Mark 10:46-52
Christ heals blind Bartimaeus
10:46 They came to Jericho. As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside.
10:47 When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"
10:48 Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, "Son of David, have mercy on me!"
10:49 Jesus stood still and said, "Call him here." And they called the blind man, saying to him, "Take heart; get up, he is calling you."
10:50 So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus.
10:51 Then Jesus said to him, "What do you want me to do for you?" The blind man said to him, "My teacher, let me see again."
10:52 Jesus said to him, "Go; your faith has made you well." Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.
Jesus said a lot of things that, if listened to and practiced, could change us…change the world. Problem is, much of what he taught us when he was “tenting among us” has been forgotten, misinterpreted, or even distorted by humans who seek to mold him after OUR image, rather than the reverse. As we are winding down toward an election “D-Day,” we are all aware of how dangerous exaggeration and distortion can be, and how they can be used to bend an electorate in the direction WE want it to go. When it comes to human affairs, we are left to pick up the pieces and rebuild, if a mistake in choices has been made. On the other hand, rarely do our good choices result in the kind of results we hope for, again, due to human resistance to change. If there is a human “sin condition,” it is that we move AWAY from order and justice much easier than we move toward it. Left to our own devices, without benevolent collaboration, we will degrade, not evolve. Some have used this phenomenon as “evidence” against what science has discovered as the process of evolution of life, but that would be an unscientific hypothesis. Organisms DO evolve, we know, and those of us who believe in a divine element to the creation and to this process, also believe that God is the positive “energy” behind this progress. Suggesting that because humans can make bad choices (“sin”) demonstrates that evolution is a false theory, is precisely the kind of deduction that is often behind distorting the teachings of Jesus, or at least applying them to meet our own desires. Human experience, including our own self-serving goals, so often runs counter to what God has in mind for us, which is what Martin Luther King, Jr. called the “beloved community,” a realm of peace and justice that embraces all people. Jesus came of love, heal, and forgive, but much of his mission was about a “course correction” for the human race, a kind of divine “GPS” helping us “recalculate” to get back on the road to becoming a beloved community. A central core of his teaching focuses on the human responsibility in this plan, and today’s healing story of “blind Bartimaeus” contains its “marching orders.”
The story itself is loaded with good “preaching points.” Bartimaeus has obviously heard the scuttlebutt about Jesus of Nazareth and the miraculous events—including physical healings—that follow him. When he hears that Jesus and his little band are coming his way, he begins to cry out, “Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me!” Bartimaeus is pretty smart. He utters two things that he knows will get Jesus’ attention, but that also demonstrate his firm faith: “son of David,” which testified to his being a Jew and understanding Judaism’s “messiah” concept; and “have mercy on me,” indicating that he understood Jesus teaching from Hosea that “God desires mercy, not a sacrifice.” Bartimaeus’s friends were either embarrassed by his crying out, or had a false sense of how Jesus might react to it, but they urged him to stop shouting. Here’s a good talking point: how often do WE stay quiet about injustices and/or encourage others to ignore them, as well? Or have we ever bypassed a chance to share our faith witness, either because we were afraid we’d not do it justice, or just didn’t want to take the time? Bartimaeus would not be dissuaded. He succeeded in getting Jesus’ attention.
When Jesus tells his disciples to “call him here,” they summon the blind man with one very profound sentence, and one that may well summarize the entirety of the Gospel and our human responsibility to bring it to fruition:
“Take heart; get up, he is calling you.”
Now, THERE is a preachable line! And, as I stated earlier, it may well summarize an appropriate response to the Gospel. Let’s examine it for a bit…
TAKE HEART: This is a call to attention. For most of us, something isn’t a “thing” until it is. I was having a Zoom meeting with an anti-racism colleague as I was working on this sermon, and I suggested that the “take heart” of anti-racism work is when a member of the majority race “wakes up” to realize that racism IS a thing, and is, unfortunately, quite “alive and well” in American society. White privilege IS a thing. [Examples: white people are not scrutinized by their skin color when applying for a mortgage or a car loan; white people don’t have to have “the talk” with their young male drivers about how to handle a police stop, because young white drivers don’t have to worry about ending up dead; white drivers are very, VERY rarely stopped by the police for a “safety check” in their cars when driving in certain areas, while one of my Black friends has been stopped literally dozens of times when driving in the North Hills; white people are not steered away from certain neighborhoods by realtors because the realtors know residents there don’t want black neighbors; and white people are never “counseled” by sales persons that they “probably can’t afford” a certain product. These are just a few examples, there are many more. Just ask a person of color for their experience.] “Take heart” may also be an encouragement, as it is in this text, once Bartimaeus’s friends realize that Jesus DOES want to see him. Of course, his friends’ trying to “shush” him, initially, is what discouraged him in the first place. For any who are discouraged about something, “take heart” is a wakeup call that God DOES care about any and all challenges we may be facing. Jesus Christ and the Christ Event are God’s “take heart” to the whole world!
GET UP: We may have all of the good intentions in the world, but if we don’t “get up,” we won’t act on them, and nothing will change. This also applies to things like working for social justice, i.e. dismantling racism. While “take heart” is a wakeup call, “get up” is marching orders. One of my problems (and it is only ONE of them!) with the modern evangelical movement is that it too often reduces the Gospel to forgiving people of their sins. That’s only the “take heart” part. As people redeemed by God through the grace of Jesus Christ, we are next called to “get up” and get in the game of working in partnership with God and the Holy Spirit to transform society into the aforementioned “Beloved Community.” As Christian people, our call to action is about so much more than just “sharing our faith witness,” it’s about LIVING IT by “Jesusing” and taking up the causes of those less fortunate or marginalized by our politics, our society, or our economic markets. I see way too many churches that are hand-wringing over the prospect that they may die out, and one suggestion I would make to them is to “get up!” DO something! What are the needs in your community that you could possibly meet? What do your neighbors need that your church might help provide?
HE IS CALLING YOU: In this case, the “he” is Jesus, and in our case, we can simply say GOD is calling us. What IS the call of God on your life? On your church’s life? This is the unction to “find your niche,” to ferret out what your ministry may be in this time and this place, and this applies to both the individual Christian AND the assembly of Christians we call the “local church.” One of my favorite stories I heard from a pastor who was sent to a serve a series of very small, rural churches. In the of the churches that only had a handful of active members, she asked them, “What is it you do well?” After a long period of silence, one of the remnant members said, “Well, we do really good funeral dinners, or so we have been told by our bereaved families.” “Well then, DO THAT as your ministry,” the pastor said. SO, they started offering to prepare and serve funeral dinners for some of the surrounding churches when they had a death, and they WERE good at it. So good, in fact, that not long after, a larger United Methodist Church in the area that was doing a building campaign asked the “funeral dinner team” from the small church to do a commitment banquet for them for their building program. Needing more help, the team members invited a few of their neighbors, and in some cases, their children, to help them serve the dinner. They all had such a fun and fulfilling time doing it, that some of the “helpers” began attending the church, and a new spirit of joy and excitement was born. God WAS calling them, and clearly, it was an unorthodox calling, at least initially! What about you? What do YOU like to do? What do you do well? Chances are there might be a ministry in it for you! God IS calling you. Of course, God also still calls us to do things and work with ministries that are NOT necessarily in our comfort zones, but why not start with the ones we KNOW we can do and LIKE to do?
As we read the rest of Bartimaeus’s story, we must NOT miss the last two important lessons. First of all, Jesus asks him, “What do you want me to do for you?” This is the question of the doctor, or the therapist. It is the question of a truly caring person who wants to do what is most needed or best for the one they are asking. It is the question of someone who RESPECTS the potential care receiver, and who wants to affirm their personhood, even if they will be “doing” something for them or assisting them. This question is NOT the question of a domineering or controlling individual who already knows what they will or WON’T do for someone, or who wants to maintain superiority and oversight over the individual being served. Jesus models this caring, respecting, affirming spirit. “What do you want me to do for you?” I like to watch the History Channel’s “Pawn Stars” program, and the pawn shop guys always ask the customer presenting an item to them, “What do you want to do with this?” The question is a starting point for a further conversation, and a “negotiation” as to how the transaction will proceed. This is also true when the “transaction” is helping somebody out or serving a “client.” Maybe we should all imagine God asking this question of US before we go to prayer? “What do you want me to do for you?” is an invitation to build a prayer list! And after “Take heart; get up, he’s calling you,” it could also lead to a plan of action. After all, even our prayers often need us to put “feet” to them! If Bartimaeus had not “gotten up” and gone to Jesus, he may have never regained his sight.
And that is the final part of the story, isn’t it? When he IS touched by Christ, he becomes a “follower on the way.” Gospel-inspired plans of action usually lead to new followers. In some cases, Jesus sends the objects of his healing stories “back home” to their communities to “tell the others what has happened to you.” The Good News always needs witnesses. However, in other cases such as this one, Jesus seems to welcome these new disciples to join his traveling band. “Take heart; get up, God is calling you” is an invitation to “come and see,” as Andrew is fond of saying in the gospels. It is a rallying cry for the struggling church today, too! If we put these three sentences together, we begin to see a plan for how God can transform a LIFE and even a WORLD:
“Take heart; get up, he’s calling you.”
“What do you want me to do for you?”
“Come and see!”
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