Reformation Sunday, October 25, 2015 – Mark 10:46-52

Mark 10:46-52

The Right Answer

Reformation Sunday – Lectionary 30B – October 25, 2015

First Lutheran Church – Winnipeg, MB

 

I’m pretty sure this is the only time Jesus stands still in all four Gospels!

And it’s surprising!

He’s so busy, in Mark, energetically going from one place to the next!

He is constantly on the move, rarely resting, never standing still.

 

And so this morning, when the cries of Bartimaeus, a blind beggar at the side of the road,

reach him, Jesus stands stock still.

And that registers with us.

That is weird.

There is a huge crowd: onlookers, celebrity seekers, and

people trying to catch Jesus out in saying something stupid.

There are those close to Jesus, his friends and disciples.

He’s leaving Jericho and he’s on his way to Jerusalem for the

big confrontation with the big deals and the powers that be.

Surely he has more important things to do than stop and attend to a blind beggar

by the side of the road.

His so-called followers seem to think so.

They tell him to shut up for surely Jesus has better and bigger things on his mind!

But apparently Jesus doesn’t.

Jesus stands stock still.

And Bartimaeus doesn’t shut up.

 

Jesus has come to a teaching moment.

He has heard someone ask for the right thing, or at least the thing he can offer:

mercy.

Jesus is full of mercy.

And so he stands still: this has caught his attention.

And he tells the same people who told Bartimaeus to shut up to bring him to him.

And then he asks Bartimaeus a question.

And the question sounds familiar.

The question sounds familiar because it is the same question Jesus asked

the disciples last week.

The same question the disciples miserably failed at answering!

The question, What is it you want me to do for you?

The disciples asked for glory and honour and status.

Whoops. Wrong answer!

They asked to sit at Jesus’ right and left hand!

Jesus’, knowingly says that is not for him to grant,

perhaps knowing where he was going to end up, on a cross, and

perhaps knowing who was going to end up with:

a couple of criminals on his right and left hand.

So now, as readers of the Gospel, we are curious to know how Bartimaeus will answer.

 

And he answers very simply, “I want to see again.”

It’s an answer Jesus approves of.

Bartimaeus wants to see clearly.

And Jesus grants him his request.

 

In Mark’s Gospel, sight is a metaphor for understanding.

Bartimaeus wants his understanding transformed.

And once he sees clearly who Jesus is and what he is about,

he changes his life.

He leaves his begging cloak that he throws off –

which was used to catch and store the things people gave him –

by the side of the road and follows Jesus to Jerusalem.

He becomes a disciple.

He wants to be changed, transformed, resurrected, reformed, so he can follow Jesus.

 

This morning Jesus hears our cries and asks us the same thing:

What is it you want me to do for you?

It’s such a simple question.

But apparently it is important to Jesus: we have heard him ask it two weeks in a row.

What is it you want me to do for you?

We heard a bad answer last week when the disciples asked for glory –

and we hear a good answer this week when Bartimaeus asks for understanding

and insight into Jesus and his mission.

Take a moment and try and answer the question Jesus asks:

What is it you want me to do for you?

Answer it either as an individual or as a member of this congregation.

Write it down on the slip of paper that was on your seat when you came in.

 

Bartimaeus asks for healing that will enable him to follow Jesus.

Bartimaeus asks for transformation.

On Reformation Sunday, we ask for reformation – for re-formation.

Luther and the other reformers stood for reforming the church.

Their motto was, “The church reformed and always in need of reforming.”

The reformers wanted the church to reflect more nearly who Jesus was.

They worked at a time when the church hierarchy seemingly sought glory,

and had seemed to forget the hungry poor Jesus stands still for.

Luther reformed church practice and the liturgy in Wittenburg where he lived and taught by

instituting a Common Chest at the entrance to the church building for

people to bring offerings of food for the hungry poor and alleviate the

widespread practice of begging.

These were presented at the altar with other offerings just before Holy Communion.

A little bread and wine was taken from the for communion,

and the rest was distributed to the hungry poor after worship.

That was a good reform and helped the community to follow Jesus more faithfully,

and we have made exactly the same reform at First Lutheran Church.

Luther invited the church to stop and stand still – like Jesus – and attend to the hungry poor.

 

We can always grow more and more into the image and likeness of Christ,

both as individuals and as a congregation: that is great news!

We don’t ask for glory, although many churches seemingly do!

We ask for deeper insight and understanding of who Jesus is and the mission he calls us to.

We ask to be able to follow him wherever he leads.

What else do we ask for? [maybe ask for or read answers at this point].

 

Today Jesus has come among us and is standing still.

He is asking us an important question as individuals and as a congregation.

What is it you want me to do for you?

Somebody said to me this week that they love Reformation Sunday because

they love hearing the story of Luther saying, “Here I stand! I can do no other!”

On Hallowe’en 1517, 498 years ago, Luther posted his 95 Theses for debate on

the door of the Castle Church in Wittenburg.

The theses were intended to question the sale of indulgences,

slips of paper that were being sold by the church that ensured forgiveness of sins.

Luther simply questioned whether there was much grace and mercy in that,

since God forgives sins free of charge.

This started a much broader movement for reforming the church to

transform it more and more into a Christ-like body, full of mercy,

attending to the poor, standing still for the vulnerable.

When he was called before the meeting of the German princes at Worms in 1521 to

renounce all that he had written about reforming the church,

everyone fell silent as he said, “Here I stand. I can do no other.”

And by saying so, like Bartimaeus who follows Jesus to Jerusalem, he put his life at risk.

And shortly after, Luther acted on his words when

he instituted the Common Chest in Wittenburg.

 

Jesus stands still and attends to us this morning.

He stands, and asks: What do you want me to do for you?

Where do you stand? What do you stand for?

With Luther and the reformers, let us take our stand for

always reforming the church, that we might have deeper insight into

Jesus in order to follow him more faithfully, wherever that might lead,

with mercy, and compassion, attending to the vulnerable,

healing the broken, uplifting the downhearted,

forgiving the sinful, including the excluded,

and feeding the hungry.

So together, let us say, “Amen.”

 

Pastor Michael Kurtz

 

 

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