Christ and his followers have made it to Jericho…a city only
20 miles from Jerusalem. As we have
moved through Mark’s Gospel, we’ve talked about a lot of things. We heard Christ’s words of amputation and what
they mean to us. We have witnessed Jesus
embracing and empowering children. We
learned of the rich man who was held captive by his possessions and rendered
powerless. We’ve studied the seemingly
central theme of servanthood…the first will be last and the last will be first.
To set the scene for this morning’s lesson from this same Gospel,
we need to realize, that these are Jesus’ final days. The journey he and the disciples are on ends
at the cross. And we know that this isn’t
a secret; three times in Mark, Christ has predicted his own passion. Peter first claimed there is no way this
could happen. The second time, no one
was brave enough to speak up about their confusion…and after the way Jesus
corrected Peter, who could blame them?
The third, and final time, James and John were more concerned with their
position….
I can’t imagine how Jesus felt. Because, remember, He is fully human just
like you and me. The fact that he has
foretold his passion 3 times shows us how much it is weighing on his mind. It would be weighing on mine too…to the point
that if I knew where/when/how I was going to die, I probably wouldn’t be able
to think about anything else!
So, Jesus…knowing he was heading, walking with his
disciples, hears a man yelling his name.
He looks over, and it’s a blind man, literally on the side of the
street. But this man wouldn’t just
remain a “blind man” to us. He is one of
two miracles where we know the name of the person suffering: Bartimaeus.
He isn’t the lame man, or the bleeding woman, or the near-dead daughter
of a Temple leader or 5,000 hungry people…he is Bartimaeus.
As Bartimaeus is yelling out to Christ, others can be heard
telling him to hush…because, after all, Jesus was a busy man and was surrounded
by people who wanted to either protect his time, or free up more of it for
themselves. But Christ hears this named
man and his pleas and standing still, calls Bartimaeus to Him. Christ, similar to the other miracles, askes
Bartimaeus “What do you want”.
Bartimaeus says I want to see.
Jesus responds “your faith has made you see…” and with that, Bartimaeus
joins Christ and his followers from Jericho to Jerusalem.
Today’s lection is a short one. When there’s several verses, it’s a virtual
literary feast for sermon development.
But, when I see 7 short sentences, I’ll admit I panic a little.
And as I began to see the truth in these 7 short verses, I
began to panic a little more…because they were leading to a place I wasn’t
comfortable going.
It took me back to basics.
Back to who we are…or rather who we’re supposed to be as Christians. We call ourselves Christians because we
belong to the religion named Christianity.
We follow the teachings of Christ, and seek to model ourselves after him,
who was fully human, fully divine and lived a perfect life free of sin. We aren’t capable of attaining that fully
diving and perfect part in these bodies, I don’t think that’s any secret. So, with that acknowledgement, I think we can
all agree that we aren’t expected to experience the same passion as Christ, nor
are we expected to heal the lame and restore sight to the blind. So what are we expected to do? Exactly how are we to be like Christ?
In our love. It’s
that simple. But…is it?
There are 37 unique named miracles
performed by Christ in the New Testament. The majority of these miracles were performed
to benefit individuals, not groups. And
if you’ll think about these miracles, most of them were to alleviate some
physical disability or mourning. Why
else, then, would Jesus perform these merciful miracles, if not for love?
We know this…and we
know that Christ died for our sins because he Loves us and God send Christ
because He loves us…and we affirm that love is the central theme of not only
the New Testament but the whole Bible….
So, do we love the way Christ loved?
If we think about today’s verses, we see the Jesus who
showed love and mercy to Bartimaeus wasn’t a Jesus who was care free without a
worry in the world. Jesus was, at this
point, days away from the crucifixion. Days. Put yourself in His shoes. If you knew you were not only making the
final leg of your one way trip to die, but to be rejected, beat, and humiliated
before dying the most horrific death known at that time, would we have heard
that blind man calling our name?
Probably. I can say that yes, I
would hear him. Would I respond? Would I be able to put myself aside and go to
this man and give him the pardon and mercy I would not be receiving? I actually don’t think I would be able to.
I was born with this rare birth defect to my ribcage and
sternum. I was lucky enough to win the 1
in 80,000 pectus excavatum lottery, but not the Powerball. So in 2006, I had what I was told would be my
last surgery. This was the fix all to be
all fix alls. And with good reason…it
was an 11 hour surgery which involved removing most of my sternum, all the cartilage
and some ribs. I woke up feeling like I
had been ran over by a caravan of 18 wheelers.
So June 2017, I was in Miami doing a talk about heart failure with
preserved ejection fraction, and shortly after landing I became real short of
breath. Like, hardly able to
breathe. Truth be known I hadn’t been
taking care of myself and traveling nonstop and I really thought the odds had
got me and I had developed a PE, and/or DVT because my legs were also swelling. So, off to radiology I went to get an
Xray. Oh to my surprise when the tech
said “you need to look at this”…because when the adult in the situation calls
on you, it’s a big problem. And there it
was…in all its horror…the metal plate that held my chest and sternum had
broken. Titanium…snapped in half. I never felt it, had no idea when it happened…but
it fractured my sternum in the process, which caused my heart and lungs to be
severely compromised…hence the swelling and shortness of breath.
At that point I mentally ceased to function. I couldn’t review my notes with the person
who agreed to step in and give my presentations…I couldn’t even think about
that. I was so inside my own head with
dread and fear…it was all I could do to keep a nervous breakdown at bay while I
tried to get an immediate flight home…
Well, that really paled in comparison to the situation Jesus
was in. And as I was trying to get home
to my surgeon (because Miami didn’t have a surgeon who could perform this
procedure because there’s only about 50 in the whole world), if someone would
have called out to me for help I’m afraid of what my response would have
been. It would not have been the
response of Christ, welcoming this man to me and showing him mercy and love.
Jesus got outside of himself completely. He chose to make himself last, and make Bartimaeus
first. Jesus was marching off to die…living
out his final days, and he healed Bartimaeus.
Because of this simple act of love, Bartimaeus no longer had to be a
beggar. He was given a new life.
Are we able to see the people around us…friends, family and
strangers…those suffering, mourning, in pain, hungry, and fighting battles we
can’t even dream about. Us…who aren’t
dying, who have every privilege in the world…are we truly being Christ
like? Are we showing love? So much love that without hesitation our
needs become irrelevant and we put the needs of others first because we are
truly concerned with them?
I don’t. I’d venture
to say you don’t either.
We do try…goodness knows we try. But I don’t really know if this is something
we are actually able to do…if this is a plain or station we are able to achieve. Because of a condition we all share…the human
condition.
So…if we can’t get there, should we even run the race? YES.
OK…so if I’m to love, love without restrictions, borders, or
hesitation…who do I show love? Do I show
it to people like me? Yes…and you also
show it to people not like you, people you like, people you don’t like, people
you can’t stand…get the picture?
That’s hard. That’s
really hard. There are some people I
just don’t care for…and if I wanted I could use the Bible to justify why I don’t
like them…maybe I don’t agree with something they’re doing, or don’t like what
they stand for, or something else…
But you know what?
Jesus doesn’t care. Jesus never
said draw lines…and I don’t know much, but I do know that when you draw lines,
Jesus is standing over with the people who you drew the line to keep out. You can’t love the sinner and hate the
sin. You can’t love those people, but…. Love doesn’t have conditions…love doesn’t
hold back….
See how hard that is?
We have to try. We have to
honestly, truly, with all our heart try.
And the amazing thing is we don’t have to go it alone. We have this amazing companion…the Holy
Spirit…who is able and willing to guide us and remove the doubt, fear, hatred
and the humanness we are burdened with.
Will you pray with me?
Almighty God, we pray that you open our eyes, and restore
our sight just as you did for Bartimaeus.
Help us to see all the people…the people in pain, the people who mourn,
the people who need our love. And help
us…empower and enable us to share truly selfless love with them. Give us the courage to overcome our prejudices
and stumbling blocks. In Christ’s name,
Amen.