Something that stands out to me from the
Gospel of Mark scripture reading this morning is in how Jesus related to people
who had very different understandings of who he was. People brought their preconceived notions of
who they thought Jesus was and who they thought he should be.
Our elections have a similar feel as voters seek to understand the
candidates, their agenda, and where they want to lead our country. People were doing something similar with
Jesus. They were looking at what he was
saying and doing and trying to understand all of this in the context of their
own preconceived notions of who they believed Jesus to be.
James and John thought they knew who Jesus was. They thought that he was going to be the new
King who would set up an earthly kingdom and they wanted to be the top two
people in his cabinet. A lot of Jesus’
followers probably viewed Jesus as the political and military hero that their
own Jewish people had been praying for over the past several centuries.
When the other disciples heard about what James and John were asking,
they got really angry with them. They
were probably angry that they didn’t think to ask Jesus for those top spots
first.
Even though Jesus has been trying to help the disciples see that his
rule would be different from the earthly type of military rule they were hoping
for, they still didn’t get it. Have you
ever noticed that once you get something in your head, it’s hard to readjust
and think differently? This was
the problem with many of Jesus’ followers.
It’s a problem that we often have in figuring out who Jesus is.
Phillip Yancey is a Christian author who has written many excellent
books. In his book, “Soul Survivor” he
shares how he grew up in the Deep South.
He was raised in a church that claimed to be biblical, but in reality,
this church was very racist and narrow minded.
Their concept of God was according to Phillip Yancey, more like an
abusive parent; rigid, legalistic, angry, and wanting to punish people.
As Phillip was growing up, he became very frustrated with this
understanding of God. He thought that if
this was who God really was, then he didn’t want to have anything to do with
Christianity. Thankfully, he loved to
read and he started reading books by Christian authors who offered a very
different view of God and Jesus. The
more books Phillip read, the more he learned that God is very different than
what he learned about in his childhood church.
Jesus wasn’t the narrow minded and legalistic person he was brought up
to believe. Jesus is a loving Savior who
offers grace and mercy to all people.
Discovering who Jesus is takes time and discipline. It’s a life-long process. Sometimes, we have dramatic moments where
things become really clear. Some of us
can point to a time at church camp where Jesus became very real to us. Or maybe it was another event in which we
experienced a life changing conversion.
John Wesley who started the Methodist Church is known for his heart warming
experience when he went to a prayer meeting one night in London England and out
of the blue he felt his heart strangely warmed.
Even though he had been serving as a Priest in the Anglican Church for
several years, it wasn’t until that moment that he felt an assurance that his
sins were forgiven. He had been missing
this important part of his faith, but once he had it, his life would never be
the same.
I was in college when I had an experience where I realized just how much
God really loves me. With tears in my
eyes, I got on my knees and prayed.
Those were tears of joy because I realized in that moment, that I would
never be alone anymore. I knew that
Jesus would be present with me through whatever situation would come my
way. I’ll never ever forget that
watershed moment in my life. It was
incredible.
But in addition to these dramatic moments is the steady day to day and
moment by moment growth in discovering who Jesus is and what it means to be one
of his followers. In church language, we
call this day to day spiritual growth, sanctification. And this process of sanctification lasts all
of our lives.
Have you ever noticed how the twelve disciples, Jesus’ inner circle,
would often not get what Jesus was trying to teach them? If you look one chapter earlier from our
Gospel reading, Jesus had explained to the disciples how he would be betrayed,
be killed, and three days, rise again. I
love what Mark says in the very next verse.
“But they did not understand what
he was saying and they were afraid to ask him.”
Truth be told, I don’t know that any of us would have done any better
than the disciples. I don’t think that
we would have understood who Jesus was any better. As I said earlier, once something is in your
head, it’s not easy to introduce a new understanding and a fresh perspective.
The disciples were half right.
Jesus did come to establish a kingdom, but not the kind of kingdom they
were all thinking. This kingdom would
not be one of force, military might, or coercion. This kingdom would be one of nonviolence,
peace, and humility. The kind of kingdom
Jesus was establishing was counter-intuitive to his disciples and to us as
well. It’s no wonder that James and John
have already started politicking for positions of power. Instead of embracing what they are hearing
and seeing about Jesus, they are trying to force Jesus into their preexisting
worldview.
But it’s not like everybody is totally clueless of who Jesus is. Just after James and John are pulling a power
play over the rest of the disciples, we run into a man by the name of
Bartimaeus. He’s a blind beggar. During the time of Jesus, someone like
Bartimaeus would have been invisible in society. There was just no place for blind beggars.
And we might be annoyed at all of the political survey calls we’ve been getting
at all hours of the days, but at least somebody wants to hear our opinion. Nobody cared about this blind beggar. He was invisible.
And yet, Bartimaeus interrupts the scene and offers a political
statement by crying out, “Jesus, Son of
David, have mercy on me!” This blind
beggar has heard enough about Jesus to know that he just might be the one who
will change the country and restore Israel to prominence. You don’t use the title “Son of David” unless
you’re talking about a political platform that will lead to the end of Roman
occupation over the Jewish people.
Bartimaeus didn’t have a vote, but by the way he called out to him,
Jesus was his candidate.
But Jesus didn’t react the same way to Bartimaeus as he did to James and
John. After calling Jesus’ name a second
time, Jesus calls for Bartimaeus to come to him. And when Jesus asks Bartimaeus what he wants
him to do, Bartimaeus asks to be able to see again. And Jesus heals him.
Now, as incredible as this story about a man regaining his sight is, I
think there’s an even greater meaning to this story. Notice, that when Bartimaeus calls out Jesus
the second time, he doesn’t use the political title of “Son of David” which he
did the first time. This time,
Bartimaeus refers to Jesus as Teacher.
And after Jesus heals him, Mark is careful to point out that he followed
Jesus on the way.
This isn’t just a story about someone getting healed. This is a story about someone becoming a
disciple of Jesus Christ. This is a
story that is in sharp contrast to James, John, and the other disciples who
still didn’t understand who Jesus was and what it means to follow him. But this blind beggar, Bartimaeus gets
it. He calls Jesus a teacher because he
knows he has more to learn and he’s willing to follow him.
I like to think of myself as a disciple, a follower of Jesus. I like to think of myself as somebody who is
willing to allow Jesus to teach me his ways.
I want to be more like Bartimaeus who saw that he had so much more to
learn by following Jesus.
Several years ago, I had moved to Toledo to serve a church in the
city. My District Superintendent had all
of the new pastors in the city gather on a Saturday morning to walk through the
more dangerous and impoverished parts of the city. He wanted us to get to know the people and
the area of where many of our churches were located.
As we walked on the sidewalks of broken glass and litter with boarded up
houses on both sides of the street, our District Superintendent abruptly
stopped. A man in that neighborhood was
holding a shovel high in the air to use as a weapon on another man over an
argument they were having. It was a
pretty tense situation. Our group just
stood there as we watched the situation enfold.
To our surprise, our District Superintendent very slowly and gently
approached the two men who were having the argument and he calmly asked the man
to slowly put the shovel down. He said, “You don’t want to do this. I’m here to help. Let’s put the shovel down and talk this
through.”
We didn’t know how this man would react
but eventually he put the shovel down.
Our District Superintendent told them that we were people from different
churches and that we were there to help.
As I think about that incident, I still ask myself, “If you would have been leading the group that day, what would you have
done?” I don’t know the answer to
that question but I do know someone who was willing to follow Jesus on the way
in that moment.
I think of another disciple named Glen who doesn’t have a church home
but visited the prayer room at our Crossroads facility last spring. Glen, an older man who is developmentally
disabled, joined me and some other church members in a time of prayer that
evening. After a half hour of sharing
joys and concerns and praying, we were about to conclude our time together when
Glen asked us if we were going to sing.
He suggested, “Jesus Loves Me” which we sang with great joy. We also sang “Amazing Grace.” Our new friend made our prayer time special
that night! As we were leaving the
prayer room, we were wiping tears from our eyes because we had experienced
God’s presence in such a beautiful way thanks to one of Jesus’ disciples who
encouraged our worship gathering that night to follow Jesus on the way.
You can probably think of some Bartimaeus’s in your life who have shown
you what it means to follow Jesus. Too
often, I’m more like James and John and I try to fit Jesus into my worldview
and understanding of who he should be.
This week, may we be more like Bartimaeus. Let’s see Jesus as our teacher and let’s be
willing to follow him on the way.
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