October 24, 2021

Proper 25

Mark 10:46-52

The Rev. Francene Young

Before a sermon, I spend hours reading other sermons and looking for ideas.  I usually have some direction, but sometimes it is hard to flush out.  When reading other sermons, the idea or sermon that brings tears to my eyes, is the one I focus on.  Based on a sermon by the Rev. Brett Blair, I offer the following reflection:

Blair starts out talking about Helen Keller.

“Helen Keller, so brave and inspiring to us in her deafness and blindness, once wrote a magazine article entitled: Three days to see."

In that article she outlined what things she would like to see if she were granted just three days of sight. It was a powerful, thought provoking article. On the first day she said she wanted to see friends.

Day two she would spend seeing nature.

The third day she would spend in her home city of New York watching the busy city and the work day of the present.

She concluded it with these words: "I who am blind can give one hint to those who see: Use your eyes as if tomorrow you were stricken blind.'

As bad as blindness is in the 21st century, it was so much worse in Jesus' day. Today a blind person at least has the hope of living a useful life with proper training. Some of the most skilled and creative people in our society are blind. But in first century Palestine blindness meant that you would be subject to abject poverty. You would be reduced to begging for a living. You lived at the mercy and the generosity of others. You were an outcast and considered blind due to some sin or punishment of your parents or you. 

Little wonder then that one of the signs of the coming of the Messiah was that the blind should receive their sight.

When Jesus announced his messiahship, he said: “The spirit of the Lord is upon me. He has sent me to recover sight to the blind."

The story this morning of the healing of blind Bartimaeus would suggest to us that there are three kinds of blindness. Let’s briefly examine each one.

The first kind of blindness is represented by the beggar sitting by the road leading to Jericho. Mark tells us that his name was Bartimaeus.  His name means son of Timaeus.  Makes me wonder if Timaeus was known in the community and because his son his blind, son of Timaeus is considered an outcast and sits by the side of the road, begging.  Just a thought?  But we really know nothing much about him:  his age, length of blindness or what caused his infirmity. Nothing is said of his family, or friends if he had any.  We know him only as blind Bartimaeus.

I cannot begin to imagine physical blindness. I remember taking a tour of the Buffalo Bayou Cistern on Sabine Street not too far from here.  It was a special exhibit.  Before going in (pre-covid) they warned you of the initial total darkness.  But I had no concept of total darkness.  Once inside, and the lights went out, I remember looking around in all directions but my eyes were totally useless.  I could not see my hand when I held it up to my face. I actually felt a little nauseous, at first.

Those brief moments of total darkness in the Cistern were the closest I ever came to complete blindness.  Not seeing anything!

When Jesus came down the roadside, surrounded by his disciples, “body guards” as Jimmy referred to them during our Bible Study, Bartimaeus sought his help.

Yet, that day, even in his blindness, he saw more clearly than did the crowd. Bartimaeus saw more clearly than Jesus’ own disciples. He knew who Jesus was by calling him “Son of David”.  He knew that Jesus could release him from the prison darkness. He knew that faith in Jesus could restore his sight. He was blind but he saw more than those with physical sight.

Day after day the world passed by Bartimaeus not really seeing him, not really caring about him. He heard the sound of camels, the shouts of children, the gossip of the women, the business talk of the men but he saw not a thing.. So he simply sat there. Day after day. Until one day he cried out: Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me.

While reading about Bartimaeus and his calling out to Jesus, I kept humming to myself  “Pass me not O Gentle Savior.”  I was pleased to find that Blair referenced this in his sermon.  Who wrote it?  I researched and found that Fanny Crosby, blind white woman poet and writer who worked in missions in NYC, while physically blind Fanny wrote the words: “Pass me not O Gentle Savior, hear my humble cry. While on others thou art calling, do not pass me by. Savior, Savior, hear my humble cry.  While on other thou art calling, do not pass me by””

Jesus, hearing the cry of Bartimaeus, STOOD STILL.  Called out to the crowd that earlier tried to silence him and said “Call him to me.”  Jesus asked him “Want do you want me to do for you?”  The same question he asked The Sons of Thunder last week who sought power. 

Bartimaeus asked only to” let me see AGAIN.“ Jesus said: “Your faith has made you well.”

The first blindness then is represented by Bartimaeus. It was a physical blindness.

The second kind of blindness in the story relates to those who followed Jesus; his own disciples. When Jesus began his way into Jerusalem, he told the twelve of the dreadful things that would soon befall all of them. It was not the only time he spoke of the coming agony. Three times, Luke records, that Jesus tried to warn them. On the first occasion Luke writes: But they understood none of these things. On the second occasion he writes: But these sayings were hid from them. On the third occasion Luke records: But they did not grasp what he had said.

Thus the disciples suffered from a kind of blindness as to the nature and person of Jesus. They loved him passionately, but they did not understand him. They were spiritually blind. They had sight, yet they were unable to FULLY see. They were blind as to the meaning of the events that were happening around them.

The first blindness was that of Bartimaeus. Physically he could not see.  The second blindness was that of the disciples before the resurrection. Their eyesight was alright, but they could not see the true nature of Christ.

And there is a third kind of blindness is ours.  It is the blindness of you and me. Bartimaeus lacked eyes. The disciples lacked knowledge. But we have both and we still are sometimes unable to see. This third type of blindness, Blair calls the  blindness of taking for granted blindness.

If we are not careful, we can to take life and all we have for granted.  If we are not careful, we can become blind to the preciousness of life, we can become blind to the preciousness of our loved ones until it is threatened or curbed for us. If we are not careful, we can lose sight of Jesus in our lives.

Whether publicly known or not, we all have a cloak, like Bartimaeus that needs to be shed so we can get up, callout to Jesus, Son of David, do not pass me by!  And When Jesus asks, What do you want me to do for you, we need to be ready to reveal the answer that he already knows. 

As imperfect humans what do we need to own and hand over or shed (like Bartimaeus’s cloak).  Is it a strained relationship, guilt, shame, envy, greed, anger, unresolved emotional wound?  You name it.  Are we too proud, too independent ( I can do this myself)!

Whatever it is we can cry out like Bartmaeus  “SON of DAVID have mercy on me and we can pray like Fanny Crosby “pass me not O Gentle Savior.”  

We can ask Jesus to not pass us by, but hear our cry, however loud or faint.

SO for those of us who are blind and acknowledge our blindness, there is hope.

For Jesus came to heal the blind. It happened to Bartimaeus. It happened the disciples. It can happen to us.

How do we go about it? All that is necessary is that we cry out as did the blind beggar centuries ago: Pass me not O Son of David, hear my humble cry.  While on others you are calling, do not pass me by so that from you, Lord, I may receive my sight, again.

Amen.