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Proper 25 B 2015Mark 10:46-52Jesus said, “What do you want me to do for you?” I was tempted to have the ushers hand out 3x5 index cards and ask you to write down the one thing you would like Jesus to do for you. Please understand, I don’t believe in using our worship service like some heavenly vending machine where we insert a prayer and then press a button to select our desire for wealth, fewer wrinkles, or victory for our alma mater in football. Likely God would choose to pass on such opportunities to intervene in our affairs. Yet, in truth, all of us have genuine needs which we can and should lay before God’s throne.Maybe you are in need of healing, especially since some diseases and conditions have no known cure. Jesus may be our last hope and so we might write on that card, “Please heal me of my cancer, or please heal my failing heart.” Maybe your request would be for someone you love. You might write on that card, “Lord, my grandson is struggling to overcome an addiction to cocaine. Help him to be strong” Or, “Lord, my daughter’s marriage is coming apart.” The needs that we have seem endless. What would you have Jesus do for you or someone you love?A man named Bartimaeus sat by the roadside begging. Most of us don’t like beggars. They make us uncomfortable. If we pass them by, we feel guilty. If we give them money, we wonder if we have been duped. We assume they’ll only use the money to buy alcohol or drugs. But imagine if you had no other source of income? Imagine there was no safety net even for the poorest of the poor. Welcome to Bartimaeus’ world. There was no Goodwill industry committed to helping the blind. No Lions’ Club to buy you a cane and no Southeastern Guide Dogs to provide you with a service animal. No Social Security Disability checks. You were on your own and you lived in a world of perpetual, impenetrable darkness.You wouldn’t like begging either, but you had no other option. So you sit there day after day totally dependent on the kindness of strangers. But not every stranger is kind and the gifts are meager, but still you sit there because you have no other way to survive. One day you hear that a man named Jesus, reputed to be a healer, is passing by. For one precious moment a glimmer of hope enters your life. And so, even though there is a large crowd all around who have also been drawn to see this itinerant rabbi turned miracle worker, you suddenly begin to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Your behavior is embarrassing, annoying. People yell at you to be quiet. You’re making a spectacle of yourself. But you shout even louder with no idea whether Jesus can hear you at all, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”Have you ever been there where Bartimaeus was that day?” Some of you have. Perhaps you weren’t worried about losing your sight, but some other problem too big for you to handle was staring you right in the face. You had been to your doctor, your priest, your accountant, but you were still without answers and direction. The only one who could help you now was Jesus, and so you prayed, “Lord, please hear my prayer. O God, have mercy on me.” If you have never been where Bartimaeus was that day, some day you will be. I’m sorry to tell you that, but it’s true. Life takes some strange twists and turns. Some of you have already learned that. The rest of us will learn it sooner or later. Bartimaeus was shouting over the din of this large crowd of people accompanying Jesus, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” Then, Mark tells us Jesus stopped. Wow, what powerful words of hope! Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.”There have been times when Jesus has stopped for me. Not all the time, of course, but I know in my heart of hearts there have been times when Jesus heard my cries and stopped. But there have been other times when it felt like he just kept on walking. I know he did stop and that he did listen to my plea but when my prayer wasn’t answered in just the way I had wanted, I shut him out.But today Jesus did stop. He stopped for Bartimaeus. People started nudging Bartimaeus, saying with excitement, “Take heart. Get up. He’s calling you.” I love these next words, “So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus”. Bartimaeus was not going to let this golden opportunity pass him by. That’s key to the message of this passage. Some people let life beat them down to the point that they simply quit trying. That is the worst thing you can do.Erik Weihenmayer may not be a name you recognize but it is likely you have seen his face on the cover of Time magazine, in any number of other publications, or on TV. Although he is blind, Erik has climbed several of world’s highest peaks including Mt. Everest. Last fall, along with another blind colleague, Erik kayaked down 277 miles of the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. After climbing El Capitan, the 3,000 foot sheer rock face in Yosemite, Erik said, “Someone told me that blind people need to realize their limitations; but I think it’s more exciting to realize my potential.” What an attitude!Bartimaeus lived a much more limited life than Erik Weihenmayer, but I believe he shared the same spirit of strength and courage. An opportunity came for him to be more, and do more, and he jumped at it. Never give up. There is much truth in the old saying, “where there is a will, there is a way.”Speaking of old sayings, let me tell you about turning a blind eye. In the naval battle of Copenhagen in 1801, Horatio Nelson led the attack of the British fleet against a Danish enemy. The British fleet of the day was commanded by Admiral Sir Hyde Parker. Parker and Nelson disagreed over tactics and at one point Parker sent a signal by the use of flags for Nelson to disengage. Nelson, however, was convinced he could win if he persisted and that's when he 'turned a blind eye'. In a well-attested-to act of defiance, Nelson put his bad eye to the telescope and said, "You know, Foley, I have only one eye - and I have a right to be blind sometimes... I really do not see the signal."Sometimes it pays us to turn a blind eye to our obstacles in life and to focus our one good eye on our opportunities. Jesus called for Bartimaeus and Bartimaeus threw aside his cloak, jumped to his feet and came running to Jesus. He was not going to let this chance pass him by. Jesus asked Bartimaeus, “What do you want me to do for you?” and Bartimaeus replied, “Rabbi, I want to see.” Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.”I don’t pretend to understand such miracles. I certainly don’t know why some people experience healing and others do not. Sadly people sometimes feel guilty about the death of a loved one. “If only they had had more faith they would still be alive”. As a priest for almost 40 years I have seen far too many wonderful Christian people go through too many tragedies to entertain that thought even for a second.I believe that Bartimaeus’ determination to get well gave him a better shot at healing, so in that sense his faith played a role. But many people have had great faith in Jesus, but experienced no such miracle. It is a mystery – and in all honesty, I must acknowledge I am often skeptical about many reported healings – but I will still continue pray for those who are sick that they will be made well. God works where He will. And I trust God.Mark tells us that immediately after Bartimaeus received his sight he began to follow Jesus. Is this not perhaps the more important miracle? Bartimaeus was grateful for what Jesus had done for him and in response he followed Jesus. What’s so miraculous about that? I’ll tell you. There are countless people who have been gifted by God in so many ways, and yet they have ignored God altogether.Let me ask you a question. Which is better: to be like Bartimaeus who spent his youthful years blind and then received his sight as an adult, or like most of us, to have had the precious gift of sight all of our life ? Who is the more fortunate Bartimaeus, or you and me? Has not God blessed us in so many ways? So then, are we living a life filled with gratitude? Some of us are, but many of us are not.I began this sermon by asking you what you would have Jesus do for you. Some of us need to answer like Bartimaeus, “Rabbi, I want to see. I want to see my spiritual neglect. I want to see the person of gratitude and joy I could be if I gave myself to you. I want to see.”The great 19th century hymn writer Fanny Crosby became blind when she was only an infant due to an eye infection left untreated. From early childhood Fanny showed a gift for poetry and music. When she was only eight years old, she wrote this poem: Oh, what a happy child I am/ although I cannot see. /I am resolved that in this world / Contented I will be./How many blessings I enjoy / That other people don’t. /To weep and sigh / because I’m blind / I cannot and I won’t!Instead of being bitter and feeling sorry for herself, Fanny used the long life God gave her, some 95 years, to write over 8,000 hymns praising God including the great gospel song Blessed Assurance. Fanny Crosby saw things that other people do not. She saw God’s love for her in spite of her infirmity. She saw that her life still had value and that she could be a productive member of society. Although blind, Fanny Crosby could see more than many of us. My friends, what would you have Jesus do for you? How about helping you see how fortunate you really are, and to see how you could be living a life filled with gratitude. ................
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