“A Voice in the Crowd”
Psalm 38:1-4Philippians 2:1-5
Mark 10:46-52
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen
Mark both confounds and comforts us through the dramatic dialogue between the beggar and the crowd and between Jesus the crowd and the beggar.In his book A Master of Surprise Donald Juel identifies the chief barrier to understanding Mark: our inability to be surprised by the God who is both more dangerous and more promising then we dare imagine.
This story points towards both danger and promise. This is the day Jesus and his disciples set out on the road that ran through the center of Jericho to walk along the rocky desert terrain up to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. For Jesus this is a dangerous road leading to certain death.
It is a road well-traveled by pilgrims because the law required that every male Jew over the age of twelve who lived within fifteen miles of Jerusalem attend Passover.William Barclay explains that those who could not afford to make the trip lined the road to wish the travelers Godspeed on their journey.
Many of the 20,000 priests and Levites that served rotations at the temple lived in Jericho. At Passover all the priests were required to serve.So Jesus was surrounded by his disciples as well as pilgrims of all ages and many priests. Like other rabbis, he taught as they walked along until another voice was a heard, a desperate cry really, Jesus Son of David, have mercy on me!
An impatient crowd shouts the beggar down to no avail. Bartimaeus, son of Timaeus, cries even louder,Jesus Son of David, have mercy on me!And those are the words that make an old promise new.Mark writes, Bartimaeus heard that it was “Jesus of Nazareth.” This is an echo of Mark 1:24. When Jesus began his public ministry in the synagogue at Capernaum a man possessed by a demon shouted out, What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth…I know who you are, the Holy one of God! Then only evil spirits knew the identity of Jesus but now at the close of his public ministry this beggar knows as well.
Here on the threshold of the passion narrative it is a poor beggar at the northern gate of Jericho who shouts above the din of a crowd he can feel but not see, who raises a voice in the shadow of menacing footsteps and shoves. His voice pierces the heart of Jesus: for he calls Jesus by name the heir of King David.
Remember when Peter understood part of the story back in chapter 8 when he declared to Jesus, You areMessiah but insisted it would mean power not suffering?Now all these months later this blind beggar asks the King of Kings for mercy not power.
And so it is that Jesus has mercy upon him. The least likely man knows the true identity of Jesus. This is the first time in Mark’s Gospel that the royal lineage of Jesus is revealed. The crowd is momentarily awed: take heartget up he is calling you. Bartimaeus, son of Timaeus, which means son of honor bounds forward leaving his cloak behind.
Jesus asks, what do you want me to do for you? That is the very same question Jesus asked his favored disciples James and John sons of Zebedee earlier in this chapter. Their famous reply, to sit on your right and left hand in glory(Mark 10:36)is miles from that of the blind beggar who says, let me see again.
James and John want to follow Jesus and have power and honor. Bartimaeus seeks to see whatever the cost.In this last miracle of the Gospel of Mark the true disciple steps forward in faith and unlike all the other people Jesus had healed this man follows and there is a cost evident to the original audience.
A beggar’s cloak was the key to survival: warmth at night and source of income by day when pilgrims on the way to Jerusalem threw money at the huddled poor along the roadside. A cloak was deemed so important that Jewish law forbade anyone to accept it as a pledge and if borrowed it has to be returned by dusk.
Bartimaeus had something to lose and he risked his cloak and ran towards someone he could not see and ignored the crowd that shouted him down and rebuked him. It was a leap of faith. His faith is rewarded – he can now see.
After this incredible event, I would have expected Mark to report that Bartimaeus became a great disciple – a 13th apostle maybe?But quite the contrary – Jesus does not even invite him to follow him – his exact words were, Go, your faith has made you well.
Where does he go and what does he do? According to Mark he “followed him on the way.” On the other side of his suffering he did not go back for the cloak but forward in faith. He became a pilgrim on the way and went out to live like Jesus.
We see the contrast between a beggar that was healed in body and spirit and willingly follows Jesus and the apostles who never seem to recognize Jesus and who will in just a few days’ time abandon him altogether.
The apostles answered Jesus call to follow but their heart remained fixed on what they wanted. The beggar’s faith compels him to follow. In the words of Parker Palmer he let his life speak: speak about Jesus.
However the promise is still there: the apostles are at this point blind to Jesus but they are about to enter into Jerusalem – there they will in their own way endure suffering and loss.When they come out on the other side of it they will have experienced a miracle: Christ’s death revealed their blindness but his resurrection opened their eyes to see the son of God.
In her commentary on this passage, The Reverend Cynthia Jarvis calls miracles a glimpse of God’s final intention…events that bring people from darkness into the light. They fix our attention on what really matters. Miracles claim no power but reveal the One who made us for love’s sake.This week I invite you to consider the question of miracles: do we believe in them?
Well yes of course. I saw one last night: the Cubs beat the Cardinals. I know that reports of the game are closer to the truth: physical and mental errors, a unique strategy Joe Madden called the Zimmer bunt play, a gifted pitcher etc.
To me faith is a miracle. It is something we cannot see for which we have no concrete evidence yet it changes everything. Faith in Jesus Christ who conquered death gives life, restores life and sustains life even in the midst of loss, pain and devastation.
To walk in faith is not easy. Last week an elder led devotions at the Committee on Ministry meeting. He began by quoting a sports figure that started a press conference with, “Well first I want to thank God for our loss.” Then he asked in all seriousness about how to respond to our church members who are wondering about God as one horrific event follows another flooding in South Carolina, fires in California, shootings on college campuses, ISIS, racial violence etc. he said he had been thinking about how pastors respond.
All was quiet; one pastor spoke: yes it is true some lose their faith. I am reading a biography of Kissinger and his experience in the Holocaust cost him his faith – he walked away from it. We prayed.
Later that day I came across an article about the Canadian multimillionaire Robert Herjavec of Shark Tankand Dancing with the Stars. He said in the interview that after a devastating divorce he woke up one night and wanted to end it…All I could think was, I can’t go on.He attributes his survival to working in a Seattle homeless shelter for 2 and half weeks at the suggestion of his Congregational minister. He said he emerged from his crisis stronger, more empathetic and more balanced.
The answer to the cry, Jesus son of David, have mercy on mewas and is mercy and that is what led the beggar to abandon his cloak, step out in faith and follow Jesus into Jerusalem all the way to Golgotha.Jesus asks, What would you have me do for you?May we say with Bartimaeus son of Timaeus my teacher let me see again.
May we, like Bartimaeus, walk by faith to follow whereverJesus leads us even if it means waiting upon the Lord for an installed pastor and praying our way through natural catastrophes and world events that bespeak an evil only God can overcome. Amen
The Reverend Elizabeth Kuehl
Hope United Presbyterian Church
October 11, 2015
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