PAST SERMON 2009 #10
by Reverend Judith Alltree, delivered on Sunday October 25, 2009,
at the Church of the Holy Spirit.
Who Was The Blind One?
THE HOLY GOSPEL OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST
ACCORDING TO MARK
46 They came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside. 47 When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 48 Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 49 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.” 50 So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. 51 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.” 52 Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith has made you well.” Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.
MARK 10:46–52
I would like you all to picture yourselves on a very dry, dusty day, on the edge of a small town. It is situated below sea level, a wall of mountains to the west, the Jordan river to the east, softened by various kinds of palm trees and vegetation, about 16 kms north of the Dead Sea, on the road to Jerusalem. It is a quietly prosperous place.
You are in Jericho: an ancient town: perhaps the oldest, continuously inhabited town on earth. Even before this day in which we find ourselves, Jericho was ancient, having been inhabited for 9000 years before Jesus walked its streets. Jericho’s copious streams had given water to hundreds of generations of people, and millions of their flocks of animals; the water made it a safe place to live.
We are part of the crowd that is following Jesus of Nazareth. When you are with Jesus, however, no day is ordinary. This particular one is filled with a great deal of emotion: for some it is the day before they will arrive at Jerusalem for the great Feast of the Passover. For Jesus, it is the beginning of the last week of his life, for when he arrives in Jerusalem, he will prepare to die. It is a day he has warned his disciples about, but the crowds of people are unaware of what is going to happen. They are in a festive mood, heightened by all that has happened while they’ve been with Jesus.
Many people have now heard of Jesus, of all the miracles, like the feeding of the 5000 and the miraculous healings. There seems to be an unspoken expectation about him: who is he?Really? In his teachings, he has kept much back from the general public, spoken in riddles some might say, spoken metaphorically but not clearly. To his disciples he has been as direct as possible, yet even they don’t always understand what he’s saying. Things like, “whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.” (Mark 10:43-4) What does that mean? Who in their right mind would want to be slave or a servant when you can be first?
He’s also just told them: “We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise.” (Mark 10:33-34) We can imagine their thoughts: who, again, in their right mind would want to go to Jerusalem if he knew he was going to die? They think he’s speaking metaphorically: if he is the Messiah, as Peter has declared him to be, then surely there will be a way out of this. They hope….
These words frighten and confuse them. Their confusion and fear has led the disciples to say and do some ridiculous things, such as arguing over who is the greatest among them, or who is going to sit at Jesus’ right hand in heaven. Stupid things like that. It’s like a childish game; these men are in the dark.
On this particular day, there are perhaps hundreds of people on the road, following Jesus. People: well to do, for the most part. Tradespeople, craftspeople, fishermen, women and children who have no trade or craft, but who follow along, hoping… for what? To witness a miracle? To be fed where there is no food? To be healed? Perhaps they follow just to hear the words of hope Jesus has so often offered throughout his journeys. So it is like a festival!
And now we come upon Bartimaeus — a poor, blind man. He’s so poor he lives in a ditch outside of town. He can’t live in town because he’s blind, and blindness is viewed as an illness, and illness indicates a curse on him from God. Sick people can’t live in community; they have to fend for themselves, so Bartimaeus is begging by the side of the road.
We have no idea how long he’s been blind, or what caused his blindness. We can only imagine what he must have been feeling when he heard the sound of all those people on the road that day, the road on the outside edge of town, the road heading towards Jerusalem. He must have called to the passersby, begging not for money but for information: “what is going on? Who is it that causes so much excitement?” And in spite of his lowly state, or perhaps because of it, someone tells him that it’s Jesus of Nazareth.
And he begins to shout: “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” And the people respond to themselves: “who does he think he is? This is Jesus of Nazareth, and how dare he call him “Son of David” — that’s the title that belongs to the Messiah!” The disciples are uncomfortable with the use of this title: Bartimaeus may be correct in using it, but most people hear it as merely flattery in order to get attention. Bartimaeus keeps shouting, and the people keep shushing him. They know he has no business calling out to such an important person as Jesus. Who does he think he is, anyways?
This is a well to do crowd; what has a blind beggar to do with them? No one wants to be associated with such a person. Most particularly, they don’t feel a blind beggar is worthy of the attentions of such a famous and important person as Jesus. They keep pushing him down, and keeping him away from the crowd near Jesus. He lives in a ditch, they say among themselves, by the side of the road! He has to beg for food so he has nothing and nobody; therefore, he is nothing and nobody. But he won’t shut up. He keeps calling Jesus, begging for mercy.
Jesus hears the commotion, and, as usual wants to know what it’s all about. Now the disciples try to convince Jesus to keep walking. We’re part of the crowds milling around Bartimaeus, trying to keep Jesus from seeing him, when Jesus suddenly tells them to call him. Well, all of a sudden, this poor, blind beggar, an outcast, a guy who lives in a ditch on the side of the road between Jericho and Jersualem, a guy with nothing is suddenly the most important person around!
And we, the people, have a complete reversal in the way they treat him: if Jesus is going to pay attention to him, he must be special, so we all decide to act as if he is special, not just in a general sense but to them as well! “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you”! we tell him, and help him up. This is pretty exciting stuff, if Jesus is paying attention to a blind beggar by the side of the road, there must be something to this.
This man is alone. There is no one to take care of him. He has no income other than what he can beg from passersby on the road outside of town. He lives in a ditch. He is blind. He has one possession: a cloak. Yet for some reason, Jesus takes notice of him.
Bartimaeus gets up. He throws off his cloak, and somehow staggers over to Jesus, surrounded by and helped by the very people who tried to stop him only moments before.
“What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asks the blind man. “What do you want me to do for you?” Can you imagine what must have been going through Bartimaeus’ mind? Good grief: “What do you want me to do for you?” He’s blind, he’s homeless, he’s broke, he has nothing…what could Jesus do for him? The list is endless! What must the people have thought? But Jesus knows what’s going on, and the blind man knows too. They are in fact the only ones who know what is going on.
“Teacher, I want to see” the blind man says. Not “give me wealth, give me happiness, throw in a house, some food and clothing, a good job, and while you’re at it, a family….” No shopping list. “I want to see” is all Bartimaeus says. And Jesus’ response is “Your faith has healed you.”
What faith is it that can cure a blind man? How is this possible?
Bartimaeus is a man with no status or possessions or education or home or family. We do know that he has — or had — a father named Timaeus. We might even presume because we know this that he was the son of someone who was important; he may even have been important himself at one time, but now he is a blind man, living in a ditch by the side of the road, but now, in this moment, he has caught Jesus’ attention.
Jesus doesn’t ask why Bartimeaus is blind; he probably knows. What is more important is Bartimaeus has the faith to know that whatever the cause of his blindness, Jesus is the cure.
Jesus speaks. Bartimaeus’ blindness is gone. The way before him opens up but all he can see is Jesus. He has no other direction he wants to go: he only wants to follow Jesus.
This has been an interesting few days on Jesus’ journey. He has met some unusual people, like the rich young man who wanted to receive eternal life, but was unwilling to part with even one of his possessions in order to follow Jesus, his material goods on earth meant so much more to him. He has been confronted with the bigotry and ignorance of some of his disciples, who have done such things as trying to prevent him from speaking with little children, and have argued about who was the most important member of the group, and who would sit at Jesus’ right hand in heaven, and some have even declared they would never leave Jesus, no matter what happens…a promise that will all too soon be broken.
All these things have happened, and yet what was probably the best part of the journey, the most rewarding and satisfying has come on this day, when he met blind Bartimaeus, a man with great faith who has thrown off his only possession in order to get to Jesus, in order to find healing, in order to follow Jesus and find freedom.
So I ask you: who was the blind one on the road that day?
AMEN.