Gospel Reading: Mark 10:17-52
We continue our reading of Mark’s teachings on
discipleship as we near the royal entry into Jerusalem. I acknowledge the title of this reflection was stimulated by Bob Dylan's song of the same words, and that a beautifully poignant blues song "Hangin' On the Cross Between Heaven and the Blues" by Bruce Katz about our thin faith and the Lord's grace lingered in my mind, influencing my words.
There were two men knocking on heaven’s door. One was young and well-to-do who though he lived a righteous life and sought eternal life. The other was disabled, blind, and destitute;
a beggar whose disability barred him from the Temple according to the same law
the rich man lived his life. The beggar sought only mercy. The lesson lies between them.
The young, rich man sought the dream of eternal life that this strange
man from Galilee proclaimed. He must have harbored some idea of the credibility
of this man that seemed constantly to goad the priests, scribes, Romans and even his own disciples over
their hypocrisy. He called him “good teacher.” The young man posed a question to
this Galilean, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”
Perhaps the young man wanted to add eternal life to his repertoire of
righteousness, and go on with his daily life? Yet Jesus must have glimpsed a
flash of true sincerity because Mark tells us “he loved the young man,” but also saw
the error in his ways to think the road and gate to eternal life is so wide and easy to enter.
“Why do you call me good, no one is good but
God alone.” Is he playing with a bit of irony here? Is he asking if the young
man really knows who Jesus is? Or is he reminding the young man that every person's righteousness under the law is imperfect? No one is truly good except God.
He certainly challenged imperfect righteousness. “If you want eternal life go and sell
everything and give the proceeds to the poor. Them come and follow me to the Kingdom of God.” Did the
young man see the light and do as bidden? Mark toys with us, we only learn that
he went away saddened and do not get a direct resolution to his dilemma.
The disciples see this interchange and hear the words about how wealth
is a barrier to Heaven’s door (remember this passage is about discipleship) and
probably somewhat proudly remark, "Teacher we (are not like that rich young man, we) have given up everything to
follow you. We are your lieutenants, let’s get on to the royal party in
Jerusalem.” The poor disciples. We know they will soon run away saddened just
like the rich, young man and frightened for their lives.
Again Jesus has to remind his faithful disciples that their pride is their barrier, those who are first must be last. For the third time he tells them
what awaits in Jerusalem, “I will be condemned to death, handed over to the
Romans(Gentiles) and the priests and scribes who will mock me, spit on me, flog
me and kill me; but in three days I shall arise again.”
[Unless you are poor and destitute, you probably do
not know exactly what Jesus means about money. I will surmise that most of us
cling to our possessions more than to our faith.
Ruby Payne (see Day 792) said people who are economically
impoverished actually come closest to Jesus’ command to give up everything to
follow him. For a person living in poverty, money serves a single purpose, to
be spent preferably on the needs of family and friends in the anticipation of reciprocity. As an example, I have been helping a very poor
family with housing. Last Friday she gave me $75 towards the $190 I spent on
the weekly hotel rent, saying she was paying me back because she knew she might need my help again. The faith in future
help far outweighs the desire to cling to the money. In a sense she is living
the rule Jesus gave us, treating her neighbor (me) the way she would have me
treat her.]
Did the message of service sink in to the disciples’
consciousness? Or were they simply consternated, “Why is he talking this way?”
They fall behind Jesus on the road to Jerusalem via Jericho, uncertain for the
moment and in fear.
That fear that is never far away soon subsides (You would
think these guys are really simpletons, but Mark’s point is they are just like
us). Almost immediately James and John come to him and as the rich, young man
did, and pose a request that is almost in the form of an imperative, “We want you
to do something for us. When we get to the seat of power, let us sit at your
left and right hand.”
Even though Jesus tells them kindly that it is not his
choice to decide who sits where but the Father’s, and they do not know the
danger they invite on themselves by such a request, their request still incited
discord among the other disciples.
The others react with jealousy. I can imagine them saying, “What
gall James and John have! We are as deserving of that honor as James and John,
maybe even more qualified.”
How can Jesus be so patient with his stumbling disciples when they react
with an outburst so utterly contradictory to everything he has taught them? It
can only be because of his love for them and humanity. If Jesus had been a modern day blues man,
what great songs he would have written as teaching tools!
He does reveal a powerful and perplexing message to them, one they will not
get until Jesus has left, and even then perhaps only imperfectly.
(It is worth reminding the reader
how seditious to the Romans this next message by Jesus is. Romans valued the
virtue of power. It was the highest, most noble virtue. The Romans set humility
as the most abominable virtue for them but the greatest virtue for a slave. The Romans brutally punished every slave and
conquered people who were not humbly subservient. The ultimate punishment for
the lack of subservient humility was crucifixion.)
Jesus can only tell them again, face-to-face, they cannot be like the
gentile (Roman) rulers and lord their power over everyone. If there is greatness
among them, it will be revealed not in a servant but in one who is a
slave to all. To seal this radical teaching, he reveals exactly that this is
his purpose, “For the Son of Man came not to be
served but to serve.”
And then our poor blind beggar Bartimaeus appears.
Bartimaeus had never seen Jesus (he is blind), but must have heard of
him. Not only that he seems to know who Jesus is. The beggar calls him mistakenly
the “Son of David.” Jesus is is not the “Son of David” but the “Son of Man” or
the “Son of God.” Perhaps we should give some accommodation to the beggar’s misconception,
he is blind. But maybe this is the
point of the event.
Imagine Bartimaeus, calling loudly, “Jesus,
Son of David, have mercy on me!” and the crowd and disciples trying their best
to shut him up - so much for the teaching about children of God.
A blind beggar. Do you see the contrast to the rich young
man? Bartimaeus has nothing but the desire to call for mercy and Jesus asks him,” What do you want me to do for you.”
What mercy does Bartimaeus seek? Power? A seat at the
throne? He only seeks to see. He has no thought of a beggar’s request for
coins just, “Let me see again.”
His faith in the mercy of Jesus healed Bartimaeus. Perhaps
Mark intends that regaining sight means Bartimaeus’ faith has allowed him to
understand who Jesus is, not the Son of David, but the Son of Man, because the first thing he does is fall in behind and
follow Jesus. For the first time, almost at Jerusalem’s gate, Jesus allows (calls?) an outsider barred from the Temple who has been healed to follow him.
I hope the message is not lost on us. Bartimaeus made no
request for power, to sit at the left or right. He did not expect to become wealthy
for having faith in Jesus unlike the famous pastor today who asks his followers
to donate funds to buy the big jet aircraft for his use. He did not try to hoard what little he had. If he was called, it reads like following Jesus for him was a natural as taking the next breath.
Bartimaeus acted on nothing but pure, humble faith. Truly he was knocking on heaven’s door backed up by the faith the rich young man did not muster,
and perhaps possessed the sight (faith) that the disciples and us need to gain.
(We will come back to the puzzling power of faith again in
one week when the women go to the Tomb where Jesus had been buried in order to
apply balm to the body. Remember this call for unsubstantiated faith.)
These verses are a powerful final lesson in discipleship
before Jesus entered Jerusalem for the last time. There should be no question that power and money
are vicious, spirit-killing drugs that separate both the rich and poor from grace and
discipleship.
I see it almost every
day working with poor, destitute and homeless people. Well-to-do Christians,
including ruling elders and pastors, who have a great largesse allow diabetic
and broken men be kicked out of church shelters because the shelter manager lords
his power over those entrusted to him. He does not like the presence of people from
his past who used to drug on the street with him, or someone broke a rule in a
one-strike-and-you-are-out circumstance.
Congregations often pay a pastor a six figure income expecting the pastor to focus on preaching, yet struggle with its mission and per capita giving.
I have seen police in Chattanooga ticket a person falsely and take his identification card knowing the man has a felony history and if stopped without his identification card by another policeman is subject to immediate arrest and imprisonment. No one seems to care.
Congregations often pay a pastor a six figure income expecting the pastor to focus on preaching, yet struggle with its mission and per capita giving.
I have seen police in Chattanooga ticket a person falsely and take his identification card knowing the man has a felony history and if stopped without his identification card by another policeman is subject to immediate arrest and imprisonment. No one seems to care.
I’ve gotten angry myself at some of the folks I work with in our ministry who have taken
money I loaned them and wasted it. I'll never see it repaid, even if i'm in need.
No one of us is truly good except God. We all harbor that
Yet there are diamonds among us (better than me) whose faith glimmers. They seem to have an intrinsic nature and calling to do this practice of being a servant not a lord quietly, unseen and better than the rest of us. God bless them.
They
travel to Haiti or Africa to work with people in need. They risk contracting
Ebola to help those suffering from it. They work in the inner cities among
those who have lost hope, not as a modern day Charon boating only the rich to
the gates of Hades where they may find that final resting place for dead souls and pushing the
poor without their silver obolus out of the boat into the river Styx. They make the point
that there is faith and hope in the grace of discipleship for the inner city of the world for us all. They spend their money, time and talents on those in need, not in harping about polity. They bring a meal to a shut-in, or fix an elderly woman's porch steps. God bless them.
Jesus is really asking the rest of us disciples, “Why don’t you take my teachings seriously, even
now as I step towards my act of ultimate faith when I am ‘hanging on the cross
between Heaven and the blues?’ Why do you hang on to this old world so tightly, why
do you run away from discipleship in fear? Will your faith heal your blindness?”
God bless us all with grace and the power of humility. We need it.
Amen.
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