‘Cheer up; He is calling you’

Sermon for Sunday 06/08/06 @ 6pm

I thought it might be a good idea to revisit the four aspects of the ‘Our Calling’, the mission statement adopted by the Methodist Conference of 2000, after consultation with churches, circuits and districts. In the ‘Our Calling’ we are reminded that ‘the calling of the Methodist Church is to respond to the gospel of God’s love in Christ and to live its discipleship in worship and mission’. Then the document goes on to highlight four aspects of this calling which are: worship, Learning and Caring, Service and Evangelism.

Excluding today’s sermon, I intend to prepare four sermons on this theme of ‘Our Calling’, one on ‘Worship’, another on ‘Learning and Caring’, another on ‘Service’ and another on Evangelism’. Today with the help of the story in Mark 10:46-52, I want just to introduce the theme of being called. You may be surprised that the text I am using is the one on the healing of Bartimaeus rather than the call of, say Peter, or James and John. Reading the story, what first hits us is the miracle of restoring sight to a blind man. Jesus amazing power and grace are highlighted, as well as the faith of the blind man. This is of course significant for us as Christians. But equally significant is the fact that the story tells how a particular individual whose name is given became a disciple of Jesus. In fact a close analogy to the story is found in Luke 5:1-11, where the call of Peter and his companions is linked with the story of the astonishing catch of fish. The difference in today’s reading is that it is Bartimaeus who takes the initiative , both by crying out first and by choosing, without any explicit invitation, to make Jesus way his way. There is something unique in this passage; that the call is mutual: Bartimaeus cries out to Jesus and Jesus calls Bartimaeus. But the issue of the encounter is that of most ‘call’ stories: ‘He followed him on the way’.

Bartimaeus crying out to Jesus, even with a less than perfect perception of who Jesus was, his persistent refusal to be silenced, his bold and eager response to Jesus’ call, helped by persons around him, and his clear focus on the one thing he wanted most in all the world, together with his anticipation that Jesus could and would grant it, are the attitudes and actions which Jesus calls ‘faith’. Its genuineness is demonstrated by the fact that Bartimaeus having received his sight, followed Jesus on his way to Jerusalem to fight against the religious establishment which kept ordinary folk out of the kingdom and prevented them from seeing the light of the gospel.

Now let us turn to the significance of the story for us. The healing of Bartimaeus is  especially significant for those who sit outside the church. We tend to overlook the fact that Bartimaeus was an outsider who stands in sharp contrast  to the insiders, in mark’s Gospel. The text calls our attention to persons who though  lost in the crowd, may be ready and eager for some vital contact with Jesus Christ. It is significant that, while many rebuked Bartimaeus’s cries and tried to silence him, Jesus, though going steadfastly to Jerusalem (10:32), took time to call him. There is something childlike about Bartimaeus – and Jesus said we must become like children in our single-mindedness to enter his kingdom. Have you ever been in a public place with a small child who was shouting out, wouldn’t shut up, and made you feel very embarrassed? That must have been how some of the bystanders felt.

The second point is that for either outsiders or insiders, ‘what do you want me to do for you?’ underlines the importance of getting our deepest desires straight. James and John (10:35-37) did not; they wanted to be seen to be important. But bartimaeus did know what he wanted.; or rather wanted the right thing. His responses, first to Jesus’ question and then to his command, show that he wanted the right thing; and he wanted it the right way. He did not cherish his infirmity. He really wanted to be healed. Bartimaeus expressed his prayer persistently, plainly, and honestly, ‘and immediately he received his sight’.

We who could be said to be insiders need to pay attention to the text’s instruction on the meaning of faith. Some of us, moved perhaps by Mark’s exposure of the spiritual blindness of the disciples, may come to realise our own misunderstanding of Jesus and of discipleship, but accept our condition as normal. There are times when we do accept our situation as normal. And this is dangerous. The healing of Bartimaeus is testimony to the power of Jesus to restore who know they are blind. Indeed the eager persistence of Bartimaeus in calling out and his actively springing up to come to Jesus when called serve as a model for faith.

And finally the healing of blind Bartimaeus is not simply a vivid story with a moral for Christians; it is a witness to Jesus Christ and a call to follow him. The Old Testament reading we just had in Jeremiah 31:7-9 is about a prophesy of salvation and restoration. In it the Lord promises to gather his people from the farthest parts of the earth, ‘among them the blind and the lame’. Maybe Bartimaeus is one of those examples of the fulfilment of that promise as Jesus goes up to Jerusalem  to seal, by his death and resurrection, the new covenant foretold in Jeremiah. Participation in that new covenant is open to the house of Israel and the house of Judah, but also to all who, knowing their blindness, want to see; and to all who, seeing, follow Jesus on the way. Like Peter and John, some of us heard the voice of Jesus calling for us to follow him. Others, like Bartimaeus had to cry out for Jesus to hear them. But in the end we have all been called to go with Jesus. So let it sink in us that the Lord has called us, that he is calling us and maybe he wants to use us to call others to Him. Remember that it was the friends round Bartimaeus who said: ‘get up! He is calling you’. The Greek word for ‘get up’, (thagsei) can also be translated as ‘cheer up’. ‘Cheer up! He is calling you’. They said.  Their words gave him the courage not just to shout to Jesus but to throw off his coat and run to him, blundering and stumbling in his blindness but getting there in the end. Maybe there is somebody who needs to hear that simple word of encouragement from you: ‘cheer up! Jesus is calling you.’

© 2006