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The Rev. Dr. Dennis E. Morey, Pastor
Scripture: Mark 10:46-52
The gift of sight
Today is Reformation Sunday, the day we celebrate the birthday of the Protestant Church. The year was 1517 and a monk named Martin Luther had discovered in the scriptures that God is reaching out to the human race, calling us to a relationship with himself.
Our salvation does not come through the Roman Church and its authority, but through the grace of God. When we place our faith in what God has done, we have new sight. We see the world as God sees it and we are eager to join God in God’s work.
We no longer have to live by the Roman Church’s rules to earn the love of God. We can have the love of God when we place our faith in God’s greatest act of love, Jesus Christ.
The scripture we read a few moments ago was not about what Bartimaeus earned when he met Jesus, but about Jesus reaching out to him and his placing his faith in Jesus. He received his sight and followed Jesus.
In the culture of Jesus’ day, those who had some kind of permanent infirmity were always considered to be receiving the judgment of God for their sin. Therefore, in Jesus’ day, most decent people stayed away from those whose troubles seemed to be permanent.
It is interesting that Mark names the blind man and even names his father. These stories of Jesus were first written down for the benefit of the early church, so the church could give testimony of the fact that Jesus was the Son of God.
Perhaps Bartimaeus was well known in the early church and those who read this story would see the living testimony of the change a person experienced when he or she placed their faith in Christ.
Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover for the last time. He had to go right through Jericho, and the road was extremely uphill from Jericho on to the capital city.
There was a rule in Judaism that every male Jew over the age of 12 and within 15 miles of Jerusalem had to go to Passover every year. Jericho often housed pilgrims a few days before they went on to Jerusalem. Crowds often gathered to cheer on the pilgrims and to wish them well on their journey to the Holy City.
In Jericho there lived a community of Temple priests. There were about 20,000 priests at this time who served when their names were called. Those who arranged the scheduling of priests did so by casting lots. That way it was thought that God chose them.
During Passover, even though a particular priest’s name had never been called for duty, everyone was on duty.
Among the crowd that day would have been many priests who knew the rules for worship. The blind were not fit for worship and were pretty much ignored during the festivities. The blind and crippled tried to stay out of the way of any Rabbi traveling with disciples, for they were often singled out as an example of what happened to those who displeased God.
Bartimaeus knew something was happening. He could feel vibrations on the ground long before he heard their voices. He found out that Jesus was passing by and he began to shout. This was his opportunity. He had heard about this Jesus and, like many others, Bartimaeus believed Jesus was on his way to declare himself king and take over the kingdom of King David. “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
He no doubt had heard the Old Testament stories of how kind King David was to his friend Jonathan’s crippled son, Mephibosheth. Just as surely as Mephibosheth was no benefit as a soldier, he had to depend on King David’s mercy. King David actually invited Mephibosheth to live in the palace and eat at his table.
Now this blind man was crying out for Jesus to have mercy on him and save a place in the new Kingdom for him. Jesus heard his cries, stopped, and called him to get closer. Someone said, “Get up, this is your lucky day. Jesus wants to see you.”
Bartimaeus had learned to depend only on what his fingers could feel. He had been sitting on his cloak. He used it to wrap around him when he was cold and to shelter him from the sun’s heat. Folded, it could make a decent cushions when he sat begging. It was very important to him. Mark tells us that Bartimaeus left it behind; the only thing he owned, the thing he depended on most, for his chance to see Jesus.
The crowd parted, and suddenly there he was before Jesus. Jesus asked, “What do you want me to do for you?”
Jesus was not just offering him a place in the palace; he was opening the door to anything. Bartimaeus replied, “If I could have anything, Lord, I’d want my eyesight.”
Jesus said, “Look around. Your sight is restored because of your faith.”
Mark tells us that at the very moment he received his sight, he joined Jesus’ followers on that uphill road to Jerusalem. When he followed Jesus, although he could see, the times got tougher.
In our lives there are certain things we must have for our security. There are certain things we hang on to at all costs. We can’t give them up. They support us and they help us to be who we are. Much like the blind man would have held on to his cloak, we keep them close. They comfort us.
And there are times when our comforts move from something that serves us, to something we serve and worship. We can’t do without them. We cannot comprehend life without those comforts.
Today Jesus is passing by, and just for a moment we think this may be our chance to have a better life. We cry out to him for mercy, and we hope that he will come and become a part of what comforts us. We will have another resource, and a more comfortable life, like Mephibosheth who, although crippled, was invited to sit at King David’s table and live in the palace.
Jesus asks each of us a question. “So, what do you want me to do for you?”
And here is the tricky part. We reply, “Make me more comfortable. Give me a better job and more income. Take away the aging process. Give my kids a more settled life. Make my business succeed.” And the list goes on.
Most generally our prayers are about our comforts and the comforts of those we know and love. Suppose Bartimaeus had said, after having been blind all his life and now getting the opportunity to meet Jesus, the Son of God, “Lord, I would like a new cloak, and this time, make it down-filled with a satin lining, heated on cold mornings and air cooled on hot days.”
Friends, Jesus says to us, “What would you have me do for you?”
Are we brave enough to leave the cloak behind, leave the idea of our comforts behind and really get to the core of our problems? Would we be brave enough to say, “Lord, I’d like to see life like you see it”? I would like to understand the reason I am on this planet at this particular time in history. I’d like to make a difference in the lives of my children and grandchildren. I’d like to understand what is important in life and dedicate my life to it.”
That is what Bartimaeus received that day. His faith was in Jesus. Jesus helped him to see and the result was he decided to follow Jesus even on the uphill road to Jerusalem. He may not have known all the particulars, but his faith led him to follow Jesus and become a part of his Kingdom.
What kind of faith do we have? Do we have to know all the particulars, everything that is going to happen to us? Do we have to weigh out if we really want to go through what it takes to be a follower and then decide if that is comfortable enough?
Don’t we hear that a lot today? Haven’t we all said it? “Well, I’m really not comfortable doing that. I don’t play the violin very well, so don’t ask me to be in the orchestra.”
“I’m really not comfortable talking to my friends about my faith. What matters more to me than having my friends in heaven with me is my own personal comfort. I will hang on to my cloak; it is my comfort.”
“I’m really not comfortable turning in an estimate of giving card to the church for the New Year. Things may change, and I may feel differently in a few months. The church may change and I wouldn’t want to be obligated to give to a church that doesn’t meet my needs. God may not provide for me and I won’t be able to fulfill the estimate, so I think I will decline.”
“I’m really not comfortable helping at the End of the Month Meals. Some of those people I know don’t spend their money wisely, so they really don’t deserve a free meal.”
“I’m really not comfortable...”
Jesus knew what Bartimaeus needed, but he did not say, “Bartimaeus, you have been blind long enough. Here, receive your sight.” He waited for Bartimaeus to say it. He wasn’t going to help unless Bartimaeus was finished with hanging on to his cloak and his meager comforts.
Jesus is not going to approach us and tell us that we are missing out on life because we cling to our comforts. He is not going to tell us that there is a better world when we can see it correctly. He waits for us to want it.
Where are you? Are you tired of not being able to see the world as Christ sees it? Do you feel like you are missing out on something? Will you admit the cloak is really a smelly, dingy, worn-out rag that holds you back, and those comforts you cling to now hold you captive to their deceptions of security?
Jesus is coming down the road, and there is a great crowd following him. They may not know the whole story, but they know he is like no one else they have ever met.
Here we sit on our cloak. We can feel the ground shaking. We know something is going to happen and something even greater is about to happen. Can we sit quietly hoping the crowd won’t notice us or, if they do notice us, hope they will put a penny in our beggar’s cup to help out on our comforts?
Do we sit here hoping that there isn’t a bully in the crowd who is going to drag us away and steal our comfortable cloak? Are we strong enough to hold on to what we know for sure? Can we keep hold of the cloak?
Will the days of security ever come again, when things are the way they were, the way we knew, and the way that comforted us?
Who needs eyesight? We have what we need. When will this Jesus ever get on down the road so we can get back to life as we know it here on our cozy cloak?
The gift of sight is waiting to all those who will, in faith, ask Christ for it. But let me warn you. When you see the world as Christ sees it, you will not be so concerned with your comforts as you are in following Christ, even if the road is uphill from now on.
Amen.
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Mark 10:46-52 (From the
New Revised Standard Version of the
Bible) |
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