Take heart, Jesus is Calling You

Blessing the Afghan Refugee house

Sermon preached October 24, 2021, Mark 10:46-52, the Rev. Dina van Klaveren

A noun: a person, place, or thing.

A few nouns to describe this moment:

Pastor, St. Andrew’s, sermon.

Musicians, church, music.

Congregation, Glenwood, Gospel of Mark.

A few nouns to describe the Gospel moment:

Crowds, Jericho, departure.

Bartimaeus, roadside, blindness.

Jesus, the way, healing.

Each of these persons, places, things is a method that God uses to reach us and transform lives. Each of these nouns offers the possibility of transformation—God uses them to reach Bartimaeus and transform his blindness into sight. And Bartimaeus follows Jesus along the way. He is whole life changes from stuck begging on a roadside to following Jesus. Let’s focus on three nouns in the text today to observe how they are used by God to transform.

First noun is a person: Bartimaeus

Bartimaeus is the blind beggar who hears that Jesus of Nazareth is walking by, and shouts: “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Those around him try to quiet him- the text even provides an adverb: sternly. ‘Many sternly ordered him to be quiet.’ Bartimaeus cranks up the volume: “SON OF DAVID, HAVE MERCY ON ME!” Jesus stops walking, calls him over, and asks Bartimaeus: ‘What do you want me to do for you?’

Let’s pause there for a moment. Consider that question. Really consider it: ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ If Jesus stood before you today, and asked you that question, how would you answer? What would you say to Jesus? What will pull you out of being stuck on the side of the road? What will make you whole, well, able to envision a new life? I wonder if there is some some person, place, or thing on your mind, some need or longing in your heart. Name it before Jesus.

Second noun is a place: Jericho

Jericho, that city in the Hebrew Scriptures where Joshua meets Rahab, who shelters the Hebrew spies and then the spies return with an army under Joshua and march around the city and the walls come tumbling down. The city of Jericho is rebuilt as a part of the Promised Land and by the time of Jesus’s birth, Jericho is a flourishing city of great beauty and abundant agriculture. It’s up in the hills, so the wealthy and powerful and beautiful people of Jerusalem have their weekend homes up there to catch breezes and walk among the orchards. They escape the Jerusalem traffic and heat and gather for parties and relaxation in Jericho.

This all makes Jericho an ideal place to beg- lots of wealthy people coming and going means more coin in your begging bowl on the side of the road. With all this commerce, it’s a good place to be a tax collector, as well - and tax collector Zaccheaus is another resident of Jericho enjoying the coins dropping into his bowl. It is a city of abundance and good living, a place to take walks in the evening breeze and pick ripe fruits along the city’s streets. I imagine Bartimaeus in the shade of a sycamore tree in this beautiful city, perhaps offering an ugly reminder of hardship for those seeking escape. 

Jericho is a real place- a real place where Jesus met Bartimaeus. A place where one beggar met Jesus on the roadside and his whole life changes from blindness to a hope-filled vision.

Third noun is a thing: Crowd

Ah, the crowd! This group of folks following Jesus who sternly order a blind man to be quiet. Then, the same crowd that tell Bartimaeus: “Take heart; get up, Jesus is calling you.” Notice how the crowd is transformed along the way with Jesus. By watching how Jesus treats Bartimaeus, they learn how to treat Bartimaeus.

Today

There are persons, places, and things that continue to transform our lives today. God continues to use the people, places, and things of our everyday lives to draw us into healing, into transformation. To lift us from begging in our blindness along the roadside into a people of vision who hop up, toss aside our cloaks with great faith, and follow Jesus along the way.

Three nouns that God is using presently in God’s work of transformation and healing today are worth our ongoing support:

First, you.

You, like Bartimaeus, are worth God’s attention. You are worth supporting in the healing and transforming work God is doing in your life. God created you, has always loved you and values you tight now. You might identify today with the wealthy folks coming and going from Jericho, or with the blind beggar stuck along the roadside screaming out to Jesus for healing. You might identify with the faith of this man who could not see Jesus, yet envision his healing power. Or, you may be begging God to have that ability to envision healing for yourself.

I will be making a pledge to this congregation for 2022 because I value you. I believe in your transformation journey. I have faith that God is reaching out and transforming your life. When the wealthy threw money into the bowl of a beggar, it was a way of saying: I see you. When Jesus heard his yelling and stopped and asked him “what do you want me to do for you?”, Jesus is also saying: “I see you. I care about you.” Attention, coins, dialogue- seeing one another.

When I make a pledge for ministry in this place, it’s my way of saying: “I see you. And you. And you. I see you, and I deeply desire your healing and I have faith that God is transforming you in the ways God desires, meeting the longings of your heart.”

Second, the buildings and grounds of this church., 

This space is our Jericho, our beautiful space to get away from the pressures of the work week to relax in the blessings of God’s Good News. This place is lined with abundant fruit, brimming with friends who have come to enjoy the fresh breeze and praise God for this pleasant space. This space is our weekend getaway from the clamor of divisive politics. This is where we escape the heat and exhaustion. This is where we gather to be refreshed and transformed and healed by God. 

And any beautiful space requires support for its maintenance. When I turn in my pledge card for 2022, it will be my way of supporting this place, the buildings and grounds that shelter us and shape our gatherings. A space for us to come and meet Jesus again and again.

Third, the crowd of faithful folks we call a congregation, or a community of love and transformation. 

We are the crowd walking along the way with Jesus, learning how to go from sternly ordering a person in need to be quiet, to encouraging them to meet Jesus, saying: “Take heart!” God uses us, the community of faith, to encourage one another; to transform the lives of the people with in, and outside of it.

An old story goes…A son knew his father did not believe in God. So, one day the son asked his father why he went to synagogue every weekend if not to meet God there? The father replied: “I go to synagogue every weekend to meet my friend, Abraham, who is there to meet God.”

We are a community of believers traveling many different roads to and from a place where Jesus is meeting us along our way, sometimes directly, sometimes in the community of believers around us. In this very moment, being community is a struggle. We are struggling to regain this community that encourages us in our faith because of the ways we have had to stay a part to stay healthy.

Another reason I will pledge support for ministry in 2022 is because I believe in the ways God is using this community to transform the larger community around it, and the lives of those within it. 

I believe in potlucks and Bible Study as God’s means of grace. I believe in coffee after worship where your hands are warmed by hot coffee as your soul is warmed by the interest of a person who really wants to know how you are doing in your grief. I believe in children playing gaga ball and laughing together and dancing to the closing hymns as the choir recesses down the aisle. I believe in carving pumpkins and roasting hot dogs over a raging bonfire with young people last night as a way to be transformed by God and one another , no matter where any one is in their journey of faith, they gather and know God’s community is around them, loving them.

I am supporting this congregation financially in 2022 because I love this community. I ask you to pray for this community, as we turn to God who asks: “What do you want me to do for you?” And say: “Bring us back together safely, Lord.” Pray for healing for this congregation and the larger community of neighbors. That all who have felt isolated from community would gather and find encouragement. That our communities might flourish again as we say to one another: “Take heart!” 

Take heart, friends. Jesus is calling you. Jesus is calling us. Calling us to be transformed by the powerful love of God.