October 29, 2006, Pentecost 21,  All Souls' Episcopal Church       

Blind Bart and Us|
Mark 10: 46-52

A sudden painful toothache caused a woman and her husband to interrupt their vacation to visit a dentist. “I want a tooth pulled,” the woman said, “and I don’t want novacaine or painkiller because I’m in a big hurry, Just extract the tooth as quickly as possible, and we’ll be on our way.” The dentist was taken aback by her insistence. “You are certainly a courageous woman,” he said. “Which tooth is it?” The woman turned to her husband and said, “Which tooth is it, dear?”

It is easy to take risks and become vulnerable, when the risk involves someone else’s life or someone else’s pain like the woman in our story. But are we as willing to come forward when we are the one who is vulnerable and could get hurt? Are we willing to “take a chance” or take an action in faith just like Bartimaeus did in our Gospel story. This miracle story is so rich in meaning and has much to offer to us this morning.  Without a moments hesitation or reflection exclaims, “Lord, that I might receive my sight”

For years, Bartimaeus confronted a need beyond his capacity to meet. It was also a need beyond the capacity of other humans in that day to meet. He was blind and he wanted to see. He was obviously very vulnerable, but this did not stop his courageous leap of faith. For Bartimaeus, had first cried out,  “Thou son of David, have mercy on me!” The cry was not simply a desperate plea: it carried in it a strong  affirmation of faith. For the cry affirmed his conviction that Jesus was the Messiah, the promised Son of David.

Surely, the secret of religious commitment can be found in this story. Also there is a quality in Bartimaeus that shines that I will discuss in a moment.

In all reality, though, you and I are like Bartimaeus. We have situations to confront which are quite beyond our capacity to unravel or resolve. Quite often, we are slow to recognize this truth, and slower still to act on it. Perhaps, we too feel vulnerable. A stubborn kind of pride also keeps us from being willing to admit there is something we can’t manage on our own. At times, I think more people are kept from religious commitment by the action of human pride than anything else. My friends, we need God, do we not?

The plight of Bartimaeus was tragic, but he recognized that he needed help. It was his humility, his lack of pride, his recognition that his need could be met only by Jesus that led him to cry out and ask.

Another thought, it is significant not only that Bartimaeus cried out, but that Jesus saw him! The blind beggar was not important as the world rates importance especially in their time. He was pathetic and helpless. On this Jericho road that was swarming with humanity, most people ignored him. Touched by a generous impulse, someone might toss him a coin, but most folks suffered from their own “blindness” and busyness and did not really “see” his need.

The people of that day as well as many of us in this day might make Bartimaeus’ cry our cry, “Lord, let me receive sight.” Let me see the lonely, let me see the hurting, let me see those with little self-confidence, let me see those who need someone to talk to, let me see where I can  make a positive difference in someone’s life. This kind of compassionate seeing is not something that applies to vast needs far away. These needs are here in our midst, in our community and in our pews.

This beautiful quality of compassionate insight is demonstrated in Arthur Miller’s play Death of a Salesman. The central figure in the play, if you’ll recall, was Willie Loman. He was no great success. He worked for 36 years as a salesman and never excelled. Haunted perhaps by the wrong dreams, he does not rate well with his bosses, and not very well with his own sons. He is a pathetic and tragic person. In the early part of the play, he learns that his territory has been taken from him, but, his wife, who he has not always treated well, will not let the sons treat their father with contempt, or ignore him and pretend he doesn’t exist. At one point, she says to one of the sons,

”I don’t say that he is a great man. Willy Loman never made a lot of money; his name was never in the paper. He’s not the finest character that ever lived; but he is a human being, and a terrible thing is happening to him. So attention must be paid. He’s not to be allowed to fall into his grave like an old dog. Attention….attention must be finally paid to such a person.”      (end of quote)

“Attention must be paid”……. You know……that’s a good way to sum up what Jesus enables believers (that’s you and me) to do. Just as Jesus saw Bartimaeus. Today’s believers are enabled to truly see the Willie Loman’s of our world……..and not just to see, but to really care as well and to pay attention. “Attention must be paid”………no matter how unimportant the world might think a person may be. If we take time to think about it, I’m sure all of us have folks around us in our daily lives that could use some “attention.”

And now I wish to emphasize another part of this colorful story. I alluded to this earlier. Bartimaeus cried out several times to Jesus and he would not be silenced. He was a persistent blind man.  Persistence pays. It pays in all walks of life. It can be seen rampantly and triumphantly active in the lives of explorers, and of scientists, and of reformers. It can be seen victorious in the lives of a Columbus, and a Livingston, in the Curies and an Alexander Graham Bell, and in a George Washington, and a Winston Churchill, and in a Socrates or a Florence Nightingale! They lived lives of persistence!!

And the precious theme of persistence has certainly overflowed into the realm of literature and the field of the film arts to give us such priceless gems as Moby Dick, The African Queen, Cool Hand Luke and The Bridge on the River Kwai……..all great examples and illustrations of the art and life of persistence!

Here is why I am emphasizing this: It is also obvious to see that Jesus admired persistence. He not only rewarded it in the person of blind Bart, but pictured it in the parables of the Lost Coin and the Lost Sheep; He admired it in the patient work of fishermen and in the Canaanite woman seeking His help. He sought it in His disciples, and He Himself lived it in His short 3 year ministry, and in His final trials, and, at the end, in His hanging in pain on the cruel Roman cross of crucifixion! He persevered in His divine and human mission to man…..and in the process changed the course of human history forever.

And it is Jesus that calls us to perseverance in our faith, who calls us to be persistent in the spiritual grasp of the life God has given us. In our story, Bartimaeus cast off his garment as he was called by Jesus. Now, Jesus asks us to be persistent in casting off the things that stifle the life and spirit to which God has called us to do. My friends, this is something we strive for; yes, it might take some time, but we are talking of persistence….not perfection!

One final point: this passage does more than stress the fact that Jesus saw Bartimaeus in the depth of his need. It roots religious commitment in the fact that Jesus heard the cry….the prayer… of Bartimaeus.

Evidently the crowd around Bartimaeus felt that it was wrong for him to make this request of Jesus. “And many rebuked him…telling him to hold His peace. They must have felt it was inappropriate for this blind beggar to make this request…..bringing up the question:

So, how are we supposed to pray? What do we pray for? Is prayer our “steering wheel” or is it our “spare tire” ( used only in emergencies)? Well, our Lord is the Lord of Life….the abundant life… the forgiven life…the whole life…the every little particle of life….the lord of a fulfilled humanity totally and complete. This Jesus…this Christ.. this Son of God wants each of us ( like Willie Loman) “to have attention”. And He gives attention to everything in our lives. This is the message that radiates from the Gospels. So, yes, let us pray for a complete and a rich humanity, for healing and wholeness, for others and, most certainly to make our prayers complete, for ourselves. Prayer is our soul’s deepest impulse, a deep personal impulse as we lay everything at His doorstep being  persistent in our prayers.

Let us each humbly acknowledge our dependence on God…totally, and to reach out for our divine calling and direction and ,yes, perhaps make ourselves vulnerable if it has to be. Bartimaeus could not be totally confident of Jesus’ reply to his cry of need, but remember what Jesus said to him as He healed him, ”Thy faith has made thee whole.” 

Jesus saw him as He sees us. Jesus heard Him as He hears us, and Jesus gave him sight as He will give us sight to see those around us in need.

My friends, we need Bartimaeus’ faith, courage and persistence to feed our own souls, to perfect our own humanity, and to prayerfully steer a Godly direction seeking God in everything we do. Please remember this:

Our Heavenly Father is always there….. He will always give us  “Attention”