacrificial love for us in this coming Lenten season. Again, John says, “In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation (the atoning sacrifice) for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” 1 Corinthians 13 gives that pattern for us and our lives with others. We don’t have time to go through this chapter as we should. The key is not, though, in our self-centered actions, in speaking and gaining great knowledge and doing amazing things that impress others and somehow earn God’s favor in the process. The key  is continually looking to Christ and His patient and kind way of serving others and seeking to do God’s will at the same time. We don’t do so well because we know God’s will only partially and can see it only dimly, as sinners in this very sin-filled world. We have plenty of spiritual blindness ourselves and continually need also to cry out with the blind man, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on us, too.” We live by faith and hope in our perfect Lord, and trust in His saving, merciful, forgiving love for us. And we seek, by His grace, to love and forgive each other, as He has patiently and kindly loved us. Without that love of His, we gain nothing. With that love of Christ, we are more than conquerors, through Him who loved us (Romans 8:37-39). And we are saved, not by our perfect love, but by His love and grace.