“Living on the Way with Jesus”

This is the final sermon manuscript in my Lenten sermon series on what it means to live as a disciple of Jesus Christ according to the Gospel of Mark.  The Gospel text is Mark 10:46-52.

“Immediately Bartimaeus regained his sight and followed Jesus on the way.”  Of all of the earth shattering sentences in Mark’s Gospel, this is the one that challenges me the most.  On the surface it seems very simple.  Upon regaining his sight Bartimaeus follows Jesus on the way.  There is no struggle from Bartimaeus.  There is no frustrating attempt by Jesus to get Bartimaeus to understand his teachings.  Bartimaeus simply follows Jesus.  It doesn’t seem all that complicated.      

But when you place this sentence in the context of the previous chapters in Mark’s Gospel, this sentence becomes heavy.  When placed against the human struggle for power and status demonstrated by the disciples over and over again, a struggle that I know to be true, I wonder if it can be as easy as Bartimaeus makes it look.  Because Bartimaeus simply follows Jesus.  And that’s what challenges me the most.  How do I follow like Bartimaeus?

            We have been talking over the last few weeks about what it means to follow Jesus “on the way,” which is a metaphor for talking about what it means to be disciple.  And for Mark this story is a clear picture of what it means to be a disciple.  This story is grounded firmly in Mark’s metaphor of “on the way.”  The story begins with Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, sitting beside the way and ends with Bartimaeus, a disciple, following Jesus “on the way.”  At some point in the story Bartimaeus shifts from someone who sits on the sidelines and remains a bystander, to someone who actively engages life as a disciple; someone who follows Jesus “on the way.” 

            And for Mark this shift happens when the sight of Bartimaeus is restored.  Now our culture has trained us to understand this statement as a miracle of physical healing.  We live in the age of science.  When we read that Bartimaeus is blind we read that he cannot see the physical world around him.  But if we only take the story at this meaning we miss the point entirely.  For Mark I do not think this story was ever about physical sight.  Though we are told that Bartimaeus is blind at the beginning of the story, his “blindness” is connected to his proximity to “the way;” Bartimaeus is blind because he sits beside the way.  The blindness of Bartimaeus is a metaphor for how he engages the world and since Bartimaeus does not engage the world as a disciple, he is blind to the way of Jesus.

But Bartimaeus is not content with his life beside “the way.”  He has heard of Jesus and knows that Jesus has more to offer than the life of a bystander.  When he hears that Jesus is coming through, Bartimaeus makes every effort to make sure that he meets Jesus.  He shouts out over and over again, fighting through the protest of the crowd.  He wants to be heard by Jesus.  And his efforts do not go unnoticed.  Jesus hears the cry of Bartimaeus and tells the crowd to call him over. 

Jesus greets Bartimaeus with a question, “What do you want me to do for you?”  Ironically, just a few verses earlier, Jesus had asked James and John this same question and they responded with a request to sit with Jesus in glory, at his right and left hand.  They asked for status and power, they still have learned nothing from Jesus; they still want to be first.  So it wouldn’t be surprising if Bartimaeus responded in the same way, with a request for status.  But no!  Bartimaeus simply asks to see again.  And here my cultured mind jumps to a request for a physical healing but Mark is trying to tell us something.  Listen again to the request of Bartimaeus; “My teacher, let me see…again.” 

He is not asking to be able to see for the first time, he is asking to be able to see again.  If he was blind since birth, Mark would have mentioned it, it is too important of a detail to forget.  No, Bartimaeus wants to see again, which gives hope to all of us who lose sight along the way.  Remember, if the blindness of Bartimaeus is a metaphor for how he engages the world, then Bartimaeus is asking for a way to engage the world differently; he is asking to engage the world as a disciple.  And this is the true request of a disciple.  Not for power or status, but how to live differently, and that’s the point for Mark.  To be a disciple is to engage the world differently.    

Jesus responds to this request very simply.  There is no magic, there is no medicine, there is no “how to” manual.  Jesus tells Bartimaeus, “Go, your faith has made you well.”  And, “Immediately Bartimaeus regained his sight and followed Jesus on the way.”  It is faith that helps Bartimaeus to engage the world differently; it is faith that draws Bartimaeus to the “way of Jesus.”  Not enough faith, not the right faith, just faith.  Faith opens our lives to “the way.”

What I find most challenging about this story from Mark, what I find most challenging about learning how to follow like Bartimaeus, is learning what keeps me beside the way.  It is learning what keeps me from engaging the “way of Jesus.”  I know that I do not see the way of Jesus perfectly.  There are certain barriers that are already in place for any disciple; barriers that have to be acknowledged and engaged on a daily basis.  I am a white male and this is something that I cannot change.  And based on our culture and the social construct that has been created, I am a person of privilege based on the color of my skin and my gender.  I can only encounter the world as a privileged person. 

Just coming to terms with the idea of white privilege took some time and is for me one of the first steps to following along “the way” of Jesus.  As I gain more experience, the way I look at the world is challenged and my world view continues to evolve.  For me to follow like Bartimaeus, for me to engage life along “the way,” means that I need to ask Jesus to help me to see again and learn to engage the world as he does.  It is my hope that because I recognize my  privilege that I can confront and lay down that privilege, that I can give up my struggle for status and power, and join Jesus on the way of justice.  This is a challenge, and will be every day “on the way” with Jesus. 

 So what keeps you beside the way?  What keeps you from fully engaging life as a disciple?  These are the hard questions, but they are the important questions.  Dear friends we are called to be disciples.  We are called to challenge the social constructs and the barriers that separate our lives and neighborhoods from the kingdom of God.  And while we may not always understand what keeps us beside the way, life as a disciple means that we will encounter those things that hinder us from engaging the world on “the way” of Jesus.  Through prayer, the study of scripture and the sacraments, we are provided with the means to learn how to engage the world like Jesus, as a servant of all.  And through the power of the Holy Spirit we have the strength to ask Jesus, “help me to follow.”  May God bless us with open hearts and minds as we journey as disciples of Jesus Christ.