PROPER 25B 2009
Text: Mark 10:46-52
These last few weeks Pastor Liz and myself have suggested that following Jesus involves, to some degree, being counter cultural. Two weeks ago we read about the wealthy young man who loved his wealth more than following Jesus. Last week we heard Jesus telling us that if we want to be great in this life we must become a slave, or a servant of others. Of course not all things in the culture around us are bad, but there are those things which in the culture around us which are not healthy and go against the ways and truth of God. Now this week we read a story which challenges us in many ways to again live against the stream of the culture around us.
One aspect of this story that I
found really cool is the confrontation between two sons… the son of David and
the son of Timaeus. To be the son of
David had the ring of kingship, of being
the Messiah. To be the son of Timaeus meant that your family did not have
enough money to support you so you had to sit along the road to
For thus says the high and lofty one
who
inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:
I dwell
in the high and holy place,
and also
with those who are contrite and humble in spirit,
to revive
the spirit of the humble,
to revive the heart of the contrite.
In this encounter between the son of David and the son of Timaeus we see lived out the God who created all things reaching out and caring for the suffering and hurting of the world.
Luke tells us of the time Jesus went into his home town synagogue and read this passage from Isaiah:
Luke 4:17-21 ( NRSV )…….. He unrolled the scroll
and found the place where it was written:
18 “The
Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because
he has anointed me
to bring
good news to the poor.
He has
sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and
recovery of sight to the blind,
to let
the oppressed go free,
19 to
proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
20And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the
attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on
him. 21Then he began to say to them,
“Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
As I mentioned last week, I don’t think we realize how incredibly radical teachings such as these are. To think that the all powerful God, or any of the gods, would care for the weak and the lowly of the world is almost beyond belief. In the time of Jesus and Bartimaeus being blind was seen as some sort of punishment for sin, either by the person or their parents. But Mark tells us Jesus stood still and said: “Call him here.”
This verse gives hope to all of us who know of our need for mercy and forgiveness and healing. It gives us a reason to hope, that we, beggars for various reasons who sit along the road of life, can cry out: “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.” …. And know that he will stop and call us to himself.
The truth is, all of us, in some manner or other, are Bartimaeus. In the time that he lived, there was no social security system to take care of him. Clearly his family did not have enough money to care for him. He was blind, and in that society it meant that there were no jobs for him. He could not heal himself. He could no change who he was. All he could do was sit by the road and hope that people would give him some money. He was a beggar.
In the ultimate spiritual sense, this too is our human lot. None of us chose our parents, or where we would be born, or what we look like, or what our intelligence would be, or what our emotional make up would be, or whether we would be healthy or not, or what accidents of life would happen to us, and much more. As the great Apostle once asked: “who made you to differ from another.”
And now, whatever our status in life, whether we like to face it or not, we still are not in control of our lives. It may seem like we are, but all around us are forces that are much more powerful than we are, the most obvious being death. To feel out of control can be very terrifying. That is why we often try so hard to be in control, and to project to others that we are in control.
But sitting right here among all these nice looking people are a group of people that, in both the ultimate sense, and in our day to day lives, are tossed about by forces that are more powerful than we are. I would suspect that there are some of us that are struggling with drugs or alcohol, sexual addictions of various kinds, anger and emotional wounds from the past, marriages and relationships that are failing, economic struggles, health problems that threaten our life, and finally, the soon presence of our personal encounter with sister death, as St Francis called it.
Now this might all seem to be a pretty depressing sermon, and it would be, if there were no gospel message, no story of Jesus to bring us hope. But when, by God’s grace, we come to that point in our lives when we cry out to God.. ….help me, have mercy on me, hear my prayer…….. then, as the Old Testament says, our mourning can be turned into dancing.
When we read the story of Bartimaeus, and read about him yelling out.. Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me, and not caring what others think, we see combined both desperation and hope, almost like, this is my last chance. I’ve tried everything else, and now maybe this Jesus of Nazareth can help me.
A true encounter with God very often flows out of this sense of desperation mixed with hope. It is only when we come to realize that we are beggars sitting along the road that we cry out for help. If we see ourselves as kings and queens or princes and princesses walking along the road then of course there is no need for us to seek help. But when, by God’s grace, our eyes are opened to see our need, we become desperate for help.
And it is good news to know that the power of God will finally overcome and conquer all the other forces that come against us, even death itself.
It is good news to know that when we cry out, Jesus will stop and stand still, and will call us to himself.
Now what does this have to do with our stewardship….with our giving. Well, all of this goes to the heart of why a person gives. I can honestly say now after many years trying to live out the Christian life, and many years asking for money during campaigns like this, that people do not give in any serious way until they have realized that they are a blind beggar who has received their sight from Jesus. It really is about as simple as this. Of course, as our drama last week illustrated, we are all on a journey, and we are all at different stages of this journey, but true and counter cultural living and giving does not occur until we personally experience the mercy and the healing of Jesus.
A word that we often use for this experience is conversion. We are changed. I once was this, but now I am something else. I once was a beggar sitting beside the road, but now I am a child of God, loved, accepted, forgiven, and given a new life.
I could not stand up here and ask you to give away your money to God unless I personally had had my life changed in this way. I have felt like Bartimaeus sitting along the road, begging with no real hope for the future. I have felt hope stir in my heart that perhaps this Jesus of Nazareth could make a difference in my life. I have cried out to him and asked him to heal me and help me and guide me and give me hope. And I have experienced my life being changed, both quickly and slowly over the years. My personal introverted and insecure nature would never allow me to preach, let alone invade the sacred and holy realm of money of others, without having this experience.
I know for myself, and have seen it in others I know, and have read about the life changing reality of Jesus for many down through the ages so that I actually believe that God can change lives today, even here in an Episcopal Church!
So giving for me has two emphasis. I give out of thankfulness for what God has done for me, and I give to the Church so that others who are sitting along the road of life might also receive new eyes and a new life through Christ. I know it is all a great mystery, and I know that this church, as well as the church universal, can seem to be a very frail and human institution, but having lived with the church most of my life, I have seen her beauty and her necessity. I can’t imagine the world without the church, day in and day out, preserving and sharing the teachings of Jesus and preaching the grace and love of God. I can’t imagine how dark a world it would be without the light of both the Old and New testaments telling us the story of God’s love for his fallen and weak children.
As I said last week, it is mother church, through the word and sacraments, that teaches us of the love of God as well as teaches us and challenges us to live according to our higher nature, the image of God in which we were created. While the world takes and accumulates wealth for themselves, we are to share and to give. While those who are in positions of power rule over others, we are to serve others. While the world ignores the weak and the poor and the suffering, it is not to be so among us.
My personal vision in helping to start this church was to see a vital, healthy Christian community created. It was not just to see programs and people and Sunday school and have all the outward trappings of a church. These are all well and good. But, without the inner reality of conversion to Jesus…. Without broken and humble people who know their need of the gospel… without wounded and yet healed people who are trying, however imperfectly, to live out their faith,… the church is just a hollow shell of what it should be.
To some degree, I believe that we are succeeding. Maybe not like we should, but God has been faithful in spite of our weakness. Much real Christianity is happening in our midst. This is why we are not ashamed to ask you to continue to give to see that this local church continues. If Faith Episcopal Church ceased to exist, God’s work would go on. And yet I believe that we have a way of sharing and living our faith that is needed in this community and the world around us. I believe we have our place in the over all body of Christ. Who we are and how we worship makes the gospel assessable to many people.
In many ways I am proud to be a part of this church. I hope that many of you are too, and in the coming days you will seriously pray about your giving to God, and then do what you feel God is leading you to do. May the Lord bless and keep and guide Faith Episcopal Church. AMEN!