October 27, 2024 Sermon
Sermon title: “A Blind Man Sees!”
Scripture: Mark 10:46-52
(Other lectionary suggestions include Job 42:1-6 and 10-17, Psalm 34:1-8, and Hebrews 7:23-28.)
Mark 10:46-52
The Healing of Blind Bartimaeus
46They 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. 47When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 48Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 49Jesus stood still and said, “Call him here.” And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart; get up, he is calling you.” 50So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. 51Then 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.” 52Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith has made you well.” Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.
It is interesting to me that we get the name of the man crying out to Jesus. It’s Bartimaeus, which means “the son of Timaeus.” The fact that he is named may be because he was known to the young church, and maybe his father was, too. Maybe not all that important, in the broader scheme of things, but interesting to me, nonetheless. What is also interesting is that Jesus acts in a way that might be described as “put up or shut up.” He says to the blind man, “What do you want me to do for you?” We get a hint that Bartimaeus really does want to have his sight restored, because we are told, “So throwing off his cloak....” Jericho was a warm place, and one almost never needed a cloak to keep warm. The only reason he had a cloak was to catch the coins that somebody might toss his way! So, Bartimaeus was serious when he said, “My teacher, let me see again.” And we are told that Bartimaeus “followed him on the way.” Do you know what that means? “On the way” was the way the first Christians called their movement. Nobody had heard the term “Christian” yet. People referred to each other as those “on the way.” If you were hindering things, you were thought of as IN the way! Just kidding.... So, the very last line in today’s Scripture reading lets us know that Bartimaeus became a follower of Jesus.
The Rev. Mike Pancoast serves a church in Becker, Minnesota. He calls his sermon on this passage, “Cry Out!” And Bartimaeus is “crying out to the only source of healing for which he might actually dare to hope.....Call it hope. call it faith. Call it desperation.” And then Rev. Mike quotes Lisa Simpson from “The Simpsons” TV show you may have seen. When she catches her brother Bart Simpson “praying with his proverbial back against the wall,” she calls prayer, “the last refuge of a scoundrel.”
While that may make us smile, we are urged to notice something else: “the response of the one to whom he cries.”
“Unlike everyone else around the blind man, unlike those presumably closest to him who have just become accustomed to his begging, unlike the disciples themselves” who appear to be engaged in “crowd control” and not concerned with being compassionate, “Jesus hears; and Jesus engages; and Jesus answers.” By the way, this is the last healing Jesus will perform as he is on the way to the cross. Perhaps he hears Bartimaeus because he knows that he too will soon be crying out, when he says in agony as he is dying, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (That’s in Mark 15:34.)
The Rev. Mike Pancoast wants us to Cry Out! “Rail against the darkness, the disease, the death that seems to grip our mortal coils. Cry out in hope. Cry out in faith. Cry out even in desperation, knowing that God hears your cries and through Christ Jesus promises to answer those cries.”
Earlier today I said that Jesus gave Bartimaeus a “put up or shut up” moment. What did I mean? Jesus wanted to know if Bartimaeus REALLY wanted to see again. If so, that would mean no more begging. If so, Bartimaeus would have to TAKE RESPONSIBILITY for his life; he couldn’t rely on the kindness of strangers. Actually, Bartimaeus was up to the challenge, and the first thing he did with his new sight was to rise and follow Jesus!
If you were here last week, you may remember that James and John wanted a favor from Jesus, too, except they wanted a cushy life for themselves. I think the author of the Gospel of Mark wants us to draw a distinction between the two disciples and blind Bartimaeus. What does Jesus say to him? “Your faith has made you well.” Mark’s point is that ANYBODY can have faith, from the lowliest to the highest. But the point is: FAITH. As N. T. Wright says, “That’s why anyone.... can be saved.” And to be saved, as we have said before, can mean at least two things, one of which is to be HEALED. To be saved can mean from everlasting Hell, or it can also mean to be healed NOW of whatever is bothering us. Says Wright: “Faith is open to all; and often it’s the unexpected people who seem to have it most strongly. And faith consists not least in recognizing who Jesus is and trusting that he has the power to rescue.”
Wright ends his commentary on this passage by suggesting that we meditate on today’s lesson. What if you were there? Would you be irritated at the blind man’s constant whining? And then what would you think if Jesus actually said something to the man? “Then watch as Jesus, never put out by what annoys his followers, turns to speak to the blind man. How do you feel about that? Do you even want this beggar in the party? How about when Jesus speaks warm and welcoming words to him?.... Now imagine yourself as the blind man. We all have something, by no means a necessarily physical ailment, that we know is getting in the way of our being the people we believe God wants us to be and made us to be. Sit by the roadside and listen to the crowd. Examine your own feelings when you discover that it’s Jesus coming by. Call out to him, and when he summons you, put everything aside and go to him. And when he asks you what you want him to do, go for it. Don’t look back at the small, selfish comforts of victimhood. Ask for freedom, for salvation. And when you get it, be prepared to follow Jesus wherever he goes next.” Amen.
Pastor Skip
