Sermon 24th October 2021 – 22nd Sunday after Pentecost
Text: Mark 10:46-52 – Blind faith
Our Gospel reading today is
interesting, not because of the story of Jesus healing a blind man, but because
of what Jesus says to blind Bartimaeus. Bartimaeus
has heard that Jesus has come to town and he knows that Jesus is able to heal
him from his blindness. What’s interesting is that as soon as Jesus becomes
aware of Bartimaeus calling out to him he asks him a question: What do you want me to do for you?
What I find interesting about
this is that this was the very same question that Jesus asked his disciples
James and John last week. What do you want me to do for you? Jesus, however, on
this occasion honors Bartimaeus’s
request when he had previously denied James and John and their request. Jesus
didn’t say to Bartimaeus, go on your way, the last shall be first so put up
with your suffering. No, Jesus said: Go; your faith has made you well.”
Immediately Bartimaeus regained his sight and followed Jesus on the way.
What was the difference in
their requests? The difference was that Bartimaeus was crying out for mercy
when James and John were crying out for glory. Look at the difference in their
approaches. James and John – Lord, we want you do for us whatever we ask. Not
very humble. Bartimaeus, on the other hand approaches Jesus and says: Jesus,
Son of David, have mercy on me.
Like James and John we see the
response from the people around Bartimaeus anything but humble and caring. James
and John didn’t care about the other 10 disciples – they snuck off on their own
to try and corner Jesus into granting their request. They didn’t come with
humility or ask for mercy. There was nothing humble in the way they asked Jesus
– Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask; Compared to Bartimaeus –
Lord, have mercy on me. There was nothing humble in what James and John
requested – we want to sit at your left and right when you come in glory. Compared
to Bartimaeus – His request – Lord, I want to see.
But what is also interesting
is the attitude of the people around Bartimaeus.
As Jesus arrives they are
aware of his reputation of being able to heal the sick but when one of their
own people begins to shout out to Jesus they tell him to be quiet. They lack
any sympathy for poor old blind Bartimaeus. 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.” I think something very important appears
here that’s easy to miss. Jesus stood still. – he stopped
In our busy lives do we stop
and stand still so we can see the needs of others around us or are we so
focused on where we are going that we don’t see the needs of others around us. One
of the things that really concerns me is the amount of emails and phone calls
that I get, as I’m sure you do to, and we delete or ignore them because it’s
just another scam – someone asking for money – someone trying to scam us. Or we
get bombarded with so many requests that we ignore them all – there’s just too
many. I hope and pray that I haven’t ignored or deleted – told them to be quiet
– because it was just another of those annoying spam messages. But that’s how
we often treat people. It’s easier to walk across the road than be annoyed by
that person who is always asking for money. It’s easier to keep walking when
you see that person sleeping on the side of the footpath. And once the day has
begun and you’re emersed in your work they just fade from our memory. But not
so with Jesus. Jesus stops.
Despite his hectic schedule
and people pressing in on him he hears the cry of one person asking for mercy.
What our reading reveals here
today is that there are 2 types of blindness.
There is the physical
blindness that Bartimaeus experiences but there is also the spiritual blindness
that the people around him experience that they became blind to the needs of
Bartimaeus.
But not so Jesus.
He sees the needs of
Bartimaeus and also the spiritual blindness of the crowds. Jesus shows the
crowd he is interested in the one who to them was a disturbance.
And our Hebrews reading points
out that Jesus is different. In the Old Testament priesthood they would need to
offer daily, 3 times a day, burnt offerings for their sins and the sins of the
people. But Jesus began a new priesthood – a continuous priesthood where he is
able for all time to save those who approach God through him, since he always
lives to make intercession for them. And he has no need to offer sacrifices day
after day, first for his own sins, and then for those of the people; this he
did once for all when he offered himself to die on the cross for our sins. Jesus
led the way to self-sacrifice for others. Putting himself last for us which is
what he taught his disciples last week – the last shall be first.
The crowd in our gospel saw
this blind beggar as an annoyance, disturbing Jesus as he preached God’s
kingdom. Bartimaeus was a disturbance, a distraction but Jesus recognizes his
humanity and stops and calls him over. Bartimaeus wasn’t blind when it came to
knowing Jesus. Bartimaeus had a perfect
vision of what it meant to be a loved child of God. Not only did he know that he was a loved child
of God but he insisted on being treated as such. Have mercy on me. Not even the crowd could
hold him back. In fact when the crowd tried to stop him our reading says - he
cried out even more loudly.
It sort of reminds me of when
the Pharisees told Jesus to keep his disciples quiet on Palm Sunday crying out
Hosanna to our King: Jesus replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry
out. Or when the disciples rebuked the parents bringing their children to Jesus
and Jesus rebuked them saying, let the children come to me. Who are we holding
back from receiving the mercy and presence of Jesus because of our attitudes? We
might not even know we are doing it like the people in our Gospel reading. They
thought they were doing Jesus a favour
by holding back the disturbance of Bartimaeus. But Jesus calls him to
himself.
Maybe we need to stop for a
minute - open our eyes and see the needy around us. We as the church, the body
of Jesus Christ have a world calling out for mercy. We can quickly become like
the crowd; blind to the needs of those sitting right outside our doors. Like in our gospel we, the crowd, are the ones
who often are in need of having our sight restored, and our blindness healed. If
we listen hard enough and look long enough we cand see and hear the cries of
Bartimaeus still. Jesus, son of David
have mercy on us. And we are the body of Jesus. And we need to stop, open our
eyes and listen to the cries of the world calling out for mercy. As we sing in
that timeless hymn, Amazing Grace –
Amazing grace! How sweet the
sound, that saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now am
found, was blind but now I see.
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