Twenty-first Sunday After Pentecost Year B 2009

21 Pentecost B 09
October 25, 2009

Job 42:1-6, 10-17
1 Then Job answered the LORD: 2 "I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. 3 'Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?' Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. 4 'Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you declare to me.' 5 I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; 6 therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes."
10 And the LORD restored the fortunes of Job when he had prayed for his friends; and the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before. 11 Then there came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and they ate bread with him in his house; they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the LORD had brought upon him; and each of them gave him a piece of money and a gold ring. 12 The LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; and he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand donkeys. 13 He also had seven sons and three daughters. 14 He named the first Jemimah, the second Keziah, and the third Keren-happuch. 15 In all the land there were no women so beautiful as Job's daughters; and their father gave them an inheritance along with their brothers. 16 After this Job lived one hundred and forty years, and saw his children, and his children's children, four generations. 17 And Job died, old and full of days.

Psalm 34:1-8, 19-22
1 I will bless the LORD at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth. 2 My soul makes its boast in the LORD; let the humble hear and be glad. 3 O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together. 4 I sought the LORD, and he answered me, and delivered me from all my fears. 5 Look to him, and be radiant; so your faces shall never be ashamed. 6 This poor soul cried, and was heard by the LORD, and was saved from every trouble. 7 The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them. 8 O taste and see that the LORD is good; happy are those who take refuge in him.
19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD rescues them from them all. 20 He keeps all their bones; not one of them will be broken. 21 Evil brings death to the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be condemned. 22 The LORD redeems the life of his servants; none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.

Hebrews 7:23-28
23 Furthermore, the former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office; 24 but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. 25 Consequently he is able for all time to save those who approach God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. 26 For it was fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, blameless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. 27 Unlike the other high priests, he has no need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for those of the people; this he did once for all when he offered himself. 28 For the law appoints as high priests those who are subject to weakness, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.

Mark 10:46-52
46 They came to Jericho. As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside. 47 When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" 48 Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" 49 Jesus stood still and said, "Call him here." And they called the blind man, saying to him, "Take heart; get up, he is calling you." 50 So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. 51 Then Jesus said to him, "What do you want me to do for you?" The blind man said to him, "My teacher, let me see again." 52 Jesus said to him, "Go; your faith has made you well." Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.

What Do You Want Jesus to Do for You?

I was reviewing some of my sermons from the last time, three years ago, that these lessons from our lectionary came around and I was remembering that sometime early in my ministry here in Deltaville, I said to you all that I was here for one reason. It’s right there in the first letter of Paul to the Corinthians, in chapter 2. I am here to know Jesus among you.

Jesus, like every other ordinary human being, relates to each person and group that approaches him differently. This is one of the wonderful things about living people. You never really know a living person is going to do. It keeps things interesting. I never really know how Jesus is going to respond to people, what he’s going to say to them, what he will give them or won’t give them or can’t give them, or what he asks of them. We are unique among the religions of the world, because we believe we have a living God. A living God relates to living people, and that can be very unpredictable.

Jesus promised his disciples that whenever they gathered to remember him, he would be with them. I believe the resurrection is just that simple. It’s important to remember that Jesus never said that he would come to any individual who remembered him, but exclusively when more than one was gathered in his name.

We’re not here to remember Jesus’ laws. We’re not here to remember Jesus’ teaching. We’re not here to remember Jesus’ healing. We’re not here to remember Jesus’ death. We’re here to remember him. We do that by remembering the stories that shaped him and the stories about him and the stories about other people who saw him after he rose from the dead.

A word like interpretation doesn’t do justice really to what we do on Sunday morning. And it may be people are staying away from churches because so many churches reduce Sunday morning to something smaller, more bite-size. We get together to figure out the law of God, or we get together to celebrate how we all think alike, or we get together to enjoy getting together, or we get together to get castigated or affirmed or to get a little fuel for the coming week, or we get together to cope with the difficulties and challenges of our lives.

But what we’re really doing is participating in a miracle. On the first day of every week, Jesus comes out of the tomb and comes among his people and relates to them. On every Sunday morning, we get together and even though Jesus was crucified and died, we find that he is alive and accessible to us, and all we have to do to experience his living presence is to remember him.
And when we remember him he comes among us and he does all the unpredictable things real living people do. I never know really what he’s going to do.

The risen Jesus is in the process of saving me. I have a pretty good idea of what that salvation looks like and I even have a fairly good idea of how he is doing it. Of course, I’m only one person. I happen to be called by Jesus to fill a certain role in the midst of the church, and as I attempt to fulfill that role, Jesus saves me. I am aware also that through me, as I serve him, he seems to be saving others as well, not only here in Deltaville, but all over the world.

Just look at the stories we’ve heard this month from the tenth chapter of Mark. All of the stories are about Jesus meeting people and relating to people. But Jesus dealt with each group or person differently. He was on his way to Jerusalem, to confront people like the temple priests and the Roman governor. He clearly had an overall mission, a strategy he was following, a purpose. He even tried to let his disciples know what that purpose was, but they never seemed to get it.
Along the way, some people actually came looking for Jesus. Other people just happen to be there as he was passing through. We know from Mark’s overall story that Jesus was being talked about widely. News was spreading about him all over Israel. We know though that different people came to different conclusions about who he was and what he was doing. Some came looking for him, some just waited, hoping he might show up. Some hated him and were plotting to kill him.

If we remember Jesus when we come together, and he comes out of the tomb and encounters us, we can be pretty sure that the same kind of news will spread around the community here. We can be pretty sure that different people will come to different conclusions about who he is and what he’s doing. Some will come looking, some will hope he’s come to them, some will want him back in the tomb.

One of the things we remember by reading Mark’s chapter 10 is that Jesus did not give everyone who came to him what they asked him for, nor was he always successful in changing them. The Pharisees didn’t get the answer they were looking for. The rich man didn’t accept his offer. He told James and John that he didn’t have what they wanted from him. The people that were following Jesus often did the opposite of what he was trying to get them to do. They tried to keep the children from him, for example. So we can be sure that if Jesus comes out of the tomb and encounters us, some will not get the answers they’re looking for, some will not accept Jesus’ offer, some will ask for something Jesus doesn’t have to give, some who are his disciples will do exactly the opposite of what he’s asking of them.

In reading Mark’s chapter 10 this month, we remembered Jesus encountering theologians, religious experts, and we remember how he dealt with them. There are theologians and religious experts here in Deltaville, maybe even here in the congregation. If he comes out of the tomb, we can be pretty sure they’ll have some questions for him. His answer to them might not satisfy them, and they might even end up wanting him dead again.

We remembered Jesus encountering a rich but very ethical man, who asked Jesus about his offer of eternal life. Jesus loved him and told him what he needed to do, but the rich man was unable to accept what Jesus said. If Jesus comes out of the tomb here in Deltaville, he might very well encounter some rich, very ethical people. We remember he said that while it may be humanly impossible for a rich person to accept him, that nothing is impossible with God. Some might turn away, shocked and grieved. But anything is possible.

We remembered Jesus encountering people bringing children to him for blessing. We remember his disciples keeping them away from him, and Jesus correcting them, and using the opportunity to teach them about God’s kingdom. There are certainly people in Deltaville that might like to bring children to be blessed by Jesus, and there might very well be disciples who’d like to keep them away. They are, after all, a lot of trouble, children.

We remembered this month that two of Jesus’ followers came to Jesus looking for status and power over the other disciples, and we remembered that Jesus told them they didn’t really know what they were asking, and it seems obvious that they didn’t. His answer to them we ultimately no, basically because what they were asking wasn’t his to grant them. We can be pretty sure if Jesus comes out of the tomb here on Sunday mornings and encounters us, there might be those who are looking for status and recognition and power over the rest, that they might not even understand what they’re asking, and that they’ll find out such power and status and recognition is not in his possession to offer. Of course, they might also find that he has a way and a path to offer, whether they really understand it or not.

And today we remember a blind beggar who just happened to be sitting along the way Jesus was going. He had heard about Jesus and was apparently hoping Jesus might come by. He had come to a conclusion about Jesus, one that seems to have been different than the conclusions drawn by the Pharisees or the rich man or even the disciples themselves, who seem to think he should leave Jesus alone.

He calls Jesus “Son of David.” He is the only person in Mark’s gospel that called Jesus by this title. This simple title tells us many things. It tells us that he remembers Israel’s story. It tells us he knew that the Messiah was to be the son of David. It tells he knew that Jesus was the fulfillment of God’s plan for Israel. And what he asked of the Messiah, the Son of David, is very simple. He asked for mercy.

Bartimaeus, and it is significant that we are told his name, asked for mercy. He saw himself as someone afflicted by God. Moreover, he saw himself as deserving to be afflicted by God. Once he had been able to see, and we don’t know what the nature of his wrongdoing was, or how his faith had failed, and maybe even he doesn’t know what he’d done or failed to do, but because he asks for mercy, we know that he understood his blindness as his rightful due.

We’re accustomed to thinking of sin as personal. But Bartimaeus, we don’t know for sure of course, might have thought of sin as something that affects groups, and he might have seen himself as a Jew, part of a group who had become unfaithful to their Judaism. Because part of the group had become unfaithful, other parts of the group became tainted or stained. It’s the nature of corruption, isn’t it? The disease spreads. Good cells go bad because they are infected by the bad cells next to them. But as I say, we don’t really know why Bartimaeus accepts his blindness as his due.

This is a very different approach from the approach of the Pharisees or the rich man or James and John.

And today we remember that Jesus called Bartimaeus. He called him and asked him the same question he asked of James and John. “What is it you want me to do for you?” And Bartimaeus doesn’t ask for power and he doesn’t ask to inherit eternal life and he doesn’t ask Jesus to solve a question of the law of Moses. He asked to be able to see again, without any sense of entitlement.

Jesus comes out of the tomb this morning. And we can be pretty sure there are people who once were able to see but now can’t, who simply aren’t able to go looking for Jesus, but are just waiting for him to come by. And we can be pretty sure there might even be disciples among us who want to keep Jesus from such people.

And we remember together this morning that Jesus granted Bartimaeus his request. And we can be pretty sure that as he comes among us this morning, he will grant the same request. He will answer the cry of a sinner with God’s mercy, and make that sinner whole.

And we remember this morning also that Bartimaeus threw off his beggar’s cloak, and followed Jesus on the way. And if he is coming out of his tomb among us this morning, there might just be someone who will do the same thing.

Amen.