Sermon by Donna Lockhart, Seminarian Intern, based on Mark 10:44-52
What powerful words of call we hear in today’s Gospel message
“Take heart; get up, he is calling you.” Jesus is calling you; Jesus is calling me; Jesus is calling all of us! As we read in today’s Gospel, Jesus instructs the crowd he is traveling with to summon the poor, marginalized, blind Bartimaeus.
And as Bartimaeus comes close to Jesus, Jesus asks him what he wants. Bartimaeus tells Jesus that all he wants is to be able to see again. And with those words, Jesus tells Bartimaeus, “Go, your faith has made you well!”
Is it really that simple? All we have to do is keep the faith, answer the call of Jesus, and then we are made well? Figuratively speaking, yes, it really is that simple, but we all know, that in reality, answering the call of our Maker, and stepping into the healing grace of God, can be anything but simple.
So, what holds us back from answering Jesus’ call and offer for healing?
What holds us back from flinging off our cloaks of security like Bartimaeus did and following Jesus? What keeps us and our society from the healing presence of our Lord.
I don’t have an easy answer for this question, because in all honesty I can’t completely answer it for myself. I do know that healing is a lifelong process, that involves our whole selves; body, mind and spirit; our emotional, spiritual, and physical selves. Indeed, these are many parts of who we are, many parts of our one body, all interconnected, and interdependent, one onto the other.
We can’t have a true healing of our bodies, if we don’t also heal the emotional and spiritual impact of whatever has ailed us.And likewise, we can’t expect our physical being to perform at full capacity if we are not caring for our spiritual and emotional selves as well. Taking the thought of one body and many parts even further, can any of us be wholly healed, if even one of us is suffering?
As Christians, the answer to this question must be NO. So, again, I ask, what keeps us from throwing off our cloaks, answering the call, and leaning into the healing power of Christ?
The story of Bartimaeus teaches us about faith and healing, [not only of our own personal selves, but of society as a whole] It is a story of courage in the face of adversity, and shows us the divine love and mercy that Jesus embodies in every healing miracle, in every meal eaten with society’s outcast, and with every act of kindness bestowed.
In my mind I can picture Bartimaeus sitting on the side of the road, wrapped in his cloak, a blind beggar who lived on the margins of society Just like I can picture the all too familiar marginalized people outside of the homeless shelters, or the grocery stores, or on the exit ramps of our freeways, or waiting patiently outside of restaurants praying for our leftovers.
I can imagine upon hearing the approaching crowd Bartimaeus, sitting up a little bit straighter,
as his blind gaze turns towards the on-comers. And I can hear Bartimaeus as he cries out in a loud voice, in his faith, believing with his whole self, [literally sight unseen,] in the healing presence that he feels drawing nearer. Bartimaeus believes that this person who he has never seen, can restore his sight.
So, he calls out to Jesus in a loud voice saying “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” But the crowd rebuked Bartimaeus telling him sternly to be quiet. Only, Bartimaeus refused to be silenced and he cried out even louder over the harsh jeers coming from the crowd, demanding that he be heard.
Bartimaeus shouted again “Son of David, have mercy on me” until Jesus heard him over the mob and until he hears the words, “Take heart, get up, he is calling you.” Upon hearing these words, Bartimaeus springs to his feet, he throws off his cloak, and surrenders to the healing presence that Jesus was and is.
Jesus ask Bartimaeus “What do you want me to do for you”? “My teacher,” he says, “let me see again.” Jesus’ only words upon hearing Bartimaeus’ response are “Go, your faith has made you well.” But Bartimaeus doesn’t go. In gratitude and thanksgiving, he follows.
This story is a story of the empowerment we find in the show of a person’s active and living faith. The empowerment of knowing we are worthy, regardless of what the crowd around us tells us, and of knowing our voices are to be heard and never silenced.
This is the story of the transformation that happens in our lives when we accept, in partnership, the outreached hand of our Savior, and when we center ourselves in the promise and healing light of salvation, instead of in the darkness of negative talk and groupthink mentality! When we center our message and our voices in the healing and loving voice of Jesus, we center ourselves in the middle of where the true power lies.
As our collective voice of faith becomes louder the healing power and light of Christ is made known to all through our active show of faith. As we silence the deafening sound of the social pressures that surround us, we let go of the very systems that keep us stuck in the stagnant and paralyzing space of fear.
I invite us all to take a moment and think of the “crowd” that surrounds us on any given day and tries to silence our cries for help and healing, and our instance for a society that is just and fair to all members, and offering as Jesus did, the opportunity to move beyond our past and be born again in the light of Christ.
What is it that holds you back from throwing off your cloak, and fully following Jesus, today, this very minute? What is your cloak?
In my own life, I have been graced with much healing. None of it however has been easy and for so many years, I could not accept God’s offer of healing because the pain was so deep. Grief, loss, and regret seized my heart. The voices of negative self-talk born of the messages of my past kept me from living in the light of today.
Memories of times gone by promised to steel my future by keeping me locked in a past that could not be changed; locked in the forever wonderings of “what ifs” and “if only I had done this”, These memories fed my self-doubt and attacked my sense of self-worth. They kept me from seeing anything good about myself, especially the perfect love of Christ that lives within me. These self-disparaging thoughts kept me from throwing off my cloak and following Jesus. In essence, these thoughts were my cloak. I unlike Bartimaeus, allowed myself to be silenced.
Over time, it became easier for me to believe these untruths than to do the hard work of changing them, because changing them meant I had to change the crowd I was hanging around with. I had to change my habits, change my way of thinking, change my way of not loving myself; I had to step into an active partnership with my Maker. Changing meant that I had to let go of what had become familiar, as familiar as an old cloak;
How could I possibly love my neighbor as myself, when I couldn’t even love myself. How could I fully live into the light of Christ when I was doing everything in my power to extinguish that light. Just like it was up to Bartimaeus to get up and go towards the healing light of Jesus I too had to get up and go towards this same healing light.
Over the years, I have come to believe that what other people think about me really is none of my business. If I am [doing my best to] following the light of Christ, if with my whole self I am living into the Lord’s mission, what else matters?
Sometimes people want to silence us because they are afraid: afraid that they will hear a familiar truth about themselves in our stories; afraid to see and embrace their own brokenness – [it’s a scary thing to do!] But you see my friends, we are all broken.
God knows this and this is why God came to us, incarnate in Jesus Christ. To show us the way towards healing and wholeness, not only of our individual selves, but of the whole Body of Christ. It is the lessons of Jesus’ healing ministry that reveal to us the way we are to be in this world.
Bartimaeus shows us in today’s reading, what living courageously into our faith can do, by not letting the naysayers silence our cries for healing, and our demands for equity and justice for all.
In the healing of Bartimaeus, Jesus shows us once again, that the first shall be last and the last shall be first. In this healing, Jesus not only gives sight back to a poor blind beggar, Jesus also gives new sight to the whole crowd by teaching them the Way of Love and the Way we are to embrace all of our brothers and sisters, not just those who are in our own personal circles.
We do not need to fear fully living into this way of being because we are never alone, for God is with us always. We need not fear living wholly and completely into our faith and our baptismal covenant of loving our neighbors as ourselves as we boldly strive for justice, peace, and dignity, for all people, because God is with us always.
As we work towards dismantling the structures and systems of racism in our society that keep us from truly living into our Baptismal covenant, we need not fear throwing off our familiar cloaks of individualism, capitalism, and groupthink mentality because we are already fully cloaked in the guiding light of the Spirit and the healing love of Christ. We need not fear because we are never alone, God is with us always.
And as we hear God speak to us through Isiah the prophet of old, saying, “Don’t be afraid, for I am with you; don’t be distressed, for I am your God. I give you strength, I give you help, I support you with my victorious right hand.”
My friends, we are never alone. God is with us in the here and now, in this very second. So “Take heart, get up”, throw off your cloaks for God is calling us for such a time as this!
Amen!