Mark 10:46 - 52
Time, cycle B In order to stay in shape I try to ride my bicycle for 30 minutes every day. I combine that with opening the Church, so I get here when it’s still dark. Early this week I got off my bike to see what looked like a heap of rags in front of the door. As I got closer I recognized a relatively young woman who seemed to be surrounded by all her earthly possessions. I said “can I help you?” and she replied that she was just leaving. I unlocked the church and went through my usual routine and went out again; she had piled all her things on her bicycle and was riding off.
It’s kind of unusual to see a homeless person in Longmeadow, although they aren’t hard to find in other areas of the Pioneer Valley. Had I encountered this woman in downtown Springfield I probably would have walked past her, consoling my conscience by noting that there are plenty of resources for homeless people around, some of which we support with our money.
In our gospel today Jesus heals a blind beggar. But I think there is a lot more going on here when we examine the story. First of all, it's noteworthy that Mark names the beggar. You hardly ever have proper names given to people Jesus encounters other than his disciples and the women who follow him. So that’s worth noting.
Second, the beggar recognizes Jesus -- he is the first person in Mark’s account to identify Jesus as the son of David, a title reserved for the Messiah. Mark intends for us to see that of all that crowd, including Jesus’ own disciples, it takes someone who can’t actually see Jesus to recognize who he really is.
Notice that Jesus seems to walk past the man, who is being told to shut up by the people in the crowd. Finally, Jesus stops and orders the people to call the man over. So maybe the first part of the miracle is that Jesus opens the eyes of the crowd; they see that this blind beggar who everyone ignores most of the time is a real person, someone with whom they have things in common. And at Jesus’ bidding they change their tune; “Take courage,” they say, “get up, Jesus is calling you.” Now I don’t know what made them change their attitude -- maybe they were hoping to see another miracle -- but they did. Instead of telling him to shut up, they now urge him to get up.
Now the blind man does get up. You have to picture the scene. He throws aside his cloak. That’s probably about the only thing he owns. It keeps him warm at night; it serves as a place for people to drop a few pennies on. But he throws it aside. Sometimes I think that’s why our prayers don’t get answered. We are afraid to throw our cloaks aside. We are afraid of being radically dependent on God; we don’t quite trust Him. I don’t, even though God has answered most of my prayers in some way or another. But I admire the ability of some people to abandon their security and pleasant routines for God. I read somewhere that you could tell if you were on the right path if you were embarrassed by being Christian in the past week. Because Jesus promised that being his disciple would not be comfortable. Anyway, the blind man throws away his security.
Jesus asks, like I did of the homeless woman, “What can I do for you?” Now if she had given me an answer, I’m not sure what I would have done. But she didn’t. The blind man, however, says what must have been obvious to anyone in the crowd, let alone Jesus. “Master, I want to see!”. Why did Jesus go through this little charade? He knew the blind man wanted to see. But it’s part of a pattern. If you read the miracle stories in Mark’s gospel, it’s not uncommon for Jesus to ask such questions. In John’s gospel people don’t ask. Jesus just shows up and works the miracle. But it seems as though Mark wants us to notice that Jesus never takes what we want for granted. We have to ask, sometimes over and over again, and we have to ask with faith, because Jesus tells Bartimaeus that his faith has saved him. Isn’t that unusual? Jesus didn’t say, “Your faith has restored your eyesight”. His faith saved him -- but from what? Sure, we could say, from blindness. But perhaps it’s more than that. The man who has been an outcast, someone sitting in the sidewalk begging for change, is now restored to society; a wasted life is now potentially productive. Perhaps the saving might even extend to the saving of his soul, because encounters with Jesus tend to do that. In any event, it’s an interesting statement, I think.
Finally, Jesus tells Bartimaeus to “go your way”. But Bartimaeus follows him on the way. Bartimaeus joins the band of disciples, and that’s probably why he is named in Mark’s gospel -- because Mark’s audience knows about Bartimaeus. AFter Jesus’ death and resurrection, was Bartimaeus responsible in part for the conversion of Christians in Rome, the audience Mark is addressing? I don’t know. But the real issue is that Bartimaeus in response to the miracle and acting with faith, follows Jesus. When I pray for something, it’s usually because I want my life to go on the way it’s going; I don’t like disruption. But maybe my response to God’s favors should be to follow Jesus more closely, which probably means I need to get out of my comfort zone.
So let us pray that we will notice people who are hiding in the shadows; that when we hear His voice we will be able to step out of our comfort zone; and that we will be aware of all that he’s done for us and choose to follow him on the way.
