Pentecost +23 – Healing Bartimaeus

Sermons – St. Brendan's Anglican Church

Giving Sight to Bartimaeus by William Blake (1799 to 1800)

Pentecost +23 2024
Rev. Doug Floyd
Isaiah 59:9-20, Psalm 13, Hebrews 5:11-6:12, Mark 10:46-52

…justice is far from us,
and righteousness does not overtake us;
we hope for light, and behold, darkness,
and for brightness, but we walk in gloom.
¹⁰ We grope for the wall like the blind;
we grope like those who have no eyes;
we stumble at noon as in the twilight,
among those in full vigor we are like dead men.
¹¹ We all growl like bears;
we moan and moan like doves;
we hope for justice, but there is none;
for salvation, but it is far from us. ^[1]

The word of Isaiah’s song take hold of me. I feel them in my bones. Here are a people cast aside. Blind and eyeless. Stumbling in the dark. The goodness of God is far from them. They’ve followed the rituals of the Temple, but Isaiah says these supposed righteous acts are filthy rags that cannot cover their oppression of the poor and weak. In their idolatry, they are not only blind to God but blind to their neighbor. Yet all the while, they think they are righteous.

Makes me think of a song by The Call from the 1980s. He sings,

Do, you feel protected inside the white walls?
A world neglected heads for a fall
A fate suspended each day is a gift
A world offended, God what is this?

He says, “We’ll walk in the front door
And proudly raise our heads”
I say, “Man you must be joking
Our hands are covered in blood red”

When we read Isaiah, we think of ancient Israel, but he is speaking of the human condition, and his words ring as true today as they ever have. Our hands are covered blood red. Lord have mercy on us.

Israel cannot save themselves. We cannot save ourselves. Amid pronouncing judgment, Isaiah sings words of hope and healing.

The Lord saw it, and it displeased him
that there was no justice.
¹⁶ He saw that there was no man,
and wondered that there was no one to intercede;
then his own arm brought him salvation,
and his righteousness upheld him. ^[2]

Despite judgment, the Lord does not abandon His people. When He comes to redeem Israel, He will do so much more. In Isaiah 49:6, we read,

“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant
to raise up the tribes of Jacob
and to bring back the preserved of Israel;
I will make you as a light for the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” ^[3]

God comes to redeem His wayward people and redeems all of us wayward people. This sets up our Gospel story today. Jesus goes to Jericho. Mark doesn’t tell us any details of this visit. Jesus is on His way to Jerusalem and stops by Jericho on the way. Mark writes,

“And they came to Jericho. And as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a great crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside.” ^[4]

We know nothing of the trip to Jericho except one. Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, sits by the roadside. Jesus is on His way to Jerusalem, but He stops in Jericho. Has He stopped for a blind beggar, sitting by the roadside?

Most people have no time for this blind beggar. In fact, they tell him to be quiet. Who is this blind man? His name is Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus. That’s all we know. He is a real flesh and blood person that desperately needs the grace of God. At the same time, the presence of this blind man reminds us that Israel is blind. The people do not have eyes to see or ears to hear Jesus. He also reminds us that our age also tends to be blind and deaf to the ways of God. Instead of standing in judgment on our surrounding culture, I suggest we begin with the cry of Bartimaeus, “Jesus Son of David have mercy on me.”

The blindness reminds us that in many ways Israel is still in exile. In Isaiah, we see how idolatry results in blindness, deafness, and lameness. They become like their idols. Eventually, they are exiled to Babylon. Though some Jews eventually return, they are still in exile. The people live under subjection. They long for the coming Messiah to set things right, but when He comes, they cannot see Him. He doesn’t look or act like the Messiah they had hoped for.

This is a challenge all through Scripture. When the exiles return to Jerusalem, they rejoice. As the Psalmist declares,

1 When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion,
we were like those who dream.
2 Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
and our tongue with shouts of joy;
then they said among the nations,
“The Lord has done great things for them.”
3 The Lord has done great things for us;
we are glad.[5]

But then the difficulty of return sinks in. There are enemies in the land. Rebuilding the Temple and the city prove difficult. The joy fades.

Job and his friends didn’t expect that God would allow the righteous to suffer.

The disciples don’t expect the Messiah to die on the cross.

When Jesus comes to His people, they don’t always recognize Him. When Jesus comes to us, we may not always recognize Him. Our expectations can get in the way of beholding our Savior. People in our culture and world may cry out for justice but they may not be able to see true justice when it comes.

All of us could learn from Bartimaeus and cry for “mercy.” He cannot see but that doesn’t stop him from crying out for mercy. The crowds try to silence him, but he cries out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

Jesus says, “Call him.” So they call him. “Take heart. Get up; he is calling you.” Bartimaeus is ready and waiting. He springs up. This image looks like resurrection. Jesus calls him and he springs up. Jesus restores his sight. The newly sighted man follows Jesus on the way. Where is Jesus headed? To Jerusalem.

Before Bartimaeus could not follow Jesus to Jerusalem because He was blind. The law prohibited him from coming near the Temple. If we look at Jesus’s miracles, we discover many conditions that prevented people from drawing near. They are blind, deaf, lame, and have leprosy. They are outside, on the margins. They also remind us that Israel still needs true restoration. Our world is filled with people who are wounded and wayward. Some refuse to return to church. They desperately need the healing touch of Christ Jesus. We desperately need His healing touch.

We want eyes to see. Ears that hear. Our heart that responds to the call of Jesus. So we cry, “Lord have mercy!”

The good Lord does heal us and call us into His path of healing grace. By His grace, we become healers. I see signs of His healing grace at work all through our community. So many people have told me that they found healing here. I believe there is a charism of healing in the whole community. Our community is filled with people who pray for others, serve one another, extend the hand of friendship, and more.

As we are coming to the close of the church year in November, I would hope that we all might take time to ask the Father about this gift of healing and how we might pour out our lives to one another and to the community around. Let us follow Christ to the broken, to wounded, to those on the margins and those who have fallen through the cracks.

Amen.

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^[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Is 59:9–11.

^[2] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Is 59:15–16.

^[3] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Is 49:6.

^[4] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Mk 10:46.

[5] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ps 126:1–3.