(Bryan) On occasions when we are in Central Otago, we see people boldly stepping off a disused bridge by a bungee cord. Judging by the screams it is a highly exciting experience. Then when they emerge, often after a dunking in the Clutha River most seem elated. I don’t know how you react but for me, no amount of persuasion would result in me going forward to take the leap. I may have been missing the experience of my life but I’m happy about not taking part. You may feel the same.
Today’s reading concerns a person who, although handicapped called out for help and took a plunge of faith.
Imagine this scene: Two beggars in Jerico, one was Bartimaeus the son of a wealthy man. He was considered blind. He could not work and earn his keep like other able-bodied men.
Bartimaeus’s visual problems were no doubt considered a sign of his own sin. His father was no longer supporting him. He was forced to survive by begging in the street. A humiliating position for anybody to be in let alone the son of a wealthy man. When he saw people, he could not discriminate them from trees. Bartimaeus had his cloak spread out in front of him to collect any coins that were cast his way. He was no doubt miserable and
wanted something that the medical men of his day were unable to provide. He must have been known by all the locals who tolerated him and out of a sense of duty deigned to toss some coins to keep him alive.
Then enter Jesus fresh from his teaching and other miracles. As Jesus walked from city to city, he had attracted a crowd eager to listen to him and perhaps witness another miracle.
Bartimaeus sensed the approach of the crowd and probably in his well-practiced theatrical voice called out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.”
The followers of Jesus had their own needs and their own agendas. They did not want a mere beggar to get in their way. They wanted him silenced. It was not respectable to be associated with a beggar. The disciples tried to make him be quiet.
But Jesus hears him and responds. Somehow the mood of the crowd changes and they say, “Take courage, stand up! Jesus is calling you”
Bartimaeus stands up and throws off his cloak, leaving behind him his sole means of financial support. Then in the silence, a member of the crowd takes the arm of Bartimaeus and leads him through the crowd to Jesus who asks, “What do you want me to do for you?” The response was obvious. He wants what the medical men of his day could not provide. He wanted his sight returned to him.
Jesus said, “Your faith has healed you.”
Straightway Bartimaeus had his sight restored and he began to give thanks for it, recognising the importance of Jesus.
There are a number of things that can be taken from the reading.
One particularly strikes me. ……
You will note that the crowd initially regarded Bartimaeus as a nuisance. They did not want him in the way of them getting what they wanted. Yet when Jesus asked him to come to him, out of the woodwork came people who helped him to get to Jesus. The message for me is that while those around us may seem intimidating to us when it comes to making contact with Jesus, those around us can actually be helpful to us. The world is not against us as we may like to believe. We all have needs that we are aware of. We can call out to Jesus and one way or another those needs can be met.
(Linda) For me, one of the things that stands out from this reading is that Bartimaeus had the courage to seek help from Jesus. Bartimaeus had to overcome the crowds. He had to defy those who tried hard to stop him from calling out. But when he called, the people around him supported him and Jesus heard him and answered his request. He was healed. God answered his prayer.
I’m wondering if you can think of times when God has answered your prayers. Our prayers are not always for something as dramatic as being healed from blindness. Sometimes it’s just an SOS – “Help me cope with this, God” or “Please let today go well.” And God does answer our prayers.
Spend a minute talking to the people around you about times when God has answered your prayers.
In our busyness, it’s easy to give up on praying. But we can’t. Prayer is all about being in relationship with God. As we pray to God, as we share our living and our joys and needs with God, our faith grows. When we pray, we trust God to be active in our lives and in our world.
Job, who we heard about in the children’s story and in our Old Testament lesson, prayed to God even though his life became dreadful and he felt God wasn’t answering his prayers. God was an integral part of his living and he trusted that God would not abandon him. And of course, God didn’t. Job was left with an overwhelming sense of the greatness of God and the conviction that despite this, God knew him and cared about him.
Jesus prayed too. We hear repeatedly in the Gospels about Jesus going to the mountain to pray.
At the time in Jesus’ ministry when he healed Bartimaeus, Jesus was praying fervently that his disciples would come to understand who he was and what he was trying to show them about living in God’s way. There were occasional bursts of light – as at the time of the transfiguration when Peter proclaimed that Jesus was the Messiah, the son of God. But on the whole, the disciples just didn’t get it. They were like Bartimaeus, blind, – they were blind to the reality of who Jesus was and what he had come to show them. Jesus knew that these were the people on whom he was relying to continue his work on earth. He would not be with them for much longer. They needed to see Jesus for who he really was – the Son of God – who had come to show them what God was like. He had come to witness to the God who was love, to the God who walked alongside the poor and the powerless, the God who cared for the sick and disadvantaged, the God who though beyond their understanding knew them by name and walked alongside them every day.
It’s not surprising that Jesus spent time praying to God, seeking strength and insight into how he could fulfil his purpose here on earth. And God answered his prayer. We know that the disciples were the ones who began the church of which we are a part, and we know that we walk in the tradition of those first disciples. As God answered Jesus’ prayers, God answered the prayers of those first disciples as they established the church, and God answers our prayers too as we work to serve God in this place.
Bartimaeus called out with faith to Jesus for healing. The crowd didn’t see who Jesus really was nor did Jesus’ disciples, but blind Bartimaeus did. As we understand who Jesus was and learn from him more about God and God’s way of love, we can seek God’s help to live in his way and share that love with others.