Mark 10:46-52
Seeing Is Believing
As you know
by now, I’m from Missouri where the unofficial state title is the Show Me
State! And just how did it get
that reputation? I will quote from
the Missouri Government website,
“The most widely known legend
attributes the phrase to Missouri's U.S. Congressman Willard Duncan Vandiver,
who served in the United States House of Representatives from 1897 to 1903.
While a member of the U.S. House Committee on Naval Affairs, Vandiver attended
an 1899 naval banquet in Philadelphia.
In a speech there, he declared,
"I come from a state that raises corn and cotton and cockleburs and
Democrats, and frothy eloquence neither convinces nor satisfies me. I am from
Missouri. You have got to show me." Regardless of whether Vandiver coined
the phrase, it is certain that his speech helped to popularize the saying.”[i]
For most Missourians,
seeing is believing. Except where
faith is concerned I’d have to see I whole heartedly agree. Perhaps you’ve even caught yourself
saying out loud or at least thinking inside your head, I’ll believe that when
I see it! “That” can be
anything…I’ll believe them when I finally see that raise in my paycheck the
company has been talking about, I’ll believe the weather channel when I can
finally see that sunshine that they’ve been predicting, I’ll believe you when I
finally see that you’ve stop drinking and have cleaned up your act.
Seeing opens
us to the reality of our lives.
And most people want reality these days right? All you have to do is to watch television for an hour or so
and you’ll be satiated with reality shows. The
Biggest Loser is about the struggle of weight loss for some people, The Bachelorette tries to find a
suitable life partner for herself in a matter of weeks. I’m not so sure any of this is
entertainment but it sure steers us away from having a look-see at our own
reality.
Our scripture
today is from the 10th chapter of Mark beginning at the 46th
verse.
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. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to
shout out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Many sternly ordered him to be quiet,
but he cried out even more loudly, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
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.” So throwing
off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. 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.” Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith has
made you well.” Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.
Blind Beggar Bartimaeus
Blind Beggar Bartimaeus is certainly
one of the more familiar healing stories in the Bible; perhaps I’ll even use
the word ‘beloved’ to describe this story of a man named Bar Timaeus or son of
Timaeus. He sits on the side of
the road as beggars do, and still do to this day, if we choose to see
them. His other senses were
clearly more highly developed and when he hears that Jesus has come to Jericho
he begins to shout out loud, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
People ordered him to be quiet but he
didn’t listen to them. He calls
out again only louder this time, loud enough to get Jesus’ attention. Then when Jesus calls for Bartimaeus
they tell Bartimaeus to be of good cheer, and be happy – Jesus has summoned
him. Bartimaeus wastes no time, he
tosses off his cloak so that he is completely unencumbered and runs to
Jesus. Jesus asks him just like he
asked the Zebedee brothers from last week, “What can I do for you?”
“Rabbouni, teacher” Bartimaeus said,
“Let me see.” LET ME SEE. Immediately, because of his faith he is
sighted once again and follows Jesus.
His eyes were literally opened now to see Jesus descend over the Mount
of Olives from Jericho into Jerusalem on a donkey, to watch the palm branches
waving in the hot and dry spring air, to watch the many trials of Jesus and
finally Jesus’ crucifixion.
Bartimaeus received his sight at the end of Jesus’ life.
Spiritual Sight
My guess is Bartimaeus already ‘saw’
Jesus way before his actual sight was restored. He was able to see with his heart what many others
fail to see with their eyes. He
saw that Jesus could grant mercy to him, he saw that Jesus was compassionate
and caring and that he, a blind beggar, would be noticed sitting there alongside
of the road, that he was somebody.
And don’t we all want to be noticed by someone?
He saw with his soul like a poet who
reveals beauty in the ordinary, something that we might have completely
overlooked. Bartimaeus had
spiritual insight and inner vision that Jesus was of the Davidic line which
would make him the Messiah. No one
else saw this, only Bartimaeus. We
know that the disciples spent much of their time in a fog not being able to see
what was in front of them. But
Bartimaeus did, he believed without seeing. He was definitely not from Missouri! If only it were as simple as that. If only we all had the sight that
Bartimaeus possessed. Could you
imagine what this world might be like.
What does it mean to see?
If you were blind and then your eyes
were opened, what would you see in front of you? What is the reality that is revealed to you when you gained
your sight? And what has your
blindness prevented you from seeing?
Let’s be honest, sometimes we prefer to be blinded because to see means
that we have to look at the truth that is right in front of us. The truth can be filled with joy like
seeing lover after a long absence, or it can be painful like watching your
child fail at making the basketball team or the cheerleading squad. The truth is always brutally honest and
frightening.
Part of my job as being your
redevelopment pastor is to hold up a mirror so that you might be able to see
yourself as a congregation more clearly.
In order to do that though you must look deeply at yourselves, you need
to open your eyes and have a Bartimaeus moment! You must see the present reality and, simultaneously, see
within your hearts and minds where Jesus is calling you.
What I See
I’ve been with you now almost three
years. And in that time I’ve seen
your loving acts of kindness toward one another. There have been some significant changes with families and
debilitating illness, and the passing of long time members. And there have been some remarkable
accomplishments from some of our members.
Members have moved away and members have joined our happy throng. You’ve rallied around one another with
cards, congratulations, flowers, meals, care, and support.
So you might say, why is there a need
for redevelopment? Aren’t we doing
what Christ has called us to do as a faith community? Well yes, you are.
But being the church and doing what Christ calls you to do really has
two different components. Christ
calls us to feed the hungry, cloth the naked, etc., so you do that. Your mission outreach is good, could
there be more? Of course there could, the world does not lack for opportunities
to serve. Basically you’ve got
that – you care that others are taken care of.
How we go about the business of being a
church, well there is room for improvement and this is the tricky
component. We are not the future
of the church, we are the present.
Our children all grown up, our little ones that cry out from the pews at
inappropriate or maybe real appropriate times - they are the future of the
church. And what they think and
what we think are uniquely different, thank goodness. So it is hard to predict what the future church will need to
be in order for them to be nourished in the Gospel and be challenged to make a
difference in this world.
It is difficult for us to envision and
to see what it might look like 20 or 30 years from now. But that doesn’t mean that we should
not try. Here is where that
Bartimaeus leap of faith is essential.
Through the faith filled and very
sacred work of redevelopment we are looking at how we can organize ourselves
that adapts to the current milieu of today’s families. There are many competing opportunities
that we’ve never had to deal with before and the time that families have to
give to church is limited. Not
because they are half interested but because it is the reality of their
lives. So we need to look at how
we can become valuable players in this competition streamlining time
commitments and the organization of boards and committees. It can be done! Bartimaeus faith is essential!
We need to look at how we welcome
people into this beloved community.
Saying that we welcome all people and actually declaring that we will
welcome each person, lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender, straight, married,
divorced, single, abled, disabled, poor, rich are two different things. Jesus took the time to talk to and
include each person that he came in contact with. Might we also have the vision to do so as well? This is not
a political agenda. This is
extending a Christ-like, loving, extravagant welcome and declaring it. For my kids, who are in their early
30’s it’s a no brainer. For kids
even younger they will probably say, why are they even debating this! Bartimaeus faith is
essential!
And faith formation is another area for
redevelopment. What that is is
recognizing that each one of us is on a journey. Our faith is not stagnant but grows with us as we age. How might we address the questions of
faith in each phase of development to equip people on their journey? We know that people are
yearning for depth, nourishment, and accompaniment so we need to be able to
address that with them. It’s that simple.
Bartimaeus faith is essential.
These are just some areas where new
vision is needed - where we need to be fully sighted, based in faith that where
God calls us we will follow.
Bartimaeus had no clue what he was
getting himself into when he asked Jesus to heal him. All he knew was that he was in need of healing and he had
faith that Jesus was the one who could heal him. He had faith that Jesus was the real deal and that his
future was going to better off following Jesus. And we need to have that faith too. Our future will be better off putting
our trust and hope in him that the decisions we make today will serve the needs
of those who cross our threshold tomorrow.
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment