What do you want me to do for you ?
Most of you will know of Helen Keller, the deaf and blind American woman who, in spite of her disabilities became an author, a political activist and lecturer. When asked once if there was anything worse than being blind she replied, "Yes, to have no vision"
Today in the gospel we heard a very simple story about healing – Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, approached Jesus and begged him for mercy – Jesus responded by giving Bartimaeus his sight. By itself, it’s an incredible miraculous story, but the story also tells us much more about the character of Jesus himself.
Near Jericho Jesus knew there would be a large crowd and he was right but, in spite of this crowd, Jesus heard one man, Bartimaeus, shouting – others amongst Jesus’ followers tried to get him to keep quiet but, just like often happens when you try to keep a child quiet, Bartimaeus just shouted louder.
And Jesus heard him – that’s an incredibly important point in this story – Jesus heard a beggar sitting at the side of the road, and he responded to him. I spoke to someone this week who said that ‘Church wasn’t really for them’ – it’s not an uncommon thing for people to say. Often they haven’t actually tried the Church, and it is a perception they have, but sometimes they’ve been, and didn’t get anything from it – in other words they failed to encounter Jesus, whether it was through the worship, the people or both.
Now I guess we all get days like that – when Jesus seems a long way away, when our minds are distracted by any number of things – but for Bartimaeus there was something different. He may not have had physical sight, but he had the vision to seek out Jesus and there are 2 really important points to that.
Firstly the fact that he did approach Jesus – he was confident that Jesus could do something for him, even if he wasn’t sure what at that time – he had faith that Jesus was someone who could be approached, and who would listen, and most importantly of all do something to help him.
And secondly Jesus didn’t let him down ! Jesus asked some of his followers to bring the man over to him – I like the way it’s written in the version we heard this morning – the followers say to the man, ‘Take heart; get up, he is calling you’. These are the people that a short time before were asking the man to be quiet but now as Jesus has told them to, they have to call him over for a face to face meeting.
And you can almost sense their exasperation - “Jesus, we’re trying to protect you and keep your work load down, and not let you be bothered with people like him, and you just call him over !!!”
But that is what Jesus is about, calling the unlikely, in fact calling everyone to meet him, and Jesus asks that question, ‘What do you want me to do for you ?’ It’s not the first time he’s asked that question – only just before this account Jesus had asked 2 of his disciples, James and John, exactly the same question.
They said they would like to sit one at his right hand and one at his left in the kingdom of God – in other words they requested status and power – Bartimaeus though requested the sight necessary for him to live a normal life in the society at that time.
Bartimaeus understood better than Jesus’ own disciples the place of status and power in the kingdom of God – he understood that in the eyes of Jesus everyone was equal, everyone was important, everyone valued, everyone loved…
And that’s an incredible thing to celebrate – in baptism, we don’t receive any outward treasure, but we receive Jesus and his promise to work in our lives, and in effect we don’t do anything except offer ourselves or our children to God, and we let him do the rest.
But that doesn’t let us off the hook and mean we should do nothing more – when a child is baptized we make promises on their behalf, we make promises to try and live in a way that God wants us to live, and in a way that we will show that child something of Jesus and his love for them.
And there’s a lesson from Bartimaeus for that too – he didn’t assume any status, he didn’t suggest he was worthy to see Jesus, he just called out and asked for help. Dependance is something that we are not very good at, but to enjoy the fullness of life that Jesus wants for us, he asks us to trust him and to depend on him.
Bartimaeus made a decision to ask Jesus for help, Jesus heard him and helped him, and Bartimaeus went on his way following Jesus…. It’s a perfect synopsis of the gospel message. Jesus is there for us all the time, waiting for us, longing for us to come to him, and when we do, when we come to him with all of our doubts and failings, then regardless of who we are or what we’ve ever done, Jesus is ready to receive us, and we can live the rest of lives, not as perfect human beings never doing anything wrong, but as people who know that we are loved with an unceasing, boundless love….
Jesus says to each one of us, ‘What do you want me to do for you ?’ It’s up to us to fill in the answer. AMEN
Today in the gospel we heard a very simple story about healing – Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, approached Jesus and begged him for mercy – Jesus responded by giving Bartimaeus his sight. By itself, it’s an incredible miraculous story, but the story also tells us much more about the character of Jesus himself.
Near Jericho Jesus knew there would be a large crowd and he was right but, in spite of this crowd, Jesus heard one man, Bartimaeus, shouting – others amongst Jesus’ followers tried to get him to keep quiet but, just like often happens when you try to keep a child quiet, Bartimaeus just shouted louder.
And Jesus heard him – that’s an incredibly important point in this story – Jesus heard a beggar sitting at the side of the road, and he responded to him. I spoke to someone this week who said that ‘Church wasn’t really for them’ – it’s not an uncommon thing for people to say. Often they haven’t actually tried the Church, and it is a perception they have, but sometimes they’ve been, and didn’t get anything from it – in other words they failed to encounter Jesus, whether it was through the worship, the people or both.
Now I guess we all get days like that – when Jesus seems a long way away, when our minds are distracted by any number of things – but for Bartimaeus there was something different. He may not have had physical sight, but he had the vision to seek out Jesus and there are 2 really important points to that.
Firstly the fact that he did approach Jesus – he was confident that Jesus could do something for him, even if he wasn’t sure what at that time – he had faith that Jesus was someone who could be approached, and who would listen, and most importantly of all do something to help him.
And secondly Jesus didn’t let him down ! Jesus asked some of his followers to bring the man over to him – I like the way it’s written in the version we heard this morning – the followers say to the man, ‘Take heart; get up, he is calling you’. These are the people that a short time before were asking the man to be quiet but now as Jesus has told them to, they have to call him over for a face to face meeting.
And you can almost sense their exasperation - “Jesus, we’re trying to protect you and keep your work load down, and not let you be bothered with people like him, and you just call him over !!!”
But that is what Jesus is about, calling the unlikely, in fact calling everyone to meet him, and Jesus asks that question, ‘What do you want me to do for you ?’ It’s not the first time he’s asked that question – only just before this account Jesus had asked 2 of his disciples, James and John, exactly the same question.
They said they would like to sit one at his right hand and one at his left in the kingdom of God – in other words they requested status and power – Bartimaeus though requested the sight necessary for him to live a normal life in the society at that time.
Bartimaeus understood better than Jesus’ own disciples the place of status and power in the kingdom of God – he understood that in the eyes of Jesus everyone was equal, everyone was important, everyone valued, everyone loved…
And that’s an incredible thing to celebrate – in baptism, we don’t receive any outward treasure, but we receive Jesus and his promise to work in our lives, and in effect we don’t do anything except offer ourselves or our children to God, and we let him do the rest.
But that doesn’t let us off the hook and mean we should do nothing more – when a child is baptized we make promises on their behalf, we make promises to try and live in a way that God wants us to live, and in a way that we will show that child something of Jesus and his love for them.
And there’s a lesson from Bartimaeus for that too – he didn’t assume any status, he didn’t suggest he was worthy to see Jesus, he just called out and asked for help. Dependance is something that we are not very good at, but to enjoy the fullness of life that Jesus wants for us, he asks us to trust him and to depend on him.
Bartimaeus made a decision to ask Jesus for help, Jesus heard him and helped him, and Bartimaeus went on his way following Jesus…. It’s a perfect synopsis of the gospel message. Jesus is there for us all the time, waiting for us, longing for us to come to him, and when we do, when we come to him with all of our doubts and failings, then regardless of who we are or what we’ve ever done, Jesus is ready to receive us, and we can live the rest of lives, not as perfect human beings never doing anything wrong, but as people who know that we are loved with an unceasing, boundless love….
Jesus says to each one of us, ‘What do you want me to do for you ?’ It’s up to us to fill in the answer. AMEN
Comments