Sermon - Year B, Proper 25
Written and Delivered by The Rev. Mary Phelps
Mark 10:46-52
Early last week when I sat down to write this sermon I wished I could see into the future - into the future just one week ahead. Normally I would not write a sermon until the Thursday preceding the Sunday I deliver it because so many events could happen in our community or the world that I might feel need to be addressed. Most especially I wished I could see what was going to happen and be discussed at our diocesan convention this weekend. Yet, I knew after the intensity of convention, and arriving back home from Duluth Saturday evening, that there was no way I could put off writing a sermon until last night. I did know that the theme of convention was In Sure and Certain Hope.
Bishop Jelinek asked The Right Rev. Steven Charleston, President and Dean of Episcopal Divinity School, Cambridge, Massachusetts and former Bishop of Alaska to be our keynote speaker at convention. Bishop Charleston's presentation focused on building and empowering leadership for church growth. Our bishop has sensed that the spirit of our diocese needs to be lifted and returned to a sense of hope for today and for the future, and he felt Bishop Charleston knew how to do this. Bishop Jelinek said, "I have asked him to discuss the kind of spiritual attitude and discipline needed by leaders - both clergy and lay - to grow the church in the 21st century."
It was with this goal in mind that clergy and lay leaders from across the diocese gathered this weekend to "develop a clearer sense of Episcopal identity and a stronger sense of hope that will embolden our commitment to existing mission and consideration of new mission opportunities" (from pre-convention material).
How all of this was to be addressed was unknown to me as I wrote this sermon, but as I read the gospel passage for today I definitely felt Bartimaeus was a man who embodied "sure and certain hope."
It is on this last leg of the journey that Jesus and the disciples take on their the way to Jerusalem; it is as they pass through the outer edge of Jericho only fifteen miles from the Holy City, that Jesus' final healing miracle, that of Bartimaeus, takes place. Mark tells us that Jesus has told the disciples three times that he will be betrayed in Jerusalem; he will be delivered into the hands of those who will spit on him and mock him, then torture him, and finally kill him. Then three days after being killed he will rise again. Each time Jesus tells this to the disciples, Mark says they did not understand what Jesus was saying.
I can't help but wonder if it was not really so much as a complete lack of understanding on the part of the disciples, but a denial of what they knew in their hearts was to come. Maybe they were so afraid they couldn't bear to hear that their teacher and protector, their beloved friend, was going to lead them to a place where he would endure such a horrific death. Maybe, like us in our human frailty, the disciples turned a "blind eye" on that part of what Jesus had told them, and instead chose to focus on Jesus' being raise in glory. Maybe that focus on only the good side of what Jesus was telling them is the reason James and John went to Jesus and asked him for a special favor.
You see, right after Jesus told the disciples for the third time how he was going to die, James and John went to Jesus and said they wanted Jesus to grant them what they were about to request. Jesus said to them, "What is it you want me to do for you?" They said they wanted to be seated on either side of Jesus when he came into his glory.
As Paul said in his sermon last week (for the 10:00ers add, to those of us gathered at the 8:00 service), that sounds to us like a shockingly "audacious" request for them to make. Yet, instead of rebuking James and John, Jesus asks them if they are able to drink the cup that he drinks. Are they able to be baptized with the baptism that he was baptized with? Jesus is leading them to realize that it is not as easy as it sounds, for it is by drinking from the cup of sorrow and hardship that it becomes the cup of salvation, and a baptism is to death as well as to live. Death and resurrection are two sides of a coin.
Even so, Jesus told James and John that they indeed would drink the cup that he drinks and be baptized with the same baptism he was baptized with. As Paul said last week, "Jesus seemed to see something deeper in them" because in the end they gave their lives as witnesses "to the new life in Christ." "To want the abundant life, as James and John did, is something all of us should want, and we should be bold enough and confident enough to say so."
Paul left us with some questions about what we would want Jesus to do for us at St. George's. "Do we want Jesus to keep us comfortable, in the safe and familiar ways we have always done things? Or do we want to share in the glory of abundant life, do we want to be transformed and open and growing in the new life that comes in Christ?" He went on to ask, "What are we able to do for discipleship? Are we able to give our lives in witness? Are we able to set aside some of the agendas and habits and customs and traditions of our parish family, in order to open up new ways of doing things and new people who will have agendas and habits and customs and traditions that may not be like our own? Are we able to be serious about shifting priorities in our budget and programs and staff and ministries, so we can focus on serving Christ in the world, not just being served in our own close parish circle? Are we able to make some sacrifices, even painful sacrifices, so that we as a congregation and as individuals can really grow in Christ? What do we want Jesus to do for us, and what are we able to do with Jesus?"
But what does all of that have to do with Bartimaeus, and why would I say that I think he embodies "sure and certain hope?" There is an old saying: sometimes we can't see the forest because of the trees. Sometimes we can't see the whole picture in any given situation; sometimes we can't see the whole forest and how each tree, plant, animal, and the soil work together to create a harmonious environment which enables all the parts to grow and thrive together. The parts we want to overlook are the scary insects and animals, the decaying rotting trees, those things that are chocked out because they can't adapt or contribute to the ever changing and growing landscape.
We have walked with Jesus and the disciples as they have worked with the people throughout their homeland. We have shared the group's prayer time with Jesus; we have shared in their joy of being surrounded by approving crowds; we have shared their days of peaceful rest and study with Jesus. We have shared their aversion to the scary insects and rotting trees - those parts of Jesus' teachings that the disciples have plugged their ears and minds to. And those parts are the ones in which Jesus calls for obedience and trust. Jesus says the hope and the glory will follow suffering and death. Suffering and death, hope and glory are all part of the God's plan, and nothing can be left out. They are two sides of a coin.
Often today, when it comes to obedience, hope, and trust we are in the same position as the first disciples. We say we are people of faith, and for the most part living a life of faith is pleasing to us. We have grown comfortable with the beauty of our liturgy, the familiar and heart stirring hymns we sing, and the certainty that as long as we keep things very much as they are it will be as it always has been. The church will continue to thrive, and we will be a group of people that others will want to become a part of.
Yet, it is hard for any of us to say we haven't felt the stir of coming winds of change. Over this past year we have talked about how we must grow or we will die, how we might have to give up some of the things we want most desperately to hold on to if our beloved church is to survive - and it is to this kind of talk that we can develop a spiritual blindness and find our faith faltering.
From Bartimaeus we can glimpse what it means to live in the Spirit. What makes us spiritual is the spontaneous desire to respond with trust and obedience to Christ's presence in our lives. We have a responsibility to notice, understand, and reflect on what we must do, refine, change, tweak, keep, expand on, in order to be the open and inviting disciples Jesus calls us to be. True Christian happiness begins when we recognize our short comings, our heartaches, and cry out for help.
Bartimaeus might have remained a blind beggar for the rest of his life if he had not called out so persistently to Jesus as he passed by. The obstacles Bartimaeus faced are obvious - he was a poor blind man with nothing to look forward to but a life of begging and subsisting on handouts. Yet, he refused to be silenced because he completely trusted in Jesus' ability to heal him. Fueled by trusting faithfulness he expected nothing less than complete healing by God. With sure and certain hope, Bartimaeus had no doubt that his request will be heard and granted by Jesus. We all need to have trust like that when we are facing uncertain events and difficult decisions. If we can't, we put our spiritual health on the line.
Jesus did hear Bartimaeus' call and he stopped and called for him come before him. It's not easy to stop; to put aside the doing, the talking, the analyzing, and simply stand before Jesus with an open mind and heart in our time of need and direction. But, it is necessary to stop before any real healing and genuine ministry can come. Jesus never healed anyone on the run.
Jesus asked Bartimaeus the same question he asked James and John, "What do you want me to do for you?" Bartimaeus' response is trustingly simple and direct, "My teacher, let me see again." When faced with such faith Jesus simply said, "Go, your faith has made you well." Jesus observed that what Bartimaeus had been longing for had already occurred as a result of his faith. With his newly found sight, Bartimaeus immediately applied his faithfulness to a new situation and he eagerly followed Jesus "on the way." He has the vision and faith to leave his old life behind and go in a new direction.
The way of Jesus becomes a way of life for those who believe; it involves sacrifices and uncomfortable change, but it also leads to healing. By faith we are given the eyes to see wonder and hope for ourselves and our church. By faith we believe in the transforming power of God to make possible what we believe will be beneficial for our community and the whole diocese.
Bartimaeus can be our guide on the way. He is a man of faith and vision, a man unafraid to recognize his own need for healing and to cry out, "I want to see!" Bartimaeaus invites us to follow him up the road. Changing our course can be hard, but the Good News is that it leads to a sure and certain hope filled new beginning.
Mark 10:46-52
Early last week when I sat down to write this sermon I wished I could see into the future - into the future just one week ahead. Normally I would not write a sermon until the Thursday preceding the Sunday I deliver it because so many events could happen in our community or the world that I might feel need to be addressed. Most especially I wished I could see what was going to happen and be discussed at our diocesan convention this weekend. Yet, I knew after the intensity of convention, and arriving back home from Duluth Saturday evening, that there was no way I could put off writing a sermon until last night. I did know that the theme of convention was In Sure and Certain Hope.
Bishop Jelinek asked The Right Rev. Steven Charleston, President and Dean of Episcopal Divinity School, Cambridge, Massachusetts and former Bishop of Alaska to be our keynote speaker at convention. Bishop Charleston's presentation focused on building and empowering leadership for church growth. Our bishop has sensed that the spirit of our diocese needs to be lifted and returned to a sense of hope for today and for the future, and he felt Bishop Charleston knew how to do this. Bishop Jelinek said, "I have asked him to discuss the kind of spiritual attitude and discipline needed by leaders - both clergy and lay - to grow the church in the 21st century."
It was with this goal in mind that clergy and lay leaders from across the diocese gathered this weekend to "develop a clearer sense of Episcopal identity and a stronger sense of hope that will embolden our commitment to existing mission and consideration of new mission opportunities" (from pre-convention material).
How all of this was to be addressed was unknown to me as I wrote this sermon, but as I read the gospel passage for today I definitely felt Bartimaeus was a man who embodied "sure and certain hope."
It is on this last leg of the journey that Jesus and the disciples take on their the way to Jerusalem; it is as they pass through the outer edge of Jericho only fifteen miles from the Holy City, that Jesus' final healing miracle, that of Bartimaeus, takes place. Mark tells us that Jesus has told the disciples three times that he will be betrayed in Jerusalem; he will be delivered into the hands of those who will spit on him and mock him, then torture him, and finally kill him. Then three days after being killed he will rise again. Each time Jesus tells this to the disciples, Mark says they did not understand what Jesus was saying.
I can't help but wonder if it was not really so much as a complete lack of understanding on the part of the disciples, but a denial of what they knew in their hearts was to come. Maybe they were so afraid they couldn't bear to hear that their teacher and protector, their beloved friend, was going to lead them to a place where he would endure such a horrific death. Maybe, like us in our human frailty, the disciples turned a "blind eye" on that part of what Jesus had told them, and instead chose to focus on Jesus' being raise in glory. Maybe that focus on only the good side of what Jesus was telling them is the reason James and John went to Jesus and asked him for a special favor.
You see, right after Jesus told the disciples for the third time how he was going to die, James and John went to Jesus and said they wanted Jesus to grant them what they were about to request. Jesus said to them, "What is it you want me to do for you?" They said they wanted to be seated on either side of Jesus when he came into his glory.
As Paul said in his sermon last week (for the 10:00ers add, to those of us gathered at the 8:00 service), that sounds to us like a shockingly "audacious" request for them to make. Yet, instead of rebuking James and John, Jesus asks them if they are able to drink the cup that he drinks. Are they able to be baptized with the baptism that he was baptized with? Jesus is leading them to realize that it is not as easy as it sounds, for it is by drinking from the cup of sorrow and hardship that it becomes the cup of salvation, and a baptism is to death as well as to live. Death and resurrection are two sides of a coin.
Even so, Jesus told James and John that they indeed would drink the cup that he drinks and be baptized with the same baptism he was baptized with. As Paul said last week, "Jesus seemed to see something deeper in them" because in the end they gave their lives as witnesses "to the new life in Christ." "To want the abundant life, as James and John did, is something all of us should want, and we should be bold enough and confident enough to say so."
Paul left us with some questions about what we would want Jesus to do for us at St. George's. "Do we want Jesus to keep us comfortable, in the safe and familiar ways we have always done things? Or do we want to share in the glory of abundant life, do we want to be transformed and open and growing in the new life that comes in Christ?" He went on to ask, "What are we able to do for discipleship? Are we able to give our lives in witness? Are we able to set aside some of the agendas and habits and customs and traditions of our parish family, in order to open up new ways of doing things and new people who will have agendas and habits and customs and traditions that may not be like our own? Are we able to be serious about shifting priorities in our budget and programs and staff and ministries, so we can focus on serving Christ in the world, not just being served in our own close parish circle? Are we able to make some sacrifices, even painful sacrifices, so that we as a congregation and as individuals can really grow in Christ? What do we want Jesus to do for us, and what are we able to do with Jesus?"
But what does all of that have to do with Bartimaeus, and why would I say that I think he embodies "sure and certain hope?" There is an old saying: sometimes we can't see the forest because of the trees. Sometimes we can't see the whole picture in any given situation; sometimes we can't see the whole forest and how each tree, plant, animal, and the soil work together to create a harmonious environment which enables all the parts to grow and thrive together. The parts we want to overlook are the scary insects and animals, the decaying rotting trees, those things that are chocked out because they can't adapt or contribute to the ever changing and growing landscape.
We have walked with Jesus and the disciples as they have worked with the people throughout their homeland. We have shared the group's prayer time with Jesus; we have shared in their joy of being surrounded by approving crowds; we have shared their days of peaceful rest and study with Jesus. We have shared their aversion to the scary insects and rotting trees - those parts of Jesus' teachings that the disciples have plugged their ears and minds to. And those parts are the ones in which Jesus calls for obedience and trust. Jesus says the hope and the glory will follow suffering and death. Suffering and death, hope and glory are all part of the God's plan, and nothing can be left out. They are two sides of a coin.
Often today, when it comes to obedience, hope, and trust we are in the same position as the first disciples. We say we are people of faith, and for the most part living a life of faith is pleasing to us. We have grown comfortable with the beauty of our liturgy, the familiar and heart stirring hymns we sing, and the certainty that as long as we keep things very much as they are it will be as it always has been. The church will continue to thrive, and we will be a group of people that others will want to become a part of.
Yet, it is hard for any of us to say we haven't felt the stir of coming winds of change. Over this past year we have talked about how we must grow or we will die, how we might have to give up some of the things we want most desperately to hold on to if our beloved church is to survive - and it is to this kind of talk that we can develop a spiritual blindness and find our faith faltering.
From Bartimaeus we can glimpse what it means to live in the Spirit. What makes us spiritual is the spontaneous desire to respond with trust and obedience to Christ's presence in our lives. We have a responsibility to notice, understand, and reflect on what we must do, refine, change, tweak, keep, expand on, in order to be the open and inviting disciples Jesus calls us to be. True Christian happiness begins when we recognize our short comings, our heartaches, and cry out for help.
Bartimaeus might have remained a blind beggar for the rest of his life if he had not called out so persistently to Jesus as he passed by. The obstacles Bartimaeus faced are obvious - he was a poor blind man with nothing to look forward to but a life of begging and subsisting on handouts. Yet, he refused to be silenced because he completely trusted in Jesus' ability to heal him. Fueled by trusting faithfulness he expected nothing less than complete healing by God. With sure and certain hope, Bartimaeus had no doubt that his request will be heard and granted by Jesus. We all need to have trust like that when we are facing uncertain events and difficult decisions. If we can't, we put our spiritual health on the line.
Jesus did hear Bartimaeus' call and he stopped and called for him come before him. It's not easy to stop; to put aside the doing, the talking, the analyzing, and simply stand before Jesus with an open mind and heart in our time of need and direction. But, it is necessary to stop before any real healing and genuine ministry can come. Jesus never healed anyone on the run.
Jesus asked Bartimaeus the same question he asked James and John, "What do you want me to do for you?" Bartimaeus' response is trustingly simple and direct, "My teacher, let me see again." When faced with such faith Jesus simply said, "Go, your faith has made you well." Jesus observed that what Bartimaeus had been longing for had already occurred as a result of his faith. With his newly found sight, Bartimaeus immediately applied his faithfulness to a new situation and he eagerly followed Jesus "on the way." He has the vision and faith to leave his old life behind and go in a new direction.
The way of Jesus becomes a way of life for those who believe; it involves sacrifices and uncomfortable change, but it also leads to healing. By faith we are given the eyes to see wonder and hope for ourselves and our church. By faith we believe in the transforming power of God to make possible what we believe will be beneficial for our community and the whole diocese.
Bartimaeus can be our guide on the way. He is a man of faith and vision, a man unafraid to recognize his own need for healing and to cry out, "I want to see!" Bartimaeaus invites us to follow him up the road. Changing our course can be hard, but the Good News is that it leads to a sure and certain hope filled new beginning.