+ 22nd Sunday after Pentecost – October 24, 2021 +
Series B: Mark 10:46-52
Beautiful Savior Lutheran
Milton, WA
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
This is about the time of the year when you wake up saying to yourself; it’s sure dark out this morning. The daylight shortens. Shadows lengthen. And even though Advent is still a little ways off, this week I couldn’t help but think of the great Advent hymn, O Come, O Come Emmanuel: O Dayspring, splendor of light everlasting: Come and enlighten those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.
These days it seems like the seasonal darkness reflects the times we live in. We live in dark days. Darkness in the world. Darkness in the hearts of men. Darkness in our own sinful flesh. Abide with me; fast falls the eventide. The darkness deepens, Lord with me abide.
Today’s Gospel reading from Mark 10 begins in the dark as well. Not the darkness of spiritual blindness of unbelief, but the physical darkness of blindness.
This blind man’s name was Bartimaeus, Mark tells us. His physical blindness evidence of the fallen world where everything and everyone is affected. The Old Testament prophets foretold this very thing. Isaiah listed the restoration of sight as the first of the signs of the coming salvation of God in the person of the Messiah. This is no coincidence that Jesus is there in Jericho to heal this blind man on his way to the cross.
Blindness in Scripture is one of those things that has a physical and spiritual dimension to it. Physically, it’s an enormous burden. Without the modern advances we have blindness to one degree or another would be much more common. Imagine a world without contacts or glasses, cataract surgeries or lasik.
There’s also a spiritual dimension to blindness in the Scriptures. Not so much the physical burden of blindness but spiritual blindness which plagues all humanity, which Jesus has come to heal by his dying and rising. Ironically in Jesus’ own ministry it’s often the physically blind who see Jesus for who he is and believe in him while it’s those who physically see him and follow him are the ones who so often fail to see Jesus as the Messiah.
When he fed the five thousand, many of his own followers didn’t comprehend what it meant. Jesus even mocked their confusion – “although you have eyes, do you not see?”
We’re not all that different really. We’re surrounded by darkness. Darkness in the world. Darkness within as well. Constantly tempted to spiritual blindness,; when we fail to fear, love, and trust in God above all things. Or when we seek to cast God after the desires of our will or our flesh. How often might we hear the same words from Jesus? Although you have eyes to see, don’t you notice how off kilter your life and priorities are? Where do we fix our eyes? On ourselves and own wants and desires or upon Christ and the cross, the place where his focus is set?
“Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”. That was the confession of blind Bartimaeus as he approached Jesus. That’s our confession too as we approach him here in this place. Bartimaeus had no illusions about his situation or his need for help from God. God’s Word brings us to the same conclusion. In the light of God’s Word, even the 10 Commandments alone, we see our sin for what it is. Darkness. Blindness. We are but blind beggars in need of mercy.
And that’s exactly what Jesus does for Bartimaeus. He has mercy on him. He called him over and gave him sight. Jesus turned darkness into light. Blindness into sight.
“Go your way; your faith has made you well.” Jesus tells him. And faith, you see, always has an object. His faith was not something he worked up on his own anymore than he healed his own eyes. Both his faith and his sight were a gift from Jesus.
Bartimaeus may have been blind in his body, but by God’s grace he was given to see where mercy could be found. Bartimaeus shows us the way of faith as well. To look to Jesus knowing that the faith we need, he gives. The eyes and hearts and minds that are blinded by sin that we need opened, he opens. The eyes of faith that look to Jesus and follow him to the cross, he fixes our eyes on him. In a world where we are surrounded by darkness, Jesus is the Light of the world; the light no darkness, no sin, no doubt, no shame, no guilt, none of it - the light no darkness can overcome.
For us and for Bartimaeus Jesus was revealing that the coming of his kingdom could only be seen and understood in light of his crucifixion and resurrection. That’s the sight Jesus truly wants us to have– to see that God’s kingdom has come in his flesh. In him. It’s surely what Bartimaeus saw with the eyes of faith that had been granted him by God. It’s what we also see when we believe that Jesus’ death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead have taken away our sins and saved and healed us.
Indeed, the seeing one who follows in Jesus’ way – that one what makes us the Lord’s true disciple. Discipleship is, as Jesus has described each of the past two Sundays, the ability to see everything in light of God’s promises. It is not loving our stuff so much that we walk away sorrowful from our Lord. It is not being so short-sighted toward God that we indulge ourselves by giving in to the temptations of this world, forgetting what God has promised in the world to come. From the Lord’s mercy to you in Baptism, Absolution, his Word, and the Lord’s Supper to the earthly gifts he also gives, he has granted you eyes of faith. Following Jesus is exemplified for us today by Bartimaeus, the beggar – a beggar can offer nothing, but only receive, and Bartimaeus, by faith, received everything. Following Jesus will also mean carrying a cross, just as Jesus carried his cross. We too, are blind beggars, blessed in the cross of Jesus.
For although following Jesus will mean suffering and persecution in this life, he will lead you on the way to the resurrection of all flesh according to his gracious, eternal rule and reign. He will lead you as he did Bartimaeus and his disciples - through the cross to life everlasting. Turning darkness into sight.
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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