October 24, 2021- Mark 10:46-52
Mark 10:46-52
The Power of Encouragement
Lectionary 30B – October 24, 2021
First Lutheran Church – Winnipeg, MB
This is the only time in Mark’s Gospel Jesus is caught standing still.
There is basically nothing that will stop Jesus in his tracks.
Nothing.
So why does Mark tell us today that Jesus stood perfectly still?
In general, Mark’s version of Jesus is more like the Tasmanian Devil than anything else,
like a whirlwind as he rushes from place to place, from healing to healing,
from confrontation to confrontation.
And yet, today, he stands stock still.
Why?
Attentive readers will discern what it is he hears that brings him up short, that shocks him into stillness:
someone gets him!
Someone understands who he is and why he has come!
There is only one person in Mark’s Gospel who gets him to this point, who sees who Jesus truly is.
And that person is the blind man, Bartimaeus.
Bartimaeus calls Jesus, “Son of David,” a title Jesus doesn’t make public during his ministry.
His disciples have been struggling – and failing – to understand who Jesus is throughout the Gospel.
Yes, Peter guesses that Jesus is the Messiah, the king like David who comes to make things right.
And Jesus does say, Yes, that is who I am.
But Peter totally misunderstands what kind of Messiah Jesus is – and how he will make things right.
Bartimaeus, though, gets it: he understands that the Messiah, the Son of David,
will make all things right through the quality of mercy, the quality of compassion, the quality of love.
“Jesus, Son of David,” he says, “have mercy on me.”
Finally, Jesus is truly, properly understood – Jesus is truly seen.
And it stops him in his tracks.
It is a lovely thing to be seen for who you truly are.
Jesus is often doing this in Mark’s Gospel, like when he peered deep inside the rich young man a few weeks ago –
when Jesus gazed at him, and loved him.
When Jesus saw him in all his possibility and all his hope.
It is how we long to be seen – by Jesus and by one another.
What stops Jesus today is that someone sees him that way –
the only time in 10 chapters of murkiness and confusion.
What a lovely and beautiful thing to be seen for who you truly are.
Bartimaeus sees Jesus for who Jesus truly is.
But something more is necessary to get them both moving again.
There are those in the crowd who would seek to prevent Bartimaeus from calling Jesus,
who would seek to prevent him from being healed, and whole, and well.
These are those who presumably think Jesus is too busy and too important for someone that
most consider beneath them – a poor, blind man who makes his living by begging.
But there are others in the crowd who react differently when Jesus calls Bartimaeus.
There are others who are full of encouragement, who perhaps see Bartimaeus like Jesus sees him.
The encourage him and support him in his quest to be restored not just to sight,
but to all that entailed in that time and place: the opportunity to be part of community again.
“Take heart!” they say to him. “Get up! Jesus is calling you!”
Literally, they tell him, “Rise up!” or “Be resurrected!”
Bartimaeus is so confident that the merciful Son of David can restore him to wholeness and well-being,
he throws off his cloak – his one possession! the thing that helped him collect alms by day and
kept him warm at night – he throws off his cloak, springs up, and makes his way to Jesus.
Jesus, you’ll note, asks him exactly the same question he asked James and John last week:
“What is it you want me to do for you?”
Only this time, he gets a good answer rather than a lame answer.
Rather than seeking greatness, or power, or glory, Bartimaeus simply says, “Let me see again.”
His sight is immediately restored, and Jesus literally tells him, “Go. Your faith has saved you.”
But then something else happens that has not happened up to this point in Mark’s Gospel.
Bartimaeus doesn’t “go”!
Instead, he is the only person healed by Jesus in the entire Gospel who chooses to follow Jesus.
The only person who recognises his healing is not something to be selfishly enjoyed,
but to be employed in Jesus’ mission to love, bless, heal and set free this whole world and
every person in it.
Bartimaeus for sure is tenacious in his confidence that Jesus can heal him.
That the one who is full of mercy can right his situation.
And he is very wise in wanting to follow Jesus and play his part in healing the whole world.
There is movement in the story, right?
At the beginning, Bartimaeus is sitting, and Jesus is standing stock still.
By the end, both are in motion, moving to Jerusalem, to change the world through mercy and love.
Yes: Bartimaeus is tenacious, but that is not the only thing that effects the change in the story from
despairing inaction to hopeful, love-filled busy-ness.
The other essential detail in the story is the part played by those who encourage Bartimaeus:
Take heart! they say to Bartimaeus. Be resurrected! Jesus is calling you!
Your time has come! You can do this! Take your place! Enter the story!
Yesterday, Anne and I were married, and our stories were joined in a very beautiful, intentional way,
with promises made before God and in the presence of family and friends.
It was so important to us to have family members and friends there.
Our family members represented themselves while
our First Lutheran friends Ken and Melinda represented all of you.
Anne and I would not be who we are without all those who have supported us and encouraged us
from the time we were children all the way through to today.
Like everyone here, we have certainly experienced voices that would tear us down.
But we have been blessed in that the voices that have encouraged us to take heart and be resurrected
have always been louder.
Fred Rogers is a sort of patron saint of First Lutheran Church,
and so it seems appropriate to quote him once again:
Anyone who has ever been able to sustain good work has had at least one person –
and often many – who have believed in him or her.
We just don’t get to be competent human beings without a lot of different investments from others…
From the time you were very little, you’ve had people who have smiled you into smiling,
people who have talked you into talking, sung you into singing, loved you into loving.
These are the people whose voices have been louder in our lives.
Many of you are here this morning.
Without our biological parents and sisters and brothers and our children we would not be who we are.
Speaking personally, I’m not 100 percent sure I would even be here without them.
And we can both say the same about our brothers and sisters in Christ at First Lutheran Church.
You have all seen us for exactly who we are – and loved us anyway. . . . You have gotten us.
And you have smiled us into smiling.
You have loved us into loving.
You have encouraged us. You have told us to take heart – and be resurrected.
Above all you have helped us hear where and to what Jesus is calling us.
This is the importance of community.
This is the power of Christian community.
This is where the possibility of service and love are born and nurtured.
It is often said it is impossible to be a Christian alone – which is certainly true –
but who would want to be anyway?
It is so much more nurturing – and so very much more fun – to follow Jesus on the way together.
When we struggle – as we all have – we have one another to console and strengthen.
And when we celebrate – as we are this weekend –
we have one another to cheer and to give thanks with.
With Bartimaeus, let us continue to see Jesus for who he truly is –
the one who can make all things right with mercy, compassion, and love.
With him, let us follow Jesus on the way of service and justice.
Despite the obstacles we face, let us encourage one another, let us sustain one another,
and let us continue to love one another into loving until the end.
So together, let say, “Amen.”
Pastor Michael Kurtz
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