Sunday 8th December 2024

 “Prepare a Way”  (Luke 3:1-6)

Intro:  In our reading this morning, Luke goes to great lengths to place John the Baptist in a concrete place and time.  From this specific point in history comes an eternal message, as  John says “Prepare, He is coming.”  //

Advent is a season of expectation and waiting.  It is a longing for something that has happened, but it is still not yet.  During this time of waiting for the birth of the Christ Child we do not sit idly by until December 25th , passing time by saying “Merry Christmas” or Happy Holidays and do nothing else.  This time preceding Christmas, is a time for preparations, we are actively “doing what needs to be done, and getting ready.” 

It is almost cliché and passé to speak about the “busyness of the season”, how crazy schedules get and all the things that can feel like anything but holiday cheer.  Yes, there are cards to write, presents to buy, and fruitcakes to bake.  But this morning I want to look at another side of our preparations for Christmas.  Not the things that we feel are obligations that we perhaps dread, but rather the things we look forward to, the work that is not work. Those things we do as we get ready for Christmas that bring a special joy.  Traditions that still surprise us with the power of the feeling they bring.  I’d like to look at some of those moments that stir us and soften our hearts.

To do this I will ask your help.  I would like to you to reflect on your Christmas preparations and bring to mind the thing you look forward to doing most, and consider what it means to you.  Think for a moment about doing this special thing.   And if you would like, I’d invite you talk with a neighbor for a few minutes and to share them in a minute.  Take just a moment to do that now. 

We have just shared some of those things we do, each very personal, each very real and central to our experience of Christmas.  These are examples of things are done to prepare for the Advent of Christ.  The significance of the good feeling that comes with doing them should not be missed.  That feeling, that sense of warmth, the love and joy and peace that comes, is a road where God comes straight to us.  It is a direct connection. That is what I think John is talking about when he says prepare a way for the Lord.  (It is some of what Paul is speaking of Philippians when he writes of love overflowing and determining what really matters)

Advent is a time for us to do something so that God can come into our lives.  That doing can be any number of things, it could be setting up a village, or hanging a star.  It could be baking or praying.  It may be sitting in a favorite chair and remembering.  We are to repent of hard hearts and hard headedness.  and be open feeling something wonderful as God comes to meet us in human form.  

Last week we heard about Christ’s second Advent on a global scale.  When all will see God at the same time.  Advent happens on an individual scale as well.   Christ comes at those times when we stand in awe saying  “Here is our God”  “Here is my God.” 

The coming of the Lord is a joyous thing, for which we should prepare with gladness and thanks in our hearts.  Luke quotes just a portion of the text from Isaiah that provides the call to make a path for God to come.  I’d like to close by reading the full passage.  It is Isaiah 40: 1-11.

40:1  Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God.  Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.  A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.  Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.  Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”  A voice says, “Cry out!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field.  The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the LORD blows upon it; surely the people are grass.  The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever.   Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!”   See, the Lord GOD comes with might, and his arm rules for him; his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.  He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep.

Sunday 1st December 2024

 “Anticipation” (Luke 21:25-36 )

Intro:  Today as we enter Advent, we begin the new church year.  The Christian calendar starts with the first Sunday of Advent.  As a curious twist, the first passage of the lectionary each year is usually about the “end of time.”   Our reading this morning comes from Luke, chapter 21. //

This Sunday begins the season of Advent.  It is the time that has been set aside for centuries for people to prepare anew for Christ’s coming at Christmas.  Advent is a Latin word that means “to come.”  The birth of Jesus Christ, the first time that God came to be with us in human form is rightly considered “Advent.”  And we are all familiar with the story of how Jesus came as a child.  But throughout the Bible God speaks of a return visit, a “coming again” of Christ.  The first Sunday in Advent has traditionally been set aside to consider the second coming or “advent” of our Lord.

There’s probably no Christian teaching that’s caused more excitement and confusion than what is often called the “second coming of Christ.”  As Christmas comes closer and the pace of preparation becomes more and more hectic, I can just imagine some saying, “I hope he does come and let’s just get it over with!”   There have been some interesting comparisons between frantic roaring shopping malls and the end of time but I won’t get into that.  

In one of my favorite Peanuts comic strips, Linus and Lucy are standing at the window looking out at the rain falling. Lucy says to Linus, “Boy, look at it  rain…What if it floods the earth?” Linus, the resident biblical scholar, answers, “It will never do that…in the ninth chapter of Genesis, God promised Noah that would never happen again, and the sign of the promise is the rainbow.” With a smile on her face, Lucy replies, “Linus, you’ve taken a great load off my mind.” To which Linus responds, “Sound theology has a way of doing that.”

“Sound theology,” the teachings of Jesus, will hopefully take a load off our minds about the second coming, but will also put a load on us – a load of discipleship and living in expectation.

This whole idea of Christ’s return, has been troublesome and confusing partly because of the kind of language the Bible uses to describe it. Scholars call passages like this one from Luke “apocalyptic literature”.  We find this style of writing in the Books of Daniel  and Revelation as well. It is a style that uses vivid, striking images to convey a message of hope and faith. It was used especially during times when God’s people were being severely oppressed.

Apocalyptic literature is heavily concerned with the movement from bondage to freedom.  And God’s preoccupation with bondage never ceases.  God is always acting.  But how God acts is never fully understood.  The signs in the stars and sun are hard to make sense of.  But this story brought hope to those who first read it.  The writer of Luke had a good sense of oppression.  He would have seen firsthand the Roman occupation of Jerusalem and the destruction of the city.  He would have seen Jews being forced to tear down the Temple with their own hands.  He would have seen all kinds of things that might look like the end of the world in the worst ways and yet he looked forward to the end time with hope, and expectation.   

While we today do not fully understand it.  We too, can still take hope from it.  We can  understand it’s essential message. When you put it all together, it’s saying,  “No matter how bad it looks, don’t give up the faith.  God is in control.  God is coming.”

I think that the church makes two mistakes in regard to the teaching of Christ’s return.

First, some do become obsessed with it. In fact, many claim to know too much about it. It’s not a bit confusing to them. They can pull out their charts, graphs and timetables to give you a very logical explanation about when the exact date is.  There have been a number of religious leaders that have convinced others to sell all they have because the second coming was coming in 1989, or 92, or 2016.  They have all been wrong so far. 

Reinhold Neibuhr, a Christian scholar, once said, “Some people claim to know the temperature of hell and the furniture of heaven.” The thing is we don’t.   Jesus said in Mark, the angels do not know, nor the Son.  And when he was asked in Acts 1 when the end times would take place, he tells them, “It is not for you to know the times or periods  that God has set.  We are not going to know.   But we are to live as though it could happen anytime. 

The other mistake the church makes is in treating this teaching too lightly or dismissing it altogether. Some see it as an outdated doctrine that causes more trouble and confusion than its worth. It’s no longer relevant for us.  To ignore it would be to miss a central truth to our faith.  If God is not coming again, if there is not somewhere, someday a completion of God’s will and work, where does that leave us? 

“Our task, in connection with the second coming, is neither denial on the one hand nor precise dating on the other, but simple obedience to  witness and to work now, doing the tasks which are within our scope.”  That’s the message. We are to live in expectation and anticipation that it could be. 

I do not believe that it was the desire of Jesus that talk of a second advent be frightening, or confusing. To the contrary, it is meant be a source of hope and assurance, a great stimulus to deeper discipleship, if we look at it with new eyes.  Eyes that can see the leaves of summer even in the midst of winter.  The fig tree that Jesus speaks of is a consoling image of God’s garden coming to life, a new creation about to spring forth.  This green and fruitful view of the future is very comforting in the midst of chaos; hope in the midst of chaos is a sign of faith.  We are people of faith. 

There are lots of signs of distress and problems with the world.  But here before us is an invitation to stand with our heads high in the middle of it all, and hold fast to the truth that God will come to meet us.  That “coming” that took place once in Bethlehem, it will take place on a world scale at some point in the future.

It is getting harder and harder to be a Christian these days, especially at Christmas.  If you said to someone at the office Christmas party what do you think about Christ coming again, you’d be standing by yourself pretty soon.   Many people have a hard enough time with the idea of God coming the first time.  It can be hard to see the joy and the wonder.  As we enter this time of advent.  Do we see God at the center of all this and do we see truth in the possibility of God’s coming again?  That is what we face in the reading this morning.  Do we think God will come again?  Do we live that way? 

This Advent season, let us be open to saying maybe.  Maybe it’s possible that God will come again.  It seems impossible to those outside the faith, it sounds impossible to many within the faith as well.  It is a rather “fantastic” idea.  But it is fantastic enough that all across the world there are preachers preaching about this, there are people who could be elsewhere, who are listening to them, hymns are being sung, prayers are being offered and it is fantastic that in a world like ours people still say at least maybe to the possibility of God at all.  But we do.  Thanks be to God who lives and reigns and will come again.   Amen.

Sunday 24th November 2024

“Auto-Pilate”  (John 18:33-38)

Intro:  Our reading this morning tells of Jesus’ encounter with Pilate.  It will be the day of his crucifixion.  When Pilate asks Jesus “are you a king?”  He couldn’t understand the answer Jesus gave us.  ///

Rarely do I feel the need to offer a warning or an explanation in advance of my sermons, today I feel I should mention that I have a pilots license, I used to fly little cessnas and sailplanes.  And I seem to think it is endlessly funny that “Pilate” the Roman governor, and “Pilot” the guy who flys a plane, sound the same. 

(Skit)  “Pilot to copilot, pilot to copilot come in please.  Pilot to copilot, can you read me?  Where is that twin brother of mine?  I guess I’ll just have to fly this plane alone.  I’m used to making all the decisions anyway.  I am the emperor’s representative in the occupied territory of Judea.  That’s where I’m going back to today.  Now Judea is not the most desirable of assignments, I know but I run it.  I’m governor.   I plan to work my way up in time, so I want to do a good job.  I need to be on site for the upcoming Jewish Passover, I’ve found it helps keep the peace if I’m there.  Excuse me, I better check in with ground control.  “Ground, this is Centurion 7913G ready for departure.  Runway 13 right.”  I’ll just get this off the ground and we’ll be on our way.  I’m looking forward to getting back, my wife Claudia is in Judea now.  She says I work too much and that I’m away too often.  But whenever I go away, she leaves a light on.  Although I worry about our relationship, the light she leaves on keeps getting smaller and smaller.  First it was the front porch light, then the living room light.  Now she just leaves the little one on the stove lit.  The pilot light.   Enough about that.  Let’s talk flying.   I love flying.  You pull up, and you go up, you push down and you go down.  Cause, effect.  It’s all rational and understandable.   There is a precision to it.  That’s what I like, things that make sense.  It’s easy to make decisions up here because you know what will happen.

There is no way to overstate the power and drama of our scripture, this moment as Jesus came before Pilate.  Jesus knew what was going to happen, how the world was about to change, Pilate did not.  Here are two men with some things in common, and one huge difference.  They were both about the same age, both of them passionate, committed, opinionated about what they believed.  They could be bullheaded at times, too.  I imagine they were both quite intelligent.  All these things one could suppose they shared in common.  The thing that divided them so far apart, was how they thought.

Jesus was a Jew.  Pilate was a Roman.  And Pilate never understood the Jews.  That must have drove him nuts.  He was sent on assignment to Judea to be the over seer of the Roman occupation and he had to deal with such different culture.  As a Roman he prized reason and logic, straight forward questions with straight forward answers.  Cause and effect, rules and regulation.  Just get the system set up and maintain it.  Ask a question and expect an answer that is to the point. 

The Jews however, would answer questions with stories, or worse yet even more questions.  Think of how Jesus would often teach in parables and how wide open parables are to varying interpretations.  The scribes brought Jesus before Pilate without really answering the question of “what has he done wrong”  They bring him forward and say “kill him, he is blaspheming.” 

Jesus is brought before Pilate, and Pilate wants to do what is appropriate and necessary.  Although Jewish life was seen as having little or no value, he did not want to order an execution with no reason.  Blasphemy was not a Roman crime.    

The high priests then accuse Jesus of leading a revolt against the emperor in Rome.  They said he claimed to be a King.  Kings and emperors.  Pilate knew about those.  And if Jesus was leading a revolt that would be a crime.  But this man did not act like a king or revolutionary.  So Pilate asks Jesus directly.  “Are you the king of the Jews?  Jesus replies “my Kingdom is not of this world.” 

He wasn’t saying that it was a kingdom off in the clouds somewhere, a kingdom literally “out of this world.”  Jesus went on to elaborate the kinds of kingdoms that Pilate knew all about.  Ones that depend on raw power, that are maintained by force. 

If Jesus were an earthly king his followers would have fought to protect him.  In fact, Peter had just tried to do that in the garden.  But Jesus told him to put away his sword.  The kingdom he belonged to was different. 

In that circular, poetic style of his, Jesus was telling Pilate “The kingdom I belong to is not like the kingdoms of this world.  It’s not even a kingdom as humans usually understand kingdoms. 

As long as we think about the kingdom of God in a geographical of territorial way, as we think about the Roman Empire or the country of the United States, we’re always going to think of God’s kingdom as being somewhere or sometime. 

But Jesus said, “my kingdom is not of this world.  If it is not somewhere what can it be?  Every king we know has a kingdom.  Whether it is the king of England, the ring of rock and roll, even the lion king had a particular time and place that defined the kingdom. 

Jesus was at the day of his death.  Throughout his whole life he knew, he believed, that in him the kingdom had come.  Jesus lived on earth, but he lived as no one else ever has, in God’s kingdom.  Everything he did, and said and lived, he revealed the love, the influence and the grace of God. 

Pilate asks “what is truth”  Jesus lived the answer.  God’s kingdom exists in people and God’s Kingdom is most visible in him.  If we can stop thinking of the Kingdom as somewhere, or sometime, and start thinking of it as someone, a whole lot of what Jesus said will make a lot more sense.  If we can get beyond our seeking logical reasoned answers, if we can turn off our “auto-pilots” that guide us though a cause and effect universe.  Then we can begin to see the truth is not “an idea with merit.”  Truth is felt, it is acted out and enacted in life.  Truth in Hebrew means more literally “trustworthy” or “faithful” and it is a term more descriptive of a person than any intellectual proposition. 

Pilate asks what is truth.  Jesus’ word’s are describing who is truth.  Earlier in the Gospel Jesus says “I am the way the truth and the life.” 

In his institutes on religion, John Calvin reminds us “To see the kingdom of God is to inherit it… But those who identify the kingdom of God with heaven are mistaken; the kingdom means rather the spiritual life, which begins in this life by faith, and in which we grow daily as we progress in constant faith.   

As we pushed back from Thanksgiving tables, let us be thankful not for all the things in our lives, but all the blessing, all the signs of the Kingdom that come to us through people, relationships.  Let us be thankful for the truth that is not found out there, but within us.  As God is in us.  Amen.    

Sunday 10th November 2024 ~ Rev Dan Yeazel

“What Happens Next?” (Mark 12:38-44)

Intro:  Our New Testament reading is from Mark.  As he often does, Mark puts two stories back-to-back in order to emphasize a point.  Jesus is in the temple with the disciples and they aren’t at worship, they are instead watching people.  Jesus says look at those leaders who like good seats and long prayers, don’t do what they do.  Then says take notice of this elderly woman, watch what she does.  Let us listen for God’s word as it comes through Mark’s words.  ///

I’d like to do something a little different this morning.  Our text is a conversation between Jesus and the disciples about giving to church and I’d like to start out by inviting you to have a conversation with the person next to you (or a few people near you) and consider in what ways this woman can be seen as foolish and in what ways this woman can be seen as faithful as she puts her last two coins in the offering box. This will only be a few minutes, so please don’t exchange recipes or have the conversations you can have over tea, please do try to name ways that she can be seen as foolish and how she can be seen as faithful.   Take a few minutes to do that.  (Discussion time)

In what ways Foolish / in what ways Faithful?  Does anyone have any observations they would want to share?  —-

I imagine you came up with many more good thoughts on each side of this question.  On one hand we can ask “how could this poor woman give everything away?”  What was she thinking?   And perhaps we might ask, if you’re going to give it all away “why would she give it all to church?”  Did she really think that God needed her two small coins?   Did she think that somehow her gift would actually matter in the big scheme?  We don’t know what she was thinking, we are left to guess and wonder at her motivation. 

But she is motivated, she acts and Jesus calls our attention to her and her gift. He says hers is the greatest gift.  There is something about her actions that Jesus notices and lifts her up as an image of faithfulness.  For two thousand years her “two cents worth” has been talked about.  And remember that of all the things that Jesus taught about, money was second only to “the Kingdom of God”.  Jesus often spoke about money. 

The powerful image of the widow coming forward to offer her only two coins has been often misused for many years in efforts to increase giving to the church.  Here is the ideal giver, it’s been said, or preached.  If this woman could dig so deep and sacrifice so much, as Jesus notes, why can’t the rest of us?  She gave everything she had and so should we.  Some like to note that she was a percentage giver – “100%” of what she had.  Let’s all do the same.  There are some churches badger people into giving by saying “God is watching what you put in the plate so make it splashy”  In Kenya, at one service I attended there was a special offering taken where each person came forward to make their offering and not only was the giver identified, but the amount of the gift was as well.  Mr. Kariuki gives 300 Shillings.  Everyone clapped for each  gift, but I don’t think it would catch on here.

The story of the widow’s mite has also been used by some as an example of bad stewardship and a reason to not give to the church.  Some people take delight in pointing out what a corrupt institution this must have been that would take the last coins from the poorest of the poor.  What kind of religious community would encourage that?  What kind of church would accept this gift?  Some say she must have been tricked or guilted out of all of her money and that is not right.  She wasn’t.  So I’m not going to say that this morning either. 

What I do want to is try to picture this story as vividly as possible.  Jesus did sit and watch as people came to offer their gifts.  He and the disciples are just sitting with their backs to the wall in the rear of the temple.  People would come and go and leave gifts in one of the 13 boxes in the back.  As always Jesus takes the opportunity to make a profound teaching from everyday events.  He notes that some people give from their abundance and his words are a challenge to consider how much one had truly sacrificed to give as they did.  But then he focuses on an elderly woman, a widow.  She quietly drops two coins in the box as she leaves.  He calls her action to the attention of the disciples.  Look, she what she has done.  Hers is the greatest gift for she has given out of her poverty.  She is a devoted woman who was not afraid to give all she has to God.  She has given her whole life because of her faith. 

I heard a story in Africa about a time when the offering plate went around a man took the plate and gently set it on the ground, and then he stood in it to show the depth of his conviction and his desire to give it all to God.  I don’t know how the ushers picked up the plate without hurting their backs.  That image of standing in the offering plate in one that stuck with me.  The woman in our story was doing something like that and I would like to focus on the woman this morning. 

The question I have, that is not answered in out text is what was the woman thinking and feeling as she did this?  One of the most engaging things to do when reading scripture to make the stories come to life in your head, and fill in the parts that are not told.  As this woman brings her gift, what was it like for her?  I don’t think she was pressured to make the gift.  But one wonders is this something that she had done many times before?  Was she accustomed to emptying her pockets as she left the temple, knowing that God would provide for her in the coming week?  If so her act might be one of joyful confidence, she may have dropped her coins in saying, “here you go God.  Thanks for everything, see you next week!”  She knew what would come next.  She may have found a way of living that God got everything but just the basics of what it took to live on.  The thought that she was used to putting everything in was a new idea to me. 

I had always had a picture of a very old woman, walking with a shuffling step.  In my mind, even though she had been through some hard times, her heart was filled with a sense of loving gratitude toward God.  Her gift of two small copper coins was a sacrificial gift of a truly grateful heart.  She had not done this before.  She was responding to a need to give from within her and this day it was to give it all away.  She was going to be OK; she would make this gift and then see what comes.  But she didn’t know what would come next, really.  That’s how I had often pictured it. 

From this moment on my life is in your hands” When you ride across the heavens in all your glory.  I will be like a cocklebur sticking in your saddle blanket! 

Giving is an act of faith.  We don’t know what motivates another to give.  We may not ever know what is clearly going on within ourselves as we live out our faith and make our commitments to God.  Some may know the joy of God filling us up faster than we can give ourselves away.  Some may feel like sacrificial giving is too much of a sacrifice. 

But we know that no matter what we bring before God, in loving transformation God uses whatever is brought, for good.  If we put our whole selves in the plate, or even just a little bit, God will bless and use whatever is there.  Amen.

Sunday 27th October 2024 ~ Rev Dan Yeazel

“What Do You Want Me to Do for You?”  (Mark 10:46-52)

Intro:  Today we read the last of Jesus’ miracles in Mark’s gospel.  It is the healing of a blind man who shows a bold faith that is rightly placed.  Jesus and the disciples are heading for Jerusalem, they are in Jericho as they encounter the blind Bartimaeus.  // 

Many years ago, when I was in my first year high school (about 14 years old) I had one of my first “big adventure when I took an AMTRAK train out to the New York City all by myself to visit a friend who had moved there.  My welcome to the big apple started when I innocently asked a local for directions.  I had come into Grand Central station and was headed for Penn station to catch a subway train.  So I asked somebody, “which way?”  I was too young and trusting to be suspicious of this guy when he said “I can tell you where to go” and he pointed me in exactly the wrong direction. 

When I finally got on the subway, I remember what my friend had said about riding the trains, “Dan if you want to fit in, don’t look at anybody, and pretend like you know exactly what you are doing, walk with attitude.”  Things started out OK, I got on the right car, had my face fixed with that certain “don’t mess with me” look, and I sat down.  A few minutes into the ride that all went out the window as I got startled when someone came and shoved a pencil in my hand with a note saying “I cannot speak, selling these pencils is the only way I can make a living, God bless you”.  And he stood there, waiting for me to make up my mind.  I gave it back and shook my head, not wanting this exchange to go on any longer than it had to, he moved on to someone else and then was gone.   

As I left the train, I hoped I wouldn’t bump into him again.  I didn’t want to be asked once more, or shamed by guilt into buying something, or reminded of his difficult situation. There was a mixture of reactions within me, part feeling sorry that anyone comes to such a difficult place, and a more powerful feeling of self-protection and wanting to beware of scams.  I didn’t want to take much time or do much work to figure out what his situation was, to know if his need was genuine, so I chose to send him on and I carried on.  It’s an attitude that isn’t easy to outgrow.  Many of us feel this way, even if we don’t like to admit it.  We have become adept at waving away panhandlers, avoiding eye contact with beggars, stepping around the homeless.  We become numb to the hardships we see on the evening news every day.  (I know each day driving in to work that most likely I’ll have an offer to clean my windscreen on the corner of Buckley and Linwood.   

The story of Bartimaeus is played out a million times a day.  The crowd marches by and does not see the suffering man beside the road.  One wonders who is truly sightless in the story – blind Bartimaeus or the unseeing crowds who passed him by without a second glance.  Even when he cries out for help, the crowds try to hush his disturbing voice.  It seems ironic that claim that their eyes are so firmly fixed on the Saviour, that they entirely overlook the man in need of help. 

Jesus didn’t overlook Bartimaeus.  Jesus never lost the ability to see people in need, whether hungry, or sick, or downtrodden.  He was never too busy to stop for someone who was hurting.  To be sure we cannot heal every hurt.  But we can learn to see those who are in need, maybe get past the awkwardness of asking “Is something wrong?  Can I help?”  Every healing Jesus performed begins with the miracle of seeing someone in need.  Seeing alone will not always help, there can surely be no help without recognizing it. 

Mark includes an interesting detail in his narrative.  He tells us that Bartimaeus came to Jesus after throwing off his cloak.  Some commentators believe that the blind wore a particular kind of garment in those days, a hooded cloak that was designed to hide the upper part of the face. The blank stare of blind eyes was unsettling to many people.  By wearing a cloak that covered their eyes, the blind could move through the crowds without making others uncomfortable. 

 We can perhaps wonder if the world has not changed much.  We are still uncomfortable with the pain and disability of others.   I remember being surprised when a patient once told me that her crutches and leg braces gave her super power.  She said she has the gift of invisibility.  Everyday, she is able to move through crowds and no one acknowledges her presence or looks her in the eye. 

Bartimaeus apparently senses that Jesus is a man he can approach with uncovered eyes, unhidden pain, undisguised need.  He throws off the cloak of politeness and comes barefaced to Jesus.  And Jesus meets Bartimaeus as a fully human being, face to face, eye to eye.  In that meeting Bartimaeus is truly seen, and this is the beginning of his healing.

Bartimaeus is a timeless example of faith.  He calls out to God with his need.  Just the act of crying out is an act of faith, he believes something will happen, that God can do something.  It is faith when we express our deepest needs, giving voice to what is on our hearts.  Sometimes we don’t know what we need, sometimes we don’t ask for what we need.  Too often we hold things in, refusing to let pain show.  But we should not, we should speak up, even cry out just as the blind man did while others were telling him to keep quiet.  The disciples did not think that Jesus should be bothered with his problems.

That is another dimension of his faith, he persists, even while others would try to keep him silent.  Jesus responds to his persistence with the question others have heard “What would you have me do for you?” The most important phrase in this wonderful story comes from Jesus. He asks the beggar a crucial question which makes the healing possible – “What is it that you want me to do for you? How does your life need to be new and different in order for you to be whole and strong and free? What needs to change in your life in order for you to be fully alive??

And he is ready with an answer.  He does not wish for riches, or to be made young, or to be a king.  He asks for his sight back.  I want to see again.  And Jesus says yes.  He says his faith has opened his eyes.  The man can see, and now he chooses to follow Jesus.  What a great example of faith, to call out, to trust, to answer, to receive, and then to follow.      

Change – personal change, relational change, cultural change – change is at the very heart of individual and societal healing. And it takes great courage to participate in our own healing and wholeness – to participate in our own changing – to name what it is we need and want. Yes, in this story, Jesus could have offered comfortable charity. But he chose to offer uncomfortable change. And the new sight the beggar receives catapults him into a new kind of discipleship, a new kind of wholeness, a new kind of responsibility that demands transformation – transformation in him, and then through him, a transformation of the world. As one essayist has suggested, we are not human beings. We are human “becomings.”

With his actions Jesus was showing his earliest followers about changes needed.  This blind man’s faith has something to show them.   If they could open their eyes, they could become a group of disciples reaching out to the needy and welcoming all.  Jesus came to show there is room not only for the hale and hearty, but also for the blind and lame, the prisoners and even the ragged men with pencils and begging cups.  The way of Christ is wide enough for all, even for those who must be carried along.

This full experience of grace can only be a reality if we learn to see as Jesus saw.  If we open our eyes and our arms, there’s no reason for anyone to be left sitting by the side of the road while grace passes by.   As we draw closer to God, may we be willing to let go of our expectations of how God ought to be, and be willing to cry out with our most desperate needs.  For it is in the place of greatest poverty and need that Christ can enter into our lives.  May we follow where our loving God will lead.  Amen.