October 27, 2024
Pentecost + 23
Text: Mark 10:46-52
Healing, Bartimaeus
In the name of the Holy One,
Most Ancient of Days,
Keeper of Faith, and Companion. Amen.
In today’s gospel, the cry of the blind beggar Bartimaeus “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me” stopped Jesus in his tracks!
Looking at Bartimaeus, Jesus asked him: “What do you want me to do for you?”
We could assume that looking at the blind man, Jesus knew what he wanted. But Jesus wanted to hear Bartimaeus’ petition… Hear him in his own voice. So, Bartimaeus replied: “Teacher, I want my sight back.” And Jesus immediately granted his request, telling him: “Your faith has healed you.”
Thereafter, Bartimaeus threw off his cloak (maybe symbolic of one of the weights that was holding him down), he left everything behind and followed Jesus. Bartimaeus took off an Old Garment of Shame, and put on a New Garment of Praise, to quote Isaiah, and he followed Jesus.
When Jesus comes into our lives, we cast off the old things, our old selves, to gain “new sight”! And we put on some renewed hope… faith… vision… and we follow Jesus.
As the old (Indian) missionary song goes: “I have decided to follow Jesus. There is no turning back!”
There was no turning back for Bartimaeus! Leaving his cloak behind, Bartimaeus followed Jesus – maybe even to Golgotha. In order to change, we often have to cast off and to leave something or some things behind!
But Bartimaeus nearly didn’t answer Jesus’ call because the crowd had tried to stop him. When he started to cry out to Jesus the crowd told him to “shut-up”.
Undaunted by their interference, Bartimaeus cried out all-the-louder until he got Jesus’ attention. “What do you want from me” Jesus asked? Bartimaeus replied, “My Rabbi / My teacher, let me see again.” Bartimaeus’ persistence and determination paid off! Jesus, his teacher, saw in this blind man the desire for change, and the belief that he, Jesus, the Son of David, could provide that change. And Jesus restored his sight.
Bartimaeus’ story leads us to reflect on our own faith, and on our own need for restoration and transformation. Sometimes we have 20/20 vision but are nonetheless blind – spiritually blind. Jesus is the only one who can restore true sight! Bartimaeus believed that, and Jesus provided what he needed. From that day on, Bartimaeus followed Jesus. Faith in the healing and restorative power of Jesus is at the heart of this story!
Bartimaeus was not satisfied to merely see the sights and scenes, and to recognize familiar faces and places in his hometown. He wanted to see the world from Jesus’ point of view. And that is key. He wanted to see the problems and possibilities Jesus sees. He wanted to see through Jesus’ eyes. He wanted spiritual sight, we might say. So, he persisted in crying out to Jesus despite the derision and the impulse to interfere of the crowd.
I don’t know about you, but like Bartimaeus, I cry out to Jesus when I am in need!
And I don’t let anything or anyone stop me.
And frankly, we all need to cry out to Jesus and to keep crying out even when we are prevented or told to stop. We keep crying out even when we believe Jesus is not listening. We keep crying out in faith to hear Jesus ask: “What do you want from me?” And when we hear that question, we can offer our petition. We can offer our plea, our “ask”. In making our petition we find healing and wholeness and are enabled to cast off our cloaks of darkness and to follow Jesus.
Bartimaeus’ story is more than a story of physical healing. It is a story of Jesus’ restorative power. It is a story of restored hope and dignity … a story of transformative discipleship.
It is a story that moves us to ponder our own spiritual blindnesses and the ways we need to call out to Jesus when we are feeling desperate and hopeless. Like Bartimaeus, we are called to ask … to make our petitions to God.
And when our prayers are answered, we throw off our old cloaks of sickness, and loss, embrace our new vision, and follow Jesus. So, we hold on to Bartimaeus’ Spiritual Sight that pierces even the darkness of sin!
We hold on to the kind of sight that enables us to look at people at the margins –people such as Bartimaeus – the blind beggar — and reach out to them with love and compassion as Jesus did. Even when others try to interfere!
Bartimaeus’ story is not only a story of physical healing, but also a story of faith, restored dignity, and transformative love that prompt us to examine our own spiritual health.
So, I pray that all of us will see broken, beaten down, marginalized people through the eyes of Jesus, through the eyes of love and justice, and treat them with dignity, respect, love, and grace as Jesus treated Bartimaeus, as Jesus treats us.
And I pray that no matter how jaded and disappointed we feel, God will enable us “to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8).
Today, Jesus is asking us, “What do you want from me?” And let us make our petitions, our pleas … for what is needful.
When we follow Jesus with clear eyes, we see the world through the eyes of Jesus. And Jesus equips us to be his eyes, ears, heart, hands, and mind so we can be agents of change, in a world of desperate need!
For us, the answer to the plea for sight always lies in the eyes of Jesus and in the heart of Jesus, and in the one who made the ultimate sacrifice to give us forgiveness of sin and the promise of eternal life.
Silence.
May the words of Marita’s heart, and the expression of my lips, be acceptable to our God. And may the church say “Amen.” Amen.
The Rev. Marita Williams
as delivered by The Rev André Lavergne, CWA
The Church of St. John the Evangelist, Kitchener