| "Learning To Outgrow Our Blindness" Sermon Delivered By Reverend Richard E. Stetler – October 28, 2012 Centenary United Methodist Church
Job 42:1-6, 10-13; Mark 10:46-52 This morning we are
going to be discussing the verbal exchange that took place between Jesus
and Bartimaeus, the man in our lesson who was blind.
There is more going on in this
story than the words reveal.
The drama of a blind man receiving his sight can cause us to miss
the much larger issue that was constantly on Jesus’ mind – the spiritual
blindness that everyone experiences, particularly the Pharisees and
Teachers of the Law. We sense
immediately that Bartimaeus had a passion to have his vision restored.
He shouted, “Jesus!
Son of David! Have
mercy on me!” Others tried
to silence his rude outburst, but that only inspired him to yell the
same words with more volume.
Jesus invited him to come closer.
Jesus asked him a very curious question, “What would you like me
to do for you?” He
responded, “I want to see again.” Jesus said, “Go, your faith has
made you well.” While there are a
number of references of Jesus healing people who were blind, (Luke 7:22)
most of his comments regarding
blindness had nothing to do with people’s eye sight.
In Matthew, for example, Jesus made repeated references that
began with, “You blind guides, You blind fools, You blind men and You
blind Pharisees” (Matthew 23:16-26)
Someone once said,
People do not know
what they do not know. Only
a wise person understands this.
All of us are blind
from birth until we make discoveries that change how we perceive
ourselves and our world.
Our vision of what is possible comes from vigorously pursuing a lifetime
of making such discoveries during every step of our journey.
Many people, however, remain
blind and thus sacrifice the
experience of having the exciting adventure that their lives could have
been. If Jesus entered
our sanctuary this morning and asked each of us, “What is it that you
would like me to do for you?” how would we respond?
This question was asked during a church retreat some years ago.
During the lunch break everyone was asked to think about the
question and after the meal, they would have the opportunity to share
their answers. That moment came
and people responded by requesting help for issues that were currently
happening in their lives. For example, a woman said she would ask Jesus
to bring healing to her
daughter’s marriage.
Another request came from a man that was out-of-work.
He wanted confidence in preparing for a job interview planned for
the next week. A dad wanted
help for his out-of-control teenager daughter. After most of the
people had responded, a woman asked if her nine-year-old daughter could
share her answer.
Apparently, the young girl had heard the assignment just before the
lunch break and had wanted to tell others her answer. Everyone was
polite and smiled as the young girl approached the adults from the
children’s play group where she was a helper.
She said, “I would ask Jesus to be my friend for the rest of my
life.” The adults were
silent. Everyone knew that she had an inoperable brain tumor that was
gradually causing her to become blind. After
hearing her words, a number of adults realized that they had wanted
Jesus to fix some uncertainty
that was occurring in their lives. This young girl wanted nothing from
Jesus but his friendship for the rest of her life.
The group leader
used that nine-year-old’s response to help the group focus its attention
on how blind people can become when they have lost control over their
circumstances or when they are faced with having to make a decision when
the outcome is unknown. The facilitator’s
point was that trusting God and having faith has more to do with living
through unpleasant experiences and enduring powerful
headwinds to reaching our
goals than anything else. Faith
is not about reciting what we believe but living what we know. Think about this –
is it possible that making our living an exciting adventure comes from
life’s uncertainties, from our having to find the answers we need
ourselves and from our learning how to resolve successfully the
challenges that are coming up for us?
The people who
play it safe by knowing how
to navigate in their familiar
pond will not develop the life-skills or the depth of spirit as
those who have ventured forth in the world’s
oceans.
We may find it
strange that Jesus asked the blind man, “What is it that you would like
me to do for you?” Jesus
knew that if the man received his sight, he would have to find work.
He could no longer rely on the generosity of others by begging
for alms at the city’s gate.
Life will always be
filled with new discoveries and greater vision when we have the
enthusiasm that Bartimaeus had to move beyond where we are.
Until we energize our
desire to pursue a course of action that matches a passion we have, we
will remain just as we are. There was a young
woman in high school that wanted to do something that no girl had ever
done. She discussed her
dream with her advisor and she was urged to go for it.
Her dream was to try out for the boy’s varsity football team.
When she showed up, the coach was at a loss of how to respond.
There were no rules that made
high school football a sport only for boys. The coach decided that the
variables for accommodating her feminine needs were too insurmountable.
However, he had a change of mind. She successfully
demonstrated her accuracy at kicking extra points and field goals. She
knew she could help the team because they did not have a kicker for the
last two seasons. Her longest
field goal was 42 yards. The coach had never seen anything like it.
She had grown up with five older
brothers that did not give her much time to play with dolls.
The administration
of the school granted her permission to play.
She played. Three of
the team’s victories that season were dependent on her making last
second field goals from sizeable distances.
After each of those three close
victories, the boys hoisted her up on their shoulders and carried her
off the field as their hero. During
one of those victories, her five brothers sat in the stands beaming with
pride. All of us are blind to our
futures.
All
of us are blind to how God
wired
us with very unique qualities.
Think of all the people who have the potential to be gifted
writers but they never started writing.
Think of the people who have visionary skills and a highly
creative imaginations but they chose vocations where those skills could
not be sharpened with use. We are
bar coded
to succeed in life even when our fortunes change dramatically.
Perhaps we can
appreciate more fully the zeal of Bartimaeus to move beyond where he was
when we consider the life of a young teenager who never lost his vision.
A day arrived when Joseph
watched everything he knew slowly vanish from his sight as the caravan
of Midianite traders traveled toward Joseph never once
asked God why his life had taken such
a dramatic turn.
He was one of the first people in the Scriptures to be
a possibility thinker so he
never doubted or judged his current circumstances.
Joseph had what that
nine-year-old girl wanted from Jesus.
He experienced God’s presence for most of his life.
Joseph reasoned,
“God must have a purpose for what is happening to me.”
He was totally blind to that purpose until one day when
a chain of unforeseen
circumstances placed him second-in-command over The lesson we can take from this
is that
blindness is part of
the territory
when we enter the material world.
We do not possess a
crystal ball that can help us see into our futures.
If we had one, there would be no need to have faith and trust
that God will be a constant companion throughout our lives. God is not
a mechanic
that specializes in fixing people’s lives.
That
was never the purpose for living in our solid forms when we incarnated
on the earth.
When God becomes our partner, we become healed from the
blindness that can be caused
by religious arrogance, by pride, by hurt feelings, by thoughts of being
abandoned, by defeats and by those periodic feelings that sweep over us
that we are not loved. We are always loved
but being loved does not bring with it the notion that our lives will
always experience smooth sailing.
(Romans 8:37f)
Having God as a partner
helps us to replace emotions based in fear with emotions that keep us
moving forward with confidence. Without
that rock upon which to stand, all other ground is sinking sand. Dr. Leo Buscaglia
was a professor at the The day came for
her appointment and she was a
no-show. He was
extremely disappointed.
There were so many things he wanted to share with her, so many in fact,
that he had developed a list.
When Leo’s teaching assistant checked the class roll, she
reported that the student had not attended class for the last three
weeks. Shortly after
lunch, Leo went to the Dean of Students to check on her.
The Dean said, Leo, no one told
you about her? We really
don’t know what happened.
She drove her car out to the Leo was devastated.
He could not teach anymore that afternoon.
He left the Dean’s office and
went off to have a good cry. Actually,
he never got over her. He used
this experience during a number of speaking engagements.
He told students, “Never end
your life because life is difficult!
Life is difficult for all of us.
Laura had decided to end her life somewhere between the third
and fourth chapters of what could have been a very inspiring
autobiography.” Who was she . . . a
James A. Michener, a J.K. Rowling? What
was the world denied because she decided to leave life’s stage?
One of the mysteries of life is
how what is real can be perceived so differently by people.
Why is it that people
settle for a negative interpretation of reality while other people see
only possibilities and opportunity?
Wasn’t this what caused Bartimaeus to seize the moment while
in Jesus’ presence to say, “I want to be given the chance to see what I
can do with my life. I want
to see again.” Jesus said,
“Go, your faith has made you well.” No matter where we
are on the ladder of life and no matter what age we are, our smiles, our
ability to listen to people, our words of encouragement, our thoughtful
responses, our volunteering, our generosity and our patience with the
shortcomings of others – these are all qualities God can use to heal our
world. Let us never allow a
day to go by without using this vision of life to make that
difference. |