Sight For The Blind And Persistent
Preaching
The Miracles Of Jesus And Their Flip Side
Miracle narratives from the Revised Common Lectionary with a fresh look at the other side of the story
Blind Bartimaeus was rewarded for faith and persistence,
and was given sight to follow the Christ in discipleship;
while we still puzzle why some are healed and others not.
We also learn God would not have us suffer on purpose.
His condition was a wretched one. Father Timaeus would have to lead him out to the dusty, hot roadside of Jericho so he could spend his days howling for charity to those who passed by on their way to Jerusalem. The response was often hateful.
Bartimaeus was blind. It was a common illness most often called ophthalmia, caused by the strong glare of the sun. Flies were everywhere. They often settled on the matter-encrusted eyes of the blind and spread the infection. On the Jericho road today, Christians still maintain a large vocational school for blind Bartimaeuses. On Mount Scopus, next to the Mount of the Ascension, we maintain Augusta Victoria Hospital where Arabs receive the miracles of modern medicine, including sight for some who had been blind.
No doubt Bartimaeus had heard of the Galilean who was working many miracles of healing and driving out demons. It was Passover time and since all male Jews had to attend in Jerusalem, he figured the rumors may be true that wonder-worker Jesus and his followers would be coming his way soon. He asked each time a little crowd passed by if that might be the man from Nazareth. Finally, the word came that it was Jesus surrounded by disciples and learners.
Like 20/20's Barbara Walters described the late country singer Tammy Wynette's voice as "the cry of her voice," so there was a cry in this voice as well. It was hard to ignore. "He began to shout, 'Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!' " (Mark 10:47b). The students could not hear Jesus for these cries, and besides, this rebel Jesus who was challenging the orthodox religion of Palestine was on his last walk to the very center of his opposition. There were much more important considerations for Jesus that day than one of many obnoxious street-side beggars. Besides, they really didn't want to get mixed up with the title he used for Jesus, which meant he was the one who was promised to come and save the country. No doubt there were Roman soldiers lurking about and they would not take kindly to such revolutionary talk. So they "... told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, 'Son of David, have mercy on me!' " (Mark 10:48).
Here the story takes on a surprising turn. Unlike the Levite in the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus did not pass by on the other side of the road. Mark says Jesus simply said of the blind beggar, "Call him." Then Mark continues with what I like a lot. "So they called the blind man, 'Cheer up! On your feet! He's calling you.' Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus" (Mark 10:49, 50).
If nothing else, this story told by three Gospel writers sets us an example about how we must treat those in our day who are challenged by some handicap. They obviously are very special in God's sight and we who can call them to the Christ and cheer them up must make a special intentional effort to do so. A ministry to and with them will both please God and bless us. And also there are those who are the social outcasts of our society. One only has to walk down a street in any of our major cities to see them, often in filthy clothing, matted hair, sleeping in the doorways and on the sidewalks at night and pushing their rusty grocery carts, pan-handling, asking for some charity from us as did Bartimaeus that day. Our temptation is to follow the example of those disciples by branding them "no goods," "mental patients," "alcoholics," and "drug addicts" and pass legislation to keep them from bothering us on the way to church or during our daily routines. There are many ways we directly or indirectly tell the misfits not like us to be quiet and stay out of sight. Often our congregations are not places of welcome for them. But abrasive, unpleasant, obnoxious as these sons and daughters of Timaeus may be, they are still God's children and we must find out the best ways to minister to them on God's behalf.
So Jesus asked Bartimaeus what he wanted. The answer was obvious. He wanted to see. And Jesus assured him he would see! And he did see! "Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road" (Mark 10:52b).
This blind beggar was very important to Jesus. On his way to the Jerusalem cross, he stopped the whole procession and gave him his sight back. How that was accomplished isn't all that important. Because Matthew said that Jesus touched the man's eyes, perhaps that touching involved wiping away the encrusted matter that for years had distorted his vision. We do know many today receive back their sight through miraculous new scientific methods which have been discovered by learning of God's natural laws. It's not quite as astonishing now, but just as great a gift for the blind to receive their sight.
However it happened, it happened. Three of the Gospel writers included it in their account of Jesus' life. It was, as the songwriter described, "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."
There is a precious love of the unlovely here by Jesus that makes it a powerful moment on that Jericho road. There is also a persistence on the part of Bartimaeus which paid off. He was not resigned to a meek acceptance of his state. They told him to be quiet and he wouldn't. He shouted and shouted only to be unheard. But he persisted and won the prize of sight.
Often we stop just short of the miraculous in our own lives. We make a rather timid request of God and then when something doesn't change right away, give up, saying, "we knew it wasn't any use in the first place." But this story says to persist. Shout out to the Christ. Make your request over and over, and in bold terms so that Jesus might also say of us, "What do you want me to do for you?" And then, "Go, your faith has healed you" (Mark 10:51-52).
As this story of giving sight to the blind has been told over and over, the last couple thousand years we preachers have pointed with great delight to that last sentence which says: "Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road" (Mark 10:52b). So here is a proper response to that gift of healing just like that of Simon Peter's mother-in-law in her home in Capernaum. She got up after Jesus cured her of her fever and served him. Bartimaeus, according to those who were there, followed Jesus. His healing meant his discipleship. Can't you picture this one-time blind beggar staying right close to Jesus as they climbed the road up toward Jerusalem? He probably drank deeply of every word of the one who had given him sight. He probably took in every visual impression along the way. And shortly after this he may have been one of the witnesses to Jesus calling forth another person. This time it was the Lord's best friend out of the grave at Bethany. What a sight that must have been for his newly regained eyes to take in!
It's something we must think about today. Because Jesus has done even more for us than he did one day a long time ago halfway around the world for Bartimaeus. The crucifixion came later for our complete, undeserved forgiveness, and the Easter resurrection followed after it by three days, so we gained the hope of life beyond the grave as well. Pentecost came still later to assure God's Holy Spirit with us now to face whatever life deals to us here.
So, you see, we too must join Bartimaeus on the road following Jesus. That reveals the stages of discipleship. It begins with our need, continues with gratitude, and is completed with unswerving loyalty. Regardless of the character and personality of the preacher, regardless of whether they sing the hymns we like, regardless of the friendliness or coldness of the congregation -- we remain faithful to the Christ who called us and gave us sight that we might know forgiveness, eternal life, and God's spirit to see us through in the meantime. We serve because he has gifted us greatly.
I believe Bartimaeus stuck with it. I hope he was there with Jesus on Palm Sunday for his eyes to see the Savior go into Jerusalem. I hope his new eyes were there at Calvary and in the Easter garden and on the Emmaus road and in the upper room and at exciting, spirit-filled Pentecost. I hope he and his father were part of the leadership of that early church, holding meetings in their humble home in Jericho.
Peter Jennings of ABC News announced his series about the millennium and the passing of a century with these words, "The familiar story is not the whole story." So in looking at the miracles of Jesus, the usual interpretation is not all there is to consider. We can often be instructed by a flip side or other side of the story not so obvious and perhaps not even intended by the narrative writers. It seems there are two we need to consider here: Why do some have to suffer like this beggar and others have it so good? And the second is, when we get out of the church building and out in the world, all kinds of new opportunities come to us for doing Christ's ministry as his committed disciples.
A couple of years ago while eating at a Wendy's restaurant in Mesa, Arizona, my wife spotted an older, tan-colored Ford van equipped with a wheelchair lift. The Arizona plates said it all: Y-ME. I'll bet Timaeus often asked it of his God, "Why me, Lord? Why do I have to be the one who has the blind son I have to care for all his days? I've been faithful in keeping the law and worshiping in your temple. Why do I have to be the one to suffer?" And no doubt, son Bartimaeus asked the same question as he held his position along that hot, cruel Jericho road, too.
Job had asked the question years before and we ask it in our time of affliction. There is no perfect answer but this much I can promise you: there is a difference between what God wants to happen to us and what God permits to happen to us. Except in the miracles, God is not fickle but very dependable as to how things operate in natural law. Physicians depend on this in order to practice good medicine. We count on this in many elements of our lives. When two cars crash head on at high speed, every time there will be drastic results. So that doesn't mean God wanted us to be in the accident. I'll say it again for father Timaeus' and son Bartimaeus' benefit -- there is a difference between what God permits and what God causes to happen to us. God did not want Bartimaeus to be blind. God did not want Timaeus to have to deal with a blind son. Still, like Job, there was a confidence that in this instance God would step in and change the circumstances. "I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted" (Job 42:2).
The thing I most celebrate in this story and is probably more the fact I want to proclaim than the miracle's integral teaching is this: great things can happen when we get out of the safety of the church building and into the world with our religion. It's so easy to keep our witness and practice of the faith here in the sanctuary where it is much less embarrassing to do it.
Here, when Jesus finally gave up on teaching in the synagogues and got out in the real world, dramatic, dynamic things were possible. On this try alone, lepers were cleansed, the dead raised, disciples recruited, new life given Zacchaeus, a parade organized and, of course, Bartimaeus given sight.
We modern day disciples can accomplish great things, also. We need take our dynamic faith out to our homes, neighborhoods, places of employment, schools, restaurants, bars, and places of rest and recreation. Our faith is not practiced like a "base-hugger" in the game hide-and-seek. When we finish here, it's out into this week's secular world where we live, work, and play. It is there we can, like Jesus' disciples, "call him" to the Savior, carry out our ministry in obedience to his command. Wonders and miracles are still possible outside the church. Let's take our witness and prayers, compassion and the Holy Spirit with us today as we move out to live among the Bartimaeuses of our day. We have a message to give to all who will listen, similar to the one Jesus told the disciples to deliver. "Cheer up! On your feet! He's calling you" (Mark 10:49b). The outside world is hungry for these words and we have them to offer. That's quite a flip side to a miracle about persistence: giving sight and trying to keep the abrasive out of our sight! It adds the realistic question of "Why me?" and the challenge to go public with our very private faith.
Bartimaeus' condition was a wretched one, but Jesus heard his plea and gave sight. And Timaeus turned cartwheels on his old limbs all the way home that night as his son headed up to Jerusalem, determined to follow the Savior.
and was given sight to follow the Christ in discipleship;
while we still puzzle why some are healed and others not.
We also learn God would not have us suffer on purpose.
His condition was a wretched one. Father Timaeus would have to lead him out to the dusty, hot roadside of Jericho so he could spend his days howling for charity to those who passed by on their way to Jerusalem. The response was often hateful.
Bartimaeus was blind. It was a common illness most often called ophthalmia, caused by the strong glare of the sun. Flies were everywhere. They often settled on the matter-encrusted eyes of the blind and spread the infection. On the Jericho road today, Christians still maintain a large vocational school for blind Bartimaeuses. On Mount Scopus, next to the Mount of the Ascension, we maintain Augusta Victoria Hospital where Arabs receive the miracles of modern medicine, including sight for some who had been blind.
No doubt Bartimaeus had heard of the Galilean who was working many miracles of healing and driving out demons. It was Passover time and since all male Jews had to attend in Jerusalem, he figured the rumors may be true that wonder-worker Jesus and his followers would be coming his way soon. He asked each time a little crowd passed by if that might be the man from Nazareth. Finally, the word came that it was Jesus surrounded by disciples and learners.
Like 20/20's Barbara Walters described the late country singer Tammy Wynette's voice as "the cry of her voice," so there was a cry in this voice as well. It was hard to ignore. "He began to shout, 'Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!' " (Mark 10:47b). The students could not hear Jesus for these cries, and besides, this rebel Jesus who was challenging the orthodox religion of Palestine was on his last walk to the very center of his opposition. There were much more important considerations for Jesus that day than one of many obnoxious street-side beggars. Besides, they really didn't want to get mixed up with the title he used for Jesus, which meant he was the one who was promised to come and save the country. No doubt there were Roman soldiers lurking about and they would not take kindly to such revolutionary talk. So they "... told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, 'Son of David, have mercy on me!' " (Mark 10:48).
Here the story takes on a surprising turn. Unlike the Levite in the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus did not pass by on the other side of the road. Mark says Jesus simply said of the blind beggar, "Call him." Then Mark continues with what I like a lot. "So they called the blind man, 'Cheer up! On your feet! He's calling you.' Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus" (Mark 10:49, 50).
If nothing else, this story told by three Gospel writers sets us an example about how we must treat those in our day who are challenged by some handicap. They obviously are very special in God's sight and we who can call them to the Christ and cheer them up must make a special intentional effort to do so. A ministry to and with them will both please God and bless us. And also there are those who are the social outcasts of our society. One only has to walk down a street in any of our major cities to see them, often in filthy clothing, matted hair, sleeping in the doorways and on the sidewalks at night and pushing their rusty grocery carts, pan-handling, asking for some charity from us as did Bartimaeus that day. Our temptation is to follow the example of those disciples by branding them "no goods," "mental patients," "alcoholics," and "drug addicts" and pass legislation to keep them from bothering us on the way to church or during our daily routines. There are many ways we directly or indirectly tell the misfits not like us to be quiet and stay out of sight. Often our congregations are not places of welcome for them. But abrasive, unpleasant, obnoxious as these sons and daughters of Timaeus may be, they are still God's children and we must find out the best ways to minister to them on God's behalf.
So Jesus asked Bartimaeus what he wanted. The answer was obvious. He wanted to see. And Jesus assured him he would see! And he did see! "Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road" (Mark 10:52b).
This blind beggar was very important to Jesus. On his way to the Jerusalem cross, he stopped the whole procession and gave him his sight back. How that was accomplished isn't all that important. Because Matthew said that Jesus touched the man's eyes, perhaps that touching involved wiping away the encrusted matter that for years had distorted his vision. We do know many today receive back their sight through miraculous new scientific methods which have been discovered by learning of God's natural laws. It's not quite as astonishing now, but just as great a gift for the blind to receive their sight.
However it happened, it happened. Three of the Gospel writers included it in their account of Jesus' life. It was, as the songwriter described, "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."
There is a precious love of the unlovely here by Jesus that makes it a powerful moment on that Jericho road. There is also a persistence on the part of Bartimaeus which paid off. He was not resigned to a meek acceptance of his state. They told him to be quiet and he wouldn't. He shouted and shouted only to be unheard. But he persisted and won the prize of sight.
Often we stop just short of the miraculous in our own lives. We make a rather timid request of God and then when something doesn't change right away, give up, saying, "we knew it wasn't any use in the first place." But this story says to persist. Shout out to the Christ. Make your request over and over, and in bold terms so that Jesus might also say of us, "What do you want me to do for you?" And then, "Go, your faith has healed you" (Mark 10:51-52).
As this story of giving sight to the blind has been told over and over, the last couple thousand years we preachers have pointed with great delight to that last sentence which says: "Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road" (Mark 10:52b). So here is a proper response to that gift of healing just like that of Simon Peter's mother-in-law in her home in Capernaum. She got up after Jesus cured her of her fever and served him. Bartimaeus, according to those who were there, followed Jesus. His healing meant his discipleship. Can't you picture this one-time blind beggar staying right close to Jesus as they climbed the road up toward Jerusalem? He probably drank deeply of every word of the one who had given him sight. He probably took in every visual impression along the way. And shortly after this he may have been one of the witnesses to Jesus calling forth another person. This time it was the Lord's best friend out of the grave at Bethany. What a sight that must have been for his newly regained eyes to take in!
It's something we must think about today. Because Jesus has done even more for us than he did one day a long time ago halfway around the world for Bartimaeus. The crucifixion came later for our complete, undeserved forgiveness, and the Easter resurrection followed after it by three days, so we gained the hope of life beyond the grave as well. Pentecost came still later to assure God's Holy Spirit with us now to face whatever life deals to us here.
So, you see, we too must join Bartimaeus on the road following Jesus. That reveals the stages of discipleship. It begins with our need, continues with gratitude, and is completed with unswerving loyalty. Regardless of the character and personality of the preacher, regardless of whether they sing the hymns we like, regardless of the friendliness or coldness of the congregation -- we remain faithful to the Christ who called us and gave us sight that we might know forgiveness, eternal life, and God's spirit to see us through in the meantime. We serve because he has gifted us greatly.
I believe Bartimaeus stuck with it. I hope he was there with Jesus on Palm Sunday for his eyes to see the Savior go into Jerusalem. I hope his new eyes were there at Calvary and in the Easter garden and on the Emmaus road and in the upper room and at exciting, spirit-filled Pentecost. I hope he and his father were part of the leadership of that early church, holding meetings in their humble home in Jericho.
Peter Jennings of ABC News announced his series about the millennium and the passing of a century with these words, "The familiar story is not the whole story." So in looking at the miracles of Jesus, the usual interpretation is not all there is to consider. We can often be instructed by a flip side or other side of the story not so obvious and perhaps not even intended by the narrative writers. It seems there are two we need to consider here: Why do some have to suffer like this beggar and others have it so good? And the second is, when we get out of the church building and out in the world, all kinds of new opportunities come to us for doing Christ's ministry as his committed disciples.
A couple of years ago while eating at a Wendy's restaurant in Mesa, Arizona, my wife spotted an older, tan-colored Ford van equipped with a wheelchair lift. The Arizona plates said it all: Y-ME. I'll bet Timaeus often asked it of his God, "Why me, Lord? Why do I have to be the one who has the blind son I have to care for all his days? I've been faithful in keeping the law and worshiping in your temple. Why do I have to be the one to suffer?" And no doubt, son Bartimaeus asked the same question as he held his position along that hot, cruel Jericho road, too.
Job had asked the question years before and we ask it in our time of affliction. There is no perfect answer but this much I can promise you: there is a difference between what God wants to happen to us and what God permits to happen to us. Except in the miracles, God is not fickle but very dependable as to how things operate in natural law. Physicians depend on this in order to practice good medicine. We count on this in many elements of our lives. When two cars crash head on at high speed, every time there will be drastic results. So that doesn't mean God wanted us to be in the accident. I'll say it again for father Timaeus' and son Bartimaeus' benefit -- there is a difference between what God permits and what God causes to happen to us. God did not want Bartimaeus to be blind. God did not want Timaeus to have to deal with a blind son. Still, like Job, there was a confidence that in this instance God would step in and change the circumstances. "I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted" (Job 42:2).
The thing I most celebrate in this story and is probably more the fact I want to proclaim than the miracle's integral teaching is this: great things can happen when we get out of the safety of the church building and into the world with our religion. It's so easy to keep our witness and practice of the faith here in the sanctuary where it is much less embarrassing to do it.
Here, when Jesus finally gave up on teaching in the synagogues and got out in the real world, dramatic, dynamic things were possible. On this try alone, lepers were cleansed, the dead raised, disciples recruited, new life given Zacchaeus, a parade organized and, of course, Bartimaeus given sight.
We modern day disciples can accomplish great things, also. We need take our dynamic faith out to our homes, neighborhoods, places of employment, schools, restaurants, bars, and places of rest and recreation. Our faith is not practiced like a "base-hugger" in the game hide-and-seek. When we finish here, it's out into this week's secular world where we live, work, and play. It is there we can, like Jesus' disciples, "call him" to the Savior, carry out our ministry in obedience to his command. Wonders and miracles are still possible outside the church. Let's take our witness and prayers, compassion and the Holy Spirit with us today as we move out to live among the Bartimaeuses of our day. We have a message to give to all who will listen, similar to the one Jesus told the disciples to deliver. "Cheer up! On your feet! He's calling you" (Mark 10:49b). The outside world is hungry for these words and we have them to offer. That's quite a flip side to a miracle about persistence: giving sight and trying to keep the abrasive out of our sight! It adds the realistic question of "Why me?" and the challenge to go public with our very private faith.
Bartimaeus' condition was a wretched one, but Jesus heard his plea and gave sight. And Timaeus turned cartwheels on his old limbs all the way home that night as his son headed up to Jerusalem, determined to follow the Savior.
