Grace United Methodist Church
Corpus Christi, TX
pastorwillrice@gmail.com
Every four years here in
In case I ever run for such an office, I have my answer ready. “The Gospel according to Mark.” Even if you are not a big Jesus fan like me, this is a cool book. It is more like a Quentin Tarantino movie than part of the Bible. It’s got all the good stuff: demons, lepers, storms, herds of pigs. It is rough and down and dirty and shows a Jesus who lives in a world as harsh and unpredictable as the one we live in. That’s cool. I am preaching from Mark today. I hope, in it, you can see Jesus coming into your life.
46They came to
46They came to
Whatever happened there, a large crowd left with them.
As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving
47When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
I wonder what Bart knew about Jesus? Jesus had been making quite a bit of noise as he traveled throughout the countryside healing and stirring up trouble. Maybe Bart didn’t know much about Jesus, but what did he have to lose?
“Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
And the crowd reacts to all this yelling just like fine church folks do when someone disrupts their religious type activities just because they need God for something, they tell him to shut up!
48Many sternly ordered him to be quiet,
But Bart doesn’t care. He’s got nothing to lose.
48Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
And Jesus stops.
49Jesus stood still
Now I grew up on television and movies, so I like to see this as a very dramatic moment. I see Jesus and the crowd scurrying along down the road making a bunch of noise and kicking up a bunch of dust. Then, I see Jesus stopping dead in his tracks, standing totally still and everyone around him, noticing that he isn’t moving, stops. And they all stand there for what seems like an eternity. Even Bart is like, “Oh crap!” And everyone is wondering what the heck Jesus is about to do.
In case you haven’t read the rest of Mark, it was just about five chapters ago that this Jesus character cast a bunch of demons into some pigs and watched as the pigs ran over a cliff to their death. Even Jesus’ friends have no idea what he might do.
The pause seems eternal and they all stand there outside the lowest city on earth in the dust until Jesus speaks:
49Jesus stood still and said, “Call him here.”
I think it may be very important to notice what Jesus says here. He actually says, “you call him.” He doesn’t say, “Bart, come here!” He tells the people around him, “You call him.” Bart is blind. He might need a little help getting through the crowd to Jesus. I wonder if other people ever have trouble finding their way to Jesus. I wonder if Jesus might still say, “You call him?”
Anyway, all those people who were just telling Bart to shut up have radically changed their tune.
And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart; get up, he is calling you.”
They say, “cheer up, don’t be afraid, Jesus is calling you. Jesus wants to see you.” Bart doesn’t need much encouragement.
50So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus.
It is interesting that Mark, the author of the shortest gospel, felt the need to tell us about Bart’s wardrobe choices when going to see Jesus. I wonder if Mark is making a point about the stuff we are carrying around and what we might need to do with it if we are really ready to have an encounter with Jesus.
50So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus.
My television and movie brain still sees this as a moment of high drama. Blind Bart is standing there, without his cloak, vulnerable, in the dust, just outside the lowest city on earth and everyone is waiting to see what Jesus will do.
51Then Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?”
I wonder if blind Bart, standing there, without his cloak, in the dust, just outside the lowest city on earth, got the impact of what was happening, God himself was asking him,
“What do you want me to do for you?”
Imagine you were Bart and here is God asking you:
“What do you want me to do for you?”
There is another way to translate this phrase.
ti, soi qe,leij poih,sw
”What are you ready for?”
Image you were Bart and here is God asking you:
“What do you want me to do for you?” “What are you actually ready for me to for you?”
The word for blind tuflo,j is used something like 50 times in the New Testament. I don’t think that means that blindness was the biggest problem in New Testament times. I think that blindness becomes representative of all those things that ail us, that hurt us, that burden us. But blindness in the New Testament also becomes representative of all those things that keep us from seeing, keep us from seeing the possibilities of life with God.
Jesus asks,
“What do you want me to do for you?” “What are you actually ready for me to for you?”
What do you say? What are you carrying around? What ails you, hurts you, burdens you? What keeps you from seeing the possibilities of living as a loved, healed and forgiven child of God?
I hazard a guess, and I am pretty sure I am right on with this one, that we are all carrying around a lot of stuff. Many of us have a lot of pain in us and, for some reason, this (the church) is the last place we think to bring it.
Where do you need Jesus’ healing?
I fear that as church people, we sit on the side of the road and watch Jesus walk by. I fear that something stops us from saying, “Jesus! Have Mercy on me!” Or of we do and Jesus stops, we are afraid to throw off the cloak the holds us back from going to him. Maybe it is a cloak of pride, or shame, or fear, or doubt. And if we do manage to throw off that cloak, and we get to Jesus and hear him say,
“What do you want me to do for you?”
We just aren’t bold enough to say,
Heal my marriage.
Help me get over the death of my parent.
Take away the shame of my past.
Help me stop taking drugs, drinking too much, smoking too much.
Take away my fear.
Take away my greed.
Help me not be angry.
Notice what happens when Bart trusts in Jesus and takes him up on his offer?
51Then 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.” 52Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith has made you well.” Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.
Your faith has made you well. One again, we miss something in the translation. It says your faith has sw,zw. Sozo is a wonderful word that means save in a physical sense and a spiritual sense. It conveys a lot more than just “make well.” It conveys healing, wholeness, redemption and connection with one’s creator. You faith has healed you physically and spiritually and reconnected you with the possibility of life with God. Your faith has indeed made you well
Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.
And that healing of more than just his sight enabled him to see where he was going. Unburdened from what was holding him down, he was able to truly follow God.
I mentioned earlier the first thing Bart said,
“Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
The word he uses here, in Greek is evle,hso,n. (Elayson) If you hang around church much, you may have heard the Kyrie Eleison, Lord, have mercy or The church often sings this as a sort of a plea for forgiveness, but today, we are going to call out together, asking Christ to stop and ask us,
“What do you want me to do for you?”
Kyrie, Kyrie, Eleison
Kyrie, Kyrie, Eleison
We believe that Christ is very real and present to us at The Lord’s Table. As you come today, throw off your cloak and as you meet Christ in the bread and the wine, tell him. Tell him what you want him to do for you.
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