FROM DARKNESS INTO THE LIGHT
Sermon preached by Dr. Mark Smutny
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Pasadena Presbyterian Church
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. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 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.” So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. 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.” Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith has made you well.” Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way. - Mark 10:46-52
A perfect capstone to this year’s stewardship theme of “changing lives” is this healing story of blind Bartimaeus. In the story we witness two miracles. One, a blind man, through the persistence of his faith, comes to sight. The other, a crowd blinded to human need, comes to new sight as well, when they realize their central identity is to attend to others’ need for mercy.
In the story, Jesus, his disciples and a large crowd are leaving the gates of Jericho. Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, cries out to Jesus for mercy. “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.” The din of the crowd makes it difficult for Bartimaeus to be heard and seek Jesus’ healing powers. The disciples and the crowd sternly order him to be quiet. Perhaps their attempts to silence Bartimaeus are motivated by the stigma of his disability or their disgust with the dishonorable trade of begging. It’s not clear why. I do know how our sense of propriety and order in church can sometimes make it seem inappropriate to share our need for help. How many of us hide our pain in church believing that others will be discomforted by it?
What is clear in the story is the persistence of the blind Bartimaeus who refuses to be defined by his circumstances or by the expectations of those who are able to see. The persistence of Bartimaeus sets off a wave of mercy, blessing and change. Their efforts to silence him seem to motivate him even more. He cries out even more loudly. “Son of David, have mercy on me!” It’s like the persistence of the gay and lesbian community and their supporters not giving up for decades until Congress finally passes hate-crime legislation this past week. It’s like the survivors of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church refusing to be silent about horrific crimes while the orchestrations of the hierarchy tried so hard to silence them through denial, fear tactics and public relations techniques until our criminal justice system finally acts.
Jesus hears Bartimaeus’ persistent calls for mercy and orders him to be brought to him despite the crowd’s resistance. Jesus stood still and said, “Call him here.”
The disciples and the crowd seeing Jesus’ act with compassion have a change of heart and a miracle occurs. Those who have eyes but can’t see gain their sight. They change from shunning Bartimaeus to encouraging him. “And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart; get up, he is calling you.” They discover that the purpose of their ministry is to be a hospital for the injured not a country club for the well.
Encouraged by his community that no longer despises him, Bartimaeus springs to his feet, throws off his cloak, and comes to Jesus. He comes to Jesus casting aside the baggage of his past. It's quite reasonable to assume that his cloak was his most treasured possession. It kept him warm through cold nights. It hid the meager results of his begging. It hid his true self from the cruelty of onlookers. In his act of throwing off his cloak, he cast aside his former life, and right then and there he became a new person altogether. The past was finished and gone, everything had become fresh and new. As the text says, “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.” Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith has made you well.” Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.”
As we follow Jesus on his way, we have chosen this year to claim boldly the faith that changes lives. Since thirty days ago in late September when we launched our fall stewardship campaign, we’ve heard and seen some amazing things. Each Sunday we’ve invited church members to give testimonies about how their lives have been changed through the ministries of PPC. We heard from Karen Lee how through hearing a fresh perspective on forgiveness in a sermon by Dr. Barbara Anderson, her life was saved.
All the way from Guatemala, we heard from Phil Burns about a life-changing PPC youth mission trip to Alaska and how in the aftermath of a murder in a Native American fishing village, where clan was set against clan, he was led to resolve a personal faith struggle about his own ethnic and Christian identity. The experience led him even now to his Christian service in the Peace Corps. As Phil said, PPC is, in no small part, responsible for making him who he is today. PPC changed his life, forever.
We heard from Frances Nicholson how her multi-generational family commitment to PPC makes her proud. Frances shared how throughout her walk of faith at PPC she has heard that every single person is a beloved child of God and, therefore, every person should be treated as beloved. She shared what a huge difference this makes especially with people that society treats with indifference or cruelty and that the gift of acceptance can be life changing.
We heard this morning from Alberto Juarez who spoke so movingly of a great Latino Presbyterian heritage that moved through his grandparents’ generation to his own and how we in our time have the responsibility of bestowing that heritage on the next generation.
PPC’s ministries change lives. No, we save lives. More accurately stated, God moving among us, and through us, and between us, changes lives, saves lives, liberates lives and that is why we are here today to dedicate and consecrate our commitment to this cause. Yes, today, we fill out and hand in pledge cards. We also dedicate and consecrate our souls and our lives to the work and ministry of PPC because so much is at stake.
We do so on Reformation Sunday, mindful that we stand in a mighty stream of a noble tradition, more than five centuries old. This Reformation tradition finds its wellspring in a handful of great ideas that rocked the world: the supremacy of scripture over church tradition whereby the church is constantly reformed, renewed and tested by the witness of scripture; the supremacy of faith alone over earning salvation through works; and the supremacy of ordinary people knowing God over claims to special knowledge by an exclusive priesthood. These great ideas changed Christianity forever and they challenge us today to place into the center of our church life a spirit of innovation and experimentation, grounded in scripture, trusting in God alone, that we might constantly be renewed and reformed and that church and society might be changed ever more into the likeness of a loving Creator.
Today we bring forward our pledge cards, our tithes and ourselves, dedicating our commitment to continue the thousands of individual and collective efforts whereby God’s love will be poured out in the coming year through this church and whereby people’s lives will be forever changed.
It is a simple truth in church life that none of us can ever be fully aware of all of the thousands of ways love is shared, hope is built up, and healing is poured out through our ministries. None of us can see all that goes on. That privilege is for God alone.
All of us are involved in small and large ways noticed and unnoticed whereby God works through us to change lives on God’s behalf. Nonetheless, as one of your pastors, I am especially given the privilege of being invited into the most sacred dimensions of your personal lives: the times when illness strikes, the times when tragedy visits, the times when loss and injury threaten, and the times when death draws near. I, too, am given the sacred privilege of seeing the power of prayer and trust transform a person from fear to courage, from panic to healing, from loneliness to community. I’m privileged again and again to see people gain new insights from the study of scripture and from the impact of sermons at the right time in a person’s life. I am privileged again and again to see grace overflow, to see forgiveness bring healing, to see anger melt when a person is fully heard. I am blessed and privileged by the wonder of watching injury, buried for decades, surface into the light of God’s peace. As a pastor, I am privileged and blessed to see these moments every week of my life and I get paid for it. I get to see every day the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to change lives.
As blind Bartimaeus gained his sight through a courageous, persistent faith and as the entourage of disciples and followers of Jesus came to see their central role as providers of mercy and as a community of healing, let us today re-dedicate our lives and our life together at PPC to the good and holy purposes to which God has called us: to strengthen the faint-hearted, to help the suffering, to bind up the broken-hearted, to honor all people, to bring light to the darkness, and pour out God’s love to the world. Our eyes are opened. Our eyes see. Guided by his light, we see. Thanks be to God. Amen.