bartimaeushealed

Sunday, 25 October 2009

(NOTE for readers: At Crows Nest, the Guild celebrated its 70thanniversary. References to this even are in italics. Those who wish to use this sermon in a different  context can delete those parts without losing too much).

Mark 10:46-52 Jesus heals blind Bartimaeus
(46)  And they came to Jericho. And as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a great crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside. 
(47)  And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"
(48)  Many rebuked him, telling him to be silent.
But he cried out all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!"
(49) Jesus stopped and said, "Call him."
So they called the blind man, saying to him, "Take heart. Get up; he is calling you."
(50)  Throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus.
(51)  Jesus said to him, "What do you want me to do for you?"
The blind man said to him, "Rabbi, let me recover my sight."
(52)  Jesus said to him, "Go your way; your faith has made you well."
And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way.

Lord Jesus, you were pleased that Bartimaeus refused to be silenced and cried out to you for help. Give us courage to cry out to you with confidence. Open our eyes and help us to know you better this morning. Amen.

When you hear the name of Jesus, how do you react? With a yawn, or do you do as the blind begger Bartimaeus did, who, when he heard that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by, started to shout, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"?!

We are not supposed to shout in church, are we? We can shout at a football match. We can shout at other people who don’t seem to hear what we are saying, but shout to God? Yes! God is pleased when our hearts cry out to him, whether silently or with a loud voice!

Bartimaeus shouted to Jesus, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"
‘Have mercy on me’: This is the beggars cry. The last words of Martin Luther were ‘We are beggars, it is true!’ None of us is a righteous Pharisee, able to hold our heads up as we worship in the temple and proclaim loudly ‘how great we art’?! No, our cry is: Lord, How great You are! You have created an amazing world! You have made us. But we have gone wrong. We have sinned, and you have every right to cast us off and not let us go on into eternal life with you. But Lord God, though our sins are great, we believe that your mercy is greater! As Romans 6:20 says, ‘Where sin abounds, grace much more abounds.’ Ephesians 2:1 We were dead in our transgressions and sins…we have followed the desires of our sinful natures, and only deserved God’s anger and rejection. But, (Ephesians 2:4,5) “because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ, even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved.”
Bartimaeus dared to believe this! He was a beggar. Because of his blindness he did not have the ability to pay his own way. Sin has blinded us no less, and we cannot pay our way into God’s good books, no matter how hard we try. Most of the time we don’t try very hard anyway. Tokenism. That’s what we do. ‘Keep up appearances. Keep things dignified on the surface. Don’t let that cry in your heart escape…

‘Keep quiet, stay controlled, don’t you dare get out of your place’: this is what the crowd demanded of Bartimaeus. But he paid no attention to them! He shouted all the louder,
"Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" Why? Because he believed that Jesus was God’s messiah, come to bring salvation to his people, to all people. ‘Have mercy!’

Bartimaeus threw away his cloak when he got up to come to Jesus: it was probably his most important possession! How would he find it again? What if it got cold that night? He didn’t care, his heart was fixed on Jesus. He believed that through Jesus the curse of sin that was on his life would be lifted, and he would be healed.

In grace and tender mercy, the Lord Jesus responded to his cry, and he was healed.
It is never wrong to have confidence in Jesus! This is the consistent message of the gospels. Time and again Jesus celebrates the faith of spiritual and literal beggars. “
"Go your way; your faith has made you well."

Are you a beggar? I am. I have no right to a place in God’s kingdom, and no right to a position as his servant. ‘But God, who is rich in mercy, makes us alive in Christ: it is by grace we are saved, through faith.’

Like Bartimaeus, there are crowds in our lives, who want to discourage us, and tell us to give up our cries to the Lord. There are many who want us to be silent. To stay in our place – a place they have assigned us, but God doesn’t want us to be silent. ‘Call to me in the day of trouble. I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.’  Shout to the Lord, all the earth! Cry out to God, for the mercy he loves to give!

What does his mercy look like? When Bartimaeus came to Jesus, even before he was physically healed of his blindness, God’s mercy came to him in the words of Jesus, "What do you want me to do for you?" Hear the tenderness, the kindness, the personal care and consideration Jesus shows Bartimaeus.  We often make the mistake of assuming we know what someone else needs. We impose all kinds of solutions on others… without stopping to ask them, ‘What do you need?’ Jesus knew Bartimaeus. He knows us all. But he stopped, and asked him, "What do you want me to do for you?"
Hear the kindness and tenderness of Jesus, your Saviour, as he asks you the same question today.

Bartimaeus wanted to see again. Jesus rewarded his faith by restoring his sight. “Your faith has made you well," he said to Bartimaeus. Faith in Jesus makes us well, sometimes physically well, but always spiritually well.

[As we celebrate the Guild 70th anniversary today, it is faith in Christ that has made many women well, through many years. Through His Word, Jesus has called the women to himself. There may have been many, over the years who might have been discouraging. Not all husbands are supportive of the faith of women. Often it seems that the remarkable work of the women’s guilds and fellowships of our church gets overlooked, taken for granted, poorly valued… given the last few minutes of a district synod to give their report, when the delegates are all tired and just wanting to go home. But like each member of the Church, it is Christ who lives and works in the hearts of the women of the church. His love has sustained them, and led them to do much in serving the needs of this congregation and many  more people beyond. To God be the glory!]

As we go forward into the future [, whether we are part of the guild, or not,] we can be sure that God is a God of mercy, a God who hears our cries. He hears us, and asks us, now, what do you want me to do for you?

Maybe our response will be, Lord, help us to see. Help us to see you: to know you. To love you and to follow you, all the days of our life, For you are worthy of our utmost praise!  Amen!