"Called Again"

By Rev. Billy D. Strayhorn

(Mark 10:46-52)

[46] They came to Jericho. As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside. [47] When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" [48] Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" [49] Jesus stood still and said, "Call him here." And they called the blind man, saying to him, "Take heart; get up, he is calling you." [50] So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. [51] Then Jesus said to him, "What do you want me to do for you?" The blind man said to him, "My teacher, let me see again." [52] Jesus said to him, "Go; your faith has made you well." Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.

(NRSV)

INTRODUCTION:

Have you ever just wanted to gripe? Have you ever just wanted to pretend you were one of the unfaithful children of Israel wandering in the wilderness, lost and hungry and just start grumbling and griping? I have. The last couple of weeks have really made me want to gripe. And to tell you the truth, Bryan Marshall and I have done a little bit of griping: to each other and to the contractor. The delays have really tested our patience.

Why all this gripy-ness? Well, I've been thinking about that and I think I've traced it to basically the stress and strain of both the building and the move coupled with just trying to be in ministry and find the space to do that. The packing, the moving, the waiting, the hoping all colliding with the excitement, the dreams and the expectations. They all came together in a head on collision the week I had a brief conversation with one of the painters.

I walked into the Sanctuary two days after the Building Committee had spent two hours discussing door colors and marking the doors and frames with tape so the painters would know what colors to paint. I looked at the closet doors, which had been clearly marked "light gray" and the painter was painting them "light blue." So I walked over and said, "These doors are supposed to be light gray." And he said, "I know. But I painted them light blue." I couldn't believe it. I was dumbfounded. I said, "There supposed to be light gray." And again he said, "I know. But I painted them light blue." Then I said, "We even had tape on the doors marking the color. Didn't you see that?" He answered, "Yeah, I saw it. I took it off and painted them light blue." I finally asked the million dollar question: "Well, if you knew they were supposed to be light gray, why did you paint them light blue?" And he said, "Because I didn't have any light gray." And then I asked, "Well, don't you think it would be a good idea if you got some light gray paint?" And he said, "Well, I guess if you want them light gray, the job supervisor will have to get me some light gray paint."

I noticed that he didn't last very long on the job. I think that was his last day. It's the little things in life that wreck you. Little things like the correct paint color. It's little things like gnats at an outdoor birthday party or flies on what you thought was a raisin cake. It's the little things that sometimes get in the way of our faith.

This past summer, during one of the hottest spells we had in mid July, our A/C went out. Everything was running fine and then nothing. We've found a really good A/C guy who usually comes out within couple of hours. He's good and he's reasonable. I thought it was probably low on refrigerant or a switch had gone out. But you know what it turned out to be. Some little hard shelled bug had crawled across some contacts at the wrong time and gotten fried. It didn't short out the contacts. Instead, its charred little body just became a barrier. The switch was working fine, the contacts just couldn't make contact because of this little fried bug.

That's the way it is in life. Generally it's not the big things that get in the way. It's the little things. I really realized that when I read this passage from Mark. Here I was filled with all kinds of gripy-ness; some of it pure self-pity; some of it mishandled stress caused by boxes and moving. The little things were building up and getting in the way. Then I read about this encounter between Blind Bartimaeus and Jesus. It put it all into perspective and allowed me to step back and look at the big picture again.

It's important that we keep that big picture in mind as we begin our Fall Stewardship Campaign. It's important that we don't let our faith and our faithfulness be derailed by the little things. Instead, let us keep focused upon the big thing: Through God's great love for us, as expressed in the life and death of God's Son, Jesus, our sins have been forgiven, we have been given new life; AND like Blind Bartimaeus we have been called to speak up, step up and look up we step out in faith and follow Christ.

I. HE SPOKE UP:

A. The first thing we notice about Bartimaeus is that he spoke up. Bartimaeus had two strikes against him in that day. First he was poor, so poor he had to beg. Second, he was blind. Consequently he was an outcast. Nobody wanted to be around him.

The last time we visited this Gospel we met a rich young man and we learned that the prevailing thought of the day was that riches meant blessings. They believed God blessed the best through wealth, power and position. Along with that belief came its polar opposite. If you were poor or had a disability, it had to be because you were such a horrible sinner. Everybody knew they weren't supposed to associate with sinners, so you became an outcast. People looked at you like you had the plague or they didn't look at you at all. No one should be treated like. But they were.

Bartimaeus heard the commotion and heard that it was Jesus, so he took a chance and spoke up. He shouted out, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" A little sidebar comment here. In Mark's Gospel, it is Bartimaeus, though blind, who is first to see who Jesus truly is. This phrase that Bartimaeus shouts out isn't just a "hey you," this is a Messianic title. It's significant that Bartimaeus recognizes Jesus while Jesus is headed to Jerusalem and the cross.

The crowd tried to stop Bartimaeus. But even over the clamor of the crowd, Jesus heard. And he asked Bartimaeus what it was he wanted. Bartimaeus, who had seen far more than anyone else spoke up and said, "Let me see again." And Jesus honored his request.

B. As I was thinking about this, I couldn't help think of the past three years and how often we have spoken up and made our wants and needs and dreams for this Church known to God. We spoke up about needed staff. We spoke up about needed space. We spoke up about stewardship and giving. We spoke up and God heard. We spoke up and God answered. Just look out the window or walk down the hall. You can see God's answer.

II. HE STEPPED UP:

A. Bartimaeus not only spoke up, but he stepped up also. I think it took a lot of courage and a lot of faith for Bartimaeus to step up through crowd and make his need known. The crowd was trying to shout him down and shut him up. They probably hollered out things like: "Don't bother Jesus, he's too busy." or "Be quiet, he can't be bothered by the likes of you." But Bartimaeus wouldn't take no for answer. And when Jesus finally heard him, he stepped up to the challenge. And when he did, Jesus answered.

B. This congregation has stepped up several times. This congregation has heard God's call, spoken up about its dreams both for ministry and for the building and stepped up to the challenge. Three years ago we questioned whether or not we had the financial resources to even meet our budget. We questioned whether we could afford this new building. And we began to turn inward.

But God wouldn't let that happen. God sent us someone in need. And God sent us a challenge in this building and in our faithfulness in our stewardship. We heard that call and we responded. We stepped up to the challenge like Bartimaeus.

The building program hasn't been quick or easy. We've had to reevaluate both our faith and our response. But we stepped up. We stepped up during our first Son Tan Sunday when we increased our giving and paid our summer pledges early. We stepped up by approving the plans and the capital campaign for the building. While we didn't reach our miracle goal, we did completely underwrite the building with our pledges and have some to pay on our current indebtedness. We stepped up and like Bartimaeus, God blessed us.

III. HE LOOKED UP:

A. Bartimaeus spoke up, he stepped up and God blessed him because he looked up. You see that's really the thing that set Bartimaeus apart, he looked up. He looked to God and had faith in Christ. When he stepped up and he stepped out on faith. And it was because of that faith that Jesus healed him. He looked up, stepped out on faith and was healed and then he stepped out on faith and followed Jesus.

That's the one thing that has marked everything we have done here at St. John the Apostle UMC ove the past two years. We looked up. We looked to God. We looked to Christ and we stepped out on faith, Everything we have accomplished over the last two years is due to that faith. Like Bartimaeus, we spoke up, we stepped up and we looked up. We looked up and stepped out on faith.

We knew we couldn't build this building on our own. We knew that we were going to need all of God's help that we could get. We stepped out on faith and discovered one of the wonderful truths of the Scripture, which is: "when we look up and step out on faith God is faithful."

B. God has been faithful because of our faith. God has been faithful because we have been faithful. God has lead and inspired us because like Bartimaeus we spoke up, we stepped up and we looked up and stepped out on faith. Bartimeaus reminds us to keep focused on and faithful to the big picture and not get lost in the little things.

CONCLUSION:

A friend of mine, Bud Hughes, was telling some of us the other morning about a guy who used to work for him. It seems he sent this guy to Dallas to pick up some parts and supplies. The guy wasn't familiar with Dallas so Bud drew a detailed map on how to get to the place. The guy left around eight that morning. Bud figured the trip would take around three or three and a half hours. When noon came and the guy still hadn't returned, Bud started to get a little worried. When two o'clock rolled around he was hoping something hadn't happened. Finally just before four this guy pulls in. Bud immediately asked, "Where were you? What took so long?"

The guy answered, "I got lost." Bud asked, "How could you get lost, I gave you a detailed map?"

To which, with all sincerity, the guy replied: "Oh I know. But you didn't give me a map on how to get back!"

We're being called again to look up and step out on faith.We're being called again to Respond with faith like we did before, like Bartimaeus. We're being called again to keep in mind the big picture and not be sidetracked by the little things.

We're being called again but we're not being asked to dig deeper or to make any more extra sacrifices. We've responded and we've already made or are making those sacrifices. But we are being called to look up and step out in faith. Neither the call nor the map have changed. We are being called to follow Jesus and not to get lost. We're being called simply to be faithful.

We've been given both the spiritual tools and the directions to carry out our calling. All we have to do is answer and follow. And that's the key. To answer and to follow. What will your answer be?