GOD’S WORD FOR US

October 18, 2009

THE RESPONSIVE LESSON is Psalm 34

This psalm is filled with the joyous cries of a person who has survived troubled times.  This is a song of thanksgiving to a God who listens and answers. 

I will bless God at all times,

God's praise will continually be in my mouth.

My soul will glory in God, the humble will hear and be glad.

O magnify God with me, let us exalt God's name together.

I sought God, who answered me,

          and freed me from all my fears.

Look to the Most High, and let your light shine,

and your faces will not be ashamed.

This poor soul cried out and God heard,

          and saved me from all my troubles. 

Your angel, O God, keeps guard over those who fear you

and delivers them.

Taste and see that our God is good.

          Happy are those who take refuge in God.

for those who fear God lack nothing.

Strong lions suffer want and go hungry,

          but those who seek God lack no good thing.  R

THE GOSPEL LESSON  is Mark 10:46-52

On their way into Jericho, Jesus and his disciples are confronted by a blind beggar who asks for healing.

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.

Who says,  “Take heart?”

          If you know the basic Jesus story , then you know how often he touched people and make them well.   But the surprising thing is that before he touched them, he tried to engage them in conversation.  He wanted to know who they  were and what they  were looking for.  Jesus asked questions so they would ask themselves questions.

          Jesus asks  Bartimaeus,  “What do you want me to do for you?”  That’s  a question he often asks.  

          Sometimes it seems so obvious but he asks anyway.   “Bartimaeus just exactly what is it that you want me to do?”

          This is a communication principle that we think we have invented.  Don’t assume, you’ll probably get it wrong. 

                                                _____

          Jan seems to always be baking on Saturday for something or other.  She was again yesterday for our week-late turkey dinner.  I am often sent off to the store at the last minute to pick up a few forgotten items.  I usually ask for  a clear list of things to buy at the store.  I ask ,  “Okay yogurt, but what size of yogurt do you want?  Is it no saturated fat, or trans fat free or low fat?  Is it fruit on the top or fruit mixed in?  What size?  What brand?  And this is usually my downfall, what’s the right substitute if it’s not there?

          Sometimes I resort to taking along an empty yogurt container.  If there’s a long list, I get strange looks from people as I take my cart down the aisle with several empty containers.  We try not to assume we know, but it happens.

                                                _____

          Jesus has this incredible way of cutting through the communication bog.  He asks ,  “Are you sure you have thought this through?  Is this one thing what you really  want?”

          Once the question has been asked and a challenge presented, the next hurdle is deciding if we will step forward.  Now we move from the ones asking the question to the ones hearing the challenge.  Now we are in Bartimaeus’ place.  And if it is hard to ask one clear question, then it is equally hard to  leave where we’ve been sitting and take a fresh step into the unknown.

           What do you want me to do for you?

           That’s an excellent question.   You could change the whole conversation by asking that.  In fact your could change the whole direction of a relationship or a family or a church by asking that question. 

                                                ___   

          Jesus starts with,”What do you want me to do for you?”  And sooner or later he also asks, “And what are you going to do for others? 

                                                _____

          Author William Willomon spent some time as a church school teacher with the grade six class.  It was  a tough little crowd.  He was telling them with as much vivid detail as he could about the arrest, trial and crucifixion of Jesus.  - how the soldiers and Pilate did him in and how the crowd turned their backs on him.

          One of the children’s hands went up. 

“Yes Bradford, what is it?”

          “I wanna know where were the rest of them?”

“Rest of who, Bradford?”

          “The disciples.  where were they  when things got rough for Jesus?”

“The disciples?  Oh, they were long gone,” the teacher answered.

          “No, the rest of them,” he persisted.  “Where were they?  What about all the ones he helped, the ones he healed?  Now that they had two good legs to walk, two good eyes to see.  Where were they  when the soldiers came to get Jesus?”

          “Well, I don’t know Bradford.”

          “Yes you do,” the little fellow said softly.  “They got what they  wanted.  Now they  was gone.”

Bradford was right.  There were some who said to Jesus , Do this for me and didn’t hang around to  hear the follow up question.  But that’s life.  You can’t let that make you resentful or cynical.   You offer your gift .  You keep loving.  You keep being faithful.  Otherwise you become fickle like the crowd.  And the crowd in the gospels is not the group to follow.  Except in this one story.  It’s not only Bartimaeus that changes here, but the whole crowd changes too.

           The crowds begin by telling the blind but noisy beggar to be quiet.  They don’t want to be embarrassed in front of  a visiting celebrity.   Bartimaeus has to overcome this peer pressure.  And eventually the crowd turns around.  Jesus calls for him and the crowd says to him,  “Take heart.  Get up, he is calling you.”  The crowd here sounds a lot like Jesus.

           Jesus spoke that very  word to the disciples who were being swamped in a storm on the lake.  Jesus arrived on the turbulent scene and said to the shaky disciples,  “I’m here with you.  Take courage.   Take heart. “

          That’s  the word that Bartimaeus needed.  Someone to say,  “Take heart.  You are not alone.  Get up.”  That’s the grace in this story .  When you feel like you are sinking or when you are stuck,  faith means believing that you are not alone.   “We are not alone;  We live in God’s world.”  Someone around you has a word of encouragement.    We may miss it if we are waiting for something bigger and better but if you are watching for it, listening for it, then it will come to you.  “Take heart.  Get up.  He is calling you. “

                                                _____

          Did you know that of all the people Jesus healed, we only know the name of one.  Bartimaeus.  Some think that is because Bartimaeus followed Jesus  and that when this story was written down 30 or 40 years later, Bartimaeus was still known to the community.  

          You can imagine decades later, that the next generation might be sceptical of their parents’ stories of Jesus.  They would ask whether any of the old stories were really true and and the answer would be, 

          “Why don’t you ask  old Bartimaeus.  He’s the Church School super- intendent over at the Jericho Church.  Year ago he was a street person.  Ask him to tell you his story. ”  

          And so the stories were passed down by those who had encountered new life.  For every  Bartimaeus there would have been others who did not literally regain their sight or get a cure, but still had been given the energy and desire to offer something valuable to the community, to tip it in the direction of wholeness.  Their stories were and are just as valuable.  Those who do good despite challenges are often an even greater inspiration to us all.

           In the end it was the crowd who helped.  It was the community around Bartimaeus that moved from shushing him to encouraging him.  Who says, Take heart ?  Well, it was the whole community.  They were ones who brought good news  to the one who needed it.

          That’s why all of us here are involved in the ministry of wellness of wholeness making.

           In one of Paul’s letters he quotes a verse from Isaiah, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.”

          It’s an odd metaphor.  Why not how beautiful are the stained glass windows, or the warm handshakes or the words.   Why feet?

          Thomas Long says  the reason is that before we open our mouths to speak any good words, we need to burn a little shoe leather to journey to the ones who need some words of comfort.  Whether we are walking down the halls of a hospital corridor, or into the visitation room of a funeral or down the street to a neighbour’s house or sending a card of support.

           We can never walk in someone else’s shoes, but we can walk toward them or alongside them for awhile on the way.  That was the first name for the Christians, the Way, the journey .

          How beautiful are the feet of those who walk the road here at Emmanuel and share good news.  How beautiful it is when we can say to one another in word or action, take heart.  Find courage.  You are not alone.  We are travelling together.

With thanks to:

Francis Chisholm, Thomas Long, Steve Shoemaker, William Willomon,