First Reading:
Of David, when he feigned madness before Abimelech, so that hed drove
him out, and he went away.
1I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall
continually be in my mouth.
2My soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the humble hear
and be glad.
3O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name
together.
4I sought the Lord, and he answered me, and delivered me
from all my fears.
5Look to him, and be radiant; so your faces shall never be
ashamed.
6This poor soul cried, and was heard by the Lord, and was
saved from every trouble.
7The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him,
and delivers them.
8O taste and see that the Lord is good; happy are those who
take refuge in him.
Second Reading:
46They came to Jericho. As he and his disciples and a large
crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar,
was sitting by the roadside. 47When he heard that it was
Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, Jesus, Son of
David, have mercy on me!
48Many sternly ordered him to
be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, Son of David, have
mercy on me!
49Jesus stood still and
said, Call him here.
And they called the blind man,
saying to him, Take heart; get up, he is calling
you.
50So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came
to Jesus. 51Then 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.
52Jesus said to him, Go; your
faith has made you well.
Immediately he regained his sight and
followed him on the way.
What do you want me to do for you?
It's a familiar question
… In last week's gospel lesson Jesus asked his disciples. In
this week's lesson, he asks a blind beggar. And it occurred to me
when I was praying with this passage earlier this week that that the
answer a person gives to the question What do you want me to do for
you?
gives great insight into the role they see for the person
who is asking. For example … many nights a week if I was to
ask the question … What do you want from me?
The answer
would be … read another story, get me a glass of water, sing me
another song; because these are the things that I do when putting my
girls to bed. But as the context changes, often times, the answer to
the question will change as well. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 13
years from now, even though the people in the example may still be the
same, there would likely be another set of answers to the
question What do you want me to do for you?
… give me
money for a movie or permission to go to a friend's house or even the
keys to the car. There are a whole host of contexts where the
question What do you want from me?
could be asked and the
answer is very dependent on who is asking it: if a potential employer
asks, the answer might be–give me a job; if a bank officer asks,
the answer might be–extend my loan; if a friend asks, the answer
might be–be there when I need support; if a spouse asks, the
answer might be–understand my needs also.
Sometimes I wonder how much we know what it is that we want
…It'd be an interesting and an instructive exercise to go
through the important relationships in our lives, both the
relationships that hold the most joy and the relationships that hold
the most tension, and reflect on what the answer would be if the
people on the other side of those relationships were to ask What do
you want from me?
The answer, it seems, would almost always be
something that we can't provide for ourselves and would also represent
our hope for the relationship.
When Jesus asked the question of James and John, they requested positions of power and honor, to sit at his right and his left hand. When Jesus asked the question of the blind beggar, Bartimaeus, Bartimaeus requested sight. This is the second story in the gospel of Mark where Jesus healed a blind man. And between the two stories, we get a series of stories where the disciples just don't seem to understand what's going on. Over and over Jesus tries to show them the path he's on. And as often as he invites them to travel the same road with him, they miss what he's trying to communicate to them. And then finally we meet Bartimaeus, a blind man sitting by the roadside on the outskirts of town begging for a living. Here is someone who seems to have nothing to offer and nothing to rightfully claim and yet as we read the story it becomes clear that there are things he sees better than those who have been right next to Jesus all along.
When Bartimaeus hears that Jesus of Nazareth is drawing near, he calls
out Jesus son of David, have mercy on me.
One author points
out that for a beggar on the roadside, a large gathering like this
would have been like Christmas for modern day merchants. It had the
potential to be a windfall of a day … it might even give him a
day or two of financial cushion. And so it's significant that in the
midst of everything that was going on, Bartimaeus chose to focus on
Jesus. He had been told that it was Jesus of Nazareth who was coming
… the title was the title of a man … I don't know what
Bartimaeus had heard about Jesus prior to this incident, but when he
called out, he called Son of David, which wasn't just the title of a
man, it was the title of the messiah. When Bartimaeus cried out, he
didn't just ask for help or attention. He made a confession. By
changing the title, Bartimaeus was saying I believe, Jesus, that you
are able to help me. When the crowd tried to silence him and force
him into his usual place: sitting quietly by the roadside begging, he
cried even more loudly … Son of David have mercy on me! He was
breaking out of the usual patterns of his life and it took some work
to do it … but he was convinced that it would be worth it.
Then, when they finally stood face to face, Jesus asked him, What
do you want me to do for you?
Bartimaeus said, I want to see
… and Jesus said Go, your faith has made you well.
One
writer says that the emphasis is on go … but just as Bartimaeus
didn't remain quiet when the crowd told him to … he didn't go
when Jesus told him to … I guess Bartimaeus understood after
all. When he regained his sight, when Jesus did what Bartimaeus
asked, immediately he followed Jesus on the way. Maybe this story
isn't only about sight … maybe it's also about seeing what's
important … Jesus had already denied the request of the
disciples … he told them he couldn't promise seats at his right
or left … but immediately he granted the request of Bartimaeus;
to see.
And again I wonder … how well do we know what it is that we
want? What would our answers be … yours, mine? If it wasn't a
prospective employer … if it wasn't a spouse or a child or a
loved-one or a co-worker who stood in front of us … What would
our answers be if it was Jesus who was asking the question
— What do you want from me?
In my experience, the reality is that we want a whole lot of things … and when I say things, I'm not just talking about cars and houses and clothes and toys … or even jobs and vacations or trips and experiences … but ideals and ideas … Sometimes what we want stands in tension with other things that we want … One author puts it in terms of polarities. For instance, he says, … on the one hand we may want to have a career … and on the other hand we may want to have time for leisure. Both sides of the polarity have the potential to bring about much good. Over here we have economic security, prestige, power, choices, toys … over here we have quality relationships with friends, family, we have time to play, to learn and to volunteer … and yet both sides when they become a singular focus also have drawbacks … Over here we have stress, loss of relationship, inability to meet personal needs, emptiness or feeling trapped by the material things we have … over here we have trouble finding meaning, feel anonymous, lose a sense of identity, need to go without material things, find ourselves in debt.
When we look at these polarities, it's not like there's one good side and one bad side of the equation … when we look at polarities we try to figure out where we are and where we might want to be with regard to this one aspect of the complex system that makes up our lives … because when we look at life there are lots of polarities. On the one hand we want to grow spiritually and we want to grow in our life together as a church and on the other hand we also want the security and comfort of doing what we know and knowing what we're doing. There are polarities in relationships between control and trust, between doing what I want and doing what another person wants … there are polarities within us between self-denial and self-indulgence, between a desire to be productive and a desire for rest … and the one step up chart that Mike talked about earlier reminds us that there's a polarity around what to do with money … spend it, save it or give it to a worthwhile cause. We could easily come up with more … And believe me; I know as well as you do that there aren't very many easy answers because for each of these polarities there are values that back up every side of the discussion. It is hard to know what we want because really we do want a whole lot of things.
And that brings us back to Bartimaeus … When Jesus
asked, What do you want me to do for you?
He said I want to
see again
… And as soon as Bartimaeus was given what he
asked for, his response was immediately to walk with Jesus on the way
… but Bartimaeus started following even before he could see
… he cried out Jesus Son of David, have mercy on me, he threw
off his cloak sprang to his feet and came face to face with the Christ
in the middle of the crowd … it was no surprise that when
Bartimaeus was given sight he followed on the way of Christ because
what he asked for was that which was going to enable him to follow.
And that may be precisely the challenge … can we want what it would take for us to walk with Christ more closely. For some of us that may mean moving toward our career, for others it may mean moving away from our career. For some it may mean taking a risk, for others it may mean finding comfort again. For some when we fill out estimate of giving cards next week following Christ may mean moving up a step or even two or three steps on the chart, but for others following Christ may well mean staying where you are on the chart or even moving down a step and committing to put those resources toward planning for your kids future or your own … and yes I recognize that's not the traditional stewardship message … but I can't emphasize enough that stewardship is about using everything God's given to move where God's calling … and God's call on our lives isn't just about involvement in the United Parish. God's call is for all of us and it is on the whole of our lives. And that's really what this passage is about.
Yes, Bartimaeus followed Jesus on the way … and it's easy to see what he did to get there … he cried out, he sprang up and asked for what he needed … but it was all because he was paying attention, and responding to Jesus was already doing … It was Jesus who drew near to Bartimaeus in the first place. In the midst of the crowd, Jesus called Bartimaeus to himself. Jesus stood waiting for Bartimaeus to come; and Jesus asked what it was that Bartimaeus desired. And then Jesus enabled Bartimaeus to see … to follow, to walk with him on the way.
— What is it that you want from me?
Gracious Lord, May we have eyes to see how you are already at work in our lives and in the world around us, may we have wisdom to see where our focus needs to be in all of the polarities that make up our lives in all their complexity and may we have courage to walk with you immediately, this day and every day. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.
The foregoing sermon was given by Rev. Dan Holland at the United Parish of Bowie on October 25, 2009.
© 2009 Daniel Holland
