Take Heart!

Texts: Psalm 34:1-8 and Mark 10:46-52

Some famous people in history have made comments that fit with today’s gospel reading. In the 17th Century Thomas Fuller said, “Seeing's believing, but feeling's the truth.” In the 19th Century Mark Twain said, “You cannot depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.” And in the 20th Century Antoine de Saint Exupery said, “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly. What is essential is invisible to the eye.”[1]

So what does it mean to “take heart?” For Bartimaeus it means that although he’s an unimportant “nobody” to everyone else, he’s a very important “somebody” to Jesus.

This isn’t just another healing story, although it might appear that way. In the context of the greater story, Jesus and his disciples are on their way to Jerusalem. Jesus’ ministry is getting close to coming to an end. Hard times lie ahead, but the disciples certainly don’t understand that. They have been busy anticipating a glorious military or revolutionary victory and wanting to be sure they get to be recognized as VIPs when Jesus becomes the victorious new leader. They expect to defeat the oppressive Romans and usher in a new government of Jewish rule.

Where have they been all this time? What have they been doing instead of really listening to what Jesus has had to say all along?

Somehow, much of what has gone before, much of what Jesus has said and done, much of who Jesus is, has gone right past them. It's not much of a stretch to say that they have been, in their own way, blind.

We’re told that Jesus and his followers came to Jericho and now they are leaving Jericho. We can only guess that while they were there Jesus healed people and made a difference in their lives. So there’s probably an even larger crowd following him now.

And here they are, outside Jericho, where a miracle happened in the Old Testament—Joshua and his band marched around the city walls 7 times and blew their trumpets and the walls fell down. Jericho, though, is probably "a place full of violence and intrigue, with bandits and revolutionary groups within Judaism organizing resistance to Rome"[2]

Part of what’s going on in this story is Mark’s prelude to the long and central account of Jesus' passion and death in Jerusalem, another place of intrigue and revolutionary groups seething with anger at Rome. So we are to see that Jesus' journey was not a sudden departure from peaceful preaching in the countryside to the wild and dangerous ways of the city. There has been trouble brewing for some time now, and not just in Jerusalem.[3]

The Roman occupied territory is in political turmoil and it’s going to get worse. But on this day, as Jesus and the others are leaving Jericho there is an important encounter.

Because Bartimaeus was blind he couldn’t work, so he was relegated to the lot of being a beggar. He sat by the Jericho city gate—where the way is narrow and there's no way around him—with his cloak spread out to catch the coins tossed into it by passers-by who might take pity on him and throw him their spare change. It certainly wasn’t fair, but people discriminated against the blind in those days and the only thing they could do to earn a living was to beg for the mercy, kindness and spare change of others.

But, Bartimaeus, like everyone else, had heard the stories about Jesus of Nazareth. And when he heard people saying that Jesus was coming down the road, he shouted out in hopes that Jesus would notice him. The people nearby tried to shush him up—why would Jesus want to be bothered by a blind beggar, anyway?—but Bartimaeus persisted. Apparently HE didn’t think himself any less deserving of the Messiah’s attention than anyone else!

And we need to pay attention to what he shouts—“Jesus son of David, have mercy on me!” (“Son of David” is a messianic title—it’s the first time in the gospel of Mark anyone has called him that—other than the demons and his own disciples, that is—and Jesus has forbidden them to tell anyone who he is.) Now the secret seems to be out that Jesus is the messiah: and this blind beggar seems to have a better understanding of who Jesus really is than his own disciples, James and John.

Just as last week Jesus asked James and John what they wanted him to do for them. In today’s reading he asks Bartimaeus the same thing, “What do you want me to do for you?”

James and John wanted preferential treatment and prestige. Bartimaeus asked Jesus to let him see again.

Jesus told him, “Go, your faith has made you well.” And whether it was eye-sight or insight or both that Bartimaeus received, everything was different. He had thrown off his cloak when Jesus called for him—I can just imagine all the coins flying in every direction! He gave up his means of survival. Suddenly he had eyes to see and he never looked back! He followed Jesus on the Way.

For awhile now (according to Mark’s gospel), the disciples have been given inside information about Jesus’ fate, but they repeatedly show themselves to be blind. But now Bartimaeus, the blind man who can see, becomes a disciple.

The Twelve were insiders all the way, privy to Jesus’ painful disclosures about his approaching passion. But they heard all and heard nothing, saw all and still were blind, while a blind beggar had the vision to understand, throw off his cloak and follow.

Bartimaeus could probably have quoted Psalm 34…. “This poor soul cried, and was heard by the Lord, and was saved from every trouble. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who hear him, and delivers them. O taste and see that the Lord is good; happy are those who take refuge in [God].” (Psalm 34:6-8)[4]

Remember the rich man two weeks ago who could not give everything up and follow Jesus? While Bartimaeus doesn't possess much, the little that he has, his cloak, is something that he needs to survive, and his casting it aside is a sign of his trust and his faith in Jesus. He knows that he won't need it again; he's confident that he won't be returning to his spot by the side of the road, begging in order to live. Bartimaeus is “Faith sit[ting], leaning forward, ready to leap at the opportunity to answer God's call whenever it might come, and it shows itself willing to shed whatever holds it back from the journey.”[5]

Bartimaeus was not afraid to trust Jesus and to ask for sight. The crowd tried to shut him up when he called out to Jesus. After all, he was only a beggar, he wasn’t important. (Once again, did no one notice that it was exactly the people like Bartimaeus that Jesus responded to?) When Jesus called for Bartimaeus to come to him, the people around Bartimaeus said, “take heart, get up, he is calling you.”

I’m not sure that was something they needed to say to Bartimaeus because he already had faith and he knew who Jesus really was. But “take heart” is a message to us. It’s a message of hope and a promise that we are heard just as Bartimaeus was heard.

“Take heart” is a call to all God’s people to put away our fears and venture out into new territory because God is with us in all our endeavors.

As the psalmist says, “I sought God, and God answered me, and delivered me from all my fears.”

Take heart! God will guide us. God IS guiding us. All we need to do is trust and have faith like Bartimaeus and be willing to meet Jesus and follow him.

Take heart! Our imagination doesn’t have to be out of focus!

Take heart! We are on the way! AMEN.

Endnotes:

[1] http://www.ucc.org/worship/samuel/october-25-2009.html

[1] Megan McKenna, On Your Mark: Reading Mark in the Shadow of the Cross

[1] http://www.ucc.org/worship/samuel/october-25-2009.html

[1] From “The Lord is Good” sermon by Rev. Sue Hamly, Oct. 29, 2006.

[1] André Resner, The Lectionary Commentary.