Dare You to Move
Mark 10:46-52
Today is Reformation Sunday. The Presbyterian Church we are a part of today traces its origins to the Protestant Reformation in Europe back in the 1500s. It's a movement that began with Martin Luther, Jan Hus, John Calvin, and Ulrich Zwingli. It was a movement where these men sensed God’s calling and dared to move. They dared to move away from the traditions of the church that contradicted biblical principles. They dared to move away from having the priesthood as the go-between in our relationship with God through prayer. They dared to move away from the indulgences and injustice found in the medieval church. They sought to reform the universal catholic church from within. But the church resisted the changes, calling these men heretics and their theology heretical. These men and others like them worked to reform the church from the outside.
One of the fundamental beliefs from the Reformation is the doctrine of justification by grace through faith alone. To say we are justified by grace through faith is to believe that there is nothing any of us can do to be made right with God; to be in a right relationship with God. We can’t earn our salvation through our actions, no matter how hard we work or how good or well-intentioned they may be.
The last couple of Sundays we’ve read about what discipleship is all about. A couple of weeks ago we read about the rich man who asked Jesus what HE needed to do to get eternal life as if he was trying to earn an academic degree: “What are the requirements, the steps I need to take to graduate with a Ph.D in eternal bliss.”
When Jesus told him that keeping all the laws was not the whole story and that he should sell his stuff and give the money to the poor, the rich man couldn’t do it because he loved his stuff so much. He couldn’t give of himself to others because he put his needs ahead of the needs of others.
Last Sunday we read about two disciples, James and John, who demanded that Jesus give them whatever they asked of him. Talk about arrogant and rude! You don’t speak to your mom and dad that way when you’re a child. You don’t talk to the Savior of the world like that. You just don’t. When Jesus told them they couldn’t handle it and that it wasn’t his to give them, Jesus defines what it means to be a follower of Jesus, a disciple of Christ: it’s about servant-hood and self-giving.
After a brief visit through the city of Jericho Jerusalem Jerusalem Jerusalem
Picture if you will a huge parade. The sidewalks are packed with cheering and screaming people as their favorite rabbis ride by with their disciples all around them. It’s loud. It’s crowded. It’s crazy! And Bartimaeus is sitting there alongside the road, crying out, screaming at the top of his lungs for Jesus’ trying to get his attention. “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” The odds of being heard are very slim, but note how persistent he is. Nothing is going to stop him from a face to face encounter with Jesus: not the noise, not his blindness, not the people scolding him to be quiet, and not his need. He was determined to meet the one person he believed could help him; the one person he trusted to heal him. Bartimaeus has a desperate desire to see Jesus. It’s this kind of desire and determination that gets things done and produces results. It’s this kind of desire and determination that the church needs desperately looking into the future.
It was Martin Luther who is quoted as saying, “Until a man is nothing, God can make nothing out of him.” Bartimaeus knows he’s completely dependent on God’s mercy for healing. He can’t take comfort in personal wealth because he has none. He can’t hide behind a position of power and prestige because he’s an outsider, an outcast, a real nobody in Jesus’ time. No job, no money, no unemployment benefits, no Social Security or Medicare: he has nothing. And he’s sick of it!
He’s so sick of it that his response to the call of Jesus was eager, swift and immediate. He is so eager to follow Jesus he tosses off his cloak, probably his only possession with any monetary value, so he could run to Jesus unhindered by his stuff. It’s an opportunity of a lifetime not to be passed up!
Unless I’ve missed my guess, is there someone here today who more often than not when the call of Jesus comes in our life, doesn’t accept it and in effect says, “I will once I’m married” or “I would but I’m overwhelmed with my career, family commitments, my kids’ sports schedules and more” or “I’m waiting to finish my education and move back home.”
Sometimes we are moved to change a bad habit, to do away with some wrong thing that pollutes our spirit, or to give ourselves more completely to following Jesus. But we don’t take the initative to act on this; we don’t always follow through and we miss the opportunity not knowing if we’ll get it back. The rich man heard the call of Jesus, but he wasn’t willing to do away with his possessions. James and John heard the call of Jesus, but they wanted places of power and prominence in the Kingdom of God
We don’t respond right away to the call of Jesus because all too often we don’t know what we want. We can have this vague attraction to Jesus and not know why. “Oh Jesus, please help me. I promise to never do it again” or “Jesus, if you get me out of this mess, I promise to follow you the rest of my life”. I don’t go to the dentist to have any tooth pulled. I have the bad one pulled. You go to the doctor when you want your doctor to evaluate a definite problem, not just any problem. It’s the same with our relationship with Jesus. It is through self-examination, prayer and bible study, when we can focus on what specifically needs to change in ourselves. Bartimaeus knew exactly what he wanted – his sight. And he trusted that Jesus could do it.
It is then when things begin to happen. When Bartimaeus discovers that Jesus is walking by, he wastes no time. He doesn’t waste a moment. The blind beggar Bartimaeus dares to move. He dares to move to Jesus for he knows that Jesus is the one who can help him, strengthen him, and give him the sight to see the world anew. These are the attitudes and actions Jesus calls faith. These are the attitudes and actions of a disciple of Christ.
What do you want me to do for you? It’s a question that emphasizes the need for each of us to get our deepest desires in the right order. It’s a question that places the initative on us; it’s a “dare you to move” question that requires us to have a significant level of faith and trust in Jesus. Bartimaeus’ response to this question (“My teacher, let me see again.”) and then to his command to come shows that his intentions are genuine; he wants the right thing and he wanted it the right way. He did not in a sick and twisted way want to remain blind. He wanted to be made well. He wanted to be healed. Bartimaeus expressed this persistently, plainly and honestly. It was then he immediately received his sight.
What you and I can take away from this passage today is an example of being faithful; that is how to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. Please recall with me previous bible characters who meet Jesus, he heals them and they go on their merry way never to be heard from again. They may run into each other at the corner market or at the local Roman bath (which can be really awkward!), exchange pleasantries with Jesus, asking how’s the family and the family business and the classic “I haven’t seen you in services lately. Is everything okay?” How often do we ask God in prayer for something: a healing, a comfort, an answer. And when we get what we want, we go back to our old ways with Jesus as our 911 emergency service.
Bartimeaus is different. He may have been a beggar who lived along the side of the road, but he’s a man of gratitude. Jesus heals him and rather than going off on his own, he follows him “on the way”. Bartimeaus goes from living “by the roadside” to “on the way”. He starts with a need, he’s healed of that need and with gratitude becomes a loyal follower of Jesus. Sounds like the steps to becoming a disciple, doesn’t it?
Jesus dares us to move. He dares us to move from the sidelines to the frontlines; from the side of the road to riding on the road. He dares us to move from our self-serving efforts masked as service to others. He dares us to move into a deeper, stronger, more intimate relationship with one another as a church family and even more so with Him through daily prayer, bible study, mission work and fellowship as the body of Christ. He dares us to live simply, love generously, speak truthfully, serve faithfully, pray daily and leave everything else to Him.
Jesus dares us to move through faith in Him into our surrounding community to share God’s love with the world revealed to us in the person of Jesus Christ. If we want to reach the un-churched and the unbelievers for Christ, we can’t expect them to come find us. We must go and find them. We can not afford to sit back and relax on this. We’ve got to get out there and make opportunities for the Spirit of the Living God to work in people’s lives so we may share with them the Good News of Jesus Christ.
It’s gonna take time. It’s gonna take money. It’s gonna take trust and faith. It’s gonna take training and preparation and education on our part if we dare to go make disciples of all nations. We can use Bartimaeus as our inspiration, our example on what authentic discipleship is all about.
Luther, Calvin, Hus and Zwingli dared to move to bring reforms to our faith. They left the generations of the past five hundred years a faithful example of what it means to be Christian and follow Christ. Who will be next?
I’d like to close with a prayer from St. Ignacious Loyola on discipleship and sacrifice. Let us pray. “Teach us, Lord, to serve you as you deserve, to give and not to count the cost, to fight and not to heed the wounds, to toil and not to seek for rest, to labor and not to ask for any reward save that of knowing that we do your will. Amen.”
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