From Rumour to Sight: Lord, I Want to See
Mark 10:46-52
I’ve been reflecting for the last couple of weeks on this story – of the healing of blind Bartimaeus.
1. Bartimaeus has heard rumours of Jesus.
He is blind. All he has to go on is what other people are saying.
Perhaps he asked people, ‘What does this Jesus say?’
And they will have told him, ‘He speaks about the Kingdom of God – that it is very close. He speaks of the reign of God that was promised in our writings – when his Messiah, his King, will come and bring peace and justice. There will be no more war or fear or oppression. There will be security, abundance and laughter. There will be no more suffering or death. We will be free to become together the people who God made us to be: full of love and joy.’
And Bartimaeus will have asked them, ‘What does this Jesus do?’
And they reply, “He seems to do Messiah stuff. People are healed. Others have been set free from evil spirits. Paralysed men and women have walked; deaf people have heard; mute people speak; Blind people have seen. They even say that he has brought people back from the dead".
And perhaps he will then have asked them, ‘So who is he, this Jesus?’
I’ve been reflecting for the last couple of weeks on this story – of the healing of blind Bartimaeus.
1. Bartimaeus has heard rumours of Jesus.
He is blind. All he has to go on is what other people are saying.
Perhaps he asked people, ‘What does this Jesus say?’
 |
| Christ healing the blind man. The Andrews Diptych, a 9th-century Carolingian ivory artwork |
And they will have told him, ‘He speaks about the Kingdom of God – that it is very close. He speaks of the reign of God that was promised in our writings – when his Messiah, his King, will come and bring peace and justice. There will be no more war or fear or oppression. There will be security, abundance and laughter. There will be no more suffering or death. We will be free to become together the people who God made us to be: full of love and joy.’
And Bartimaeus will have asked them, ‘What does this Jesus do?’
And they reply, “He seems to do Messiah stuff. People are healed. Others have been set free from evil spirits. Paralysed men and women have walked; deaf people have heard; mute people speak; Blind people have seen. They even say that he has brought people back from the dead".
And perhaps he will then have asked them, ‘So who is he, this Jesus?’
And they say to him, ‘Some say he is a conman. Some say’, and they whisper this, ‘that he is in league with the devil. But there are some who say that God has come to us. That he is the Messiah, this promised descendant of the great king of Israel, David”
Most of us have only heard of Jesus.
We’ve heard rumours of Jesus. We cannot see for ourselves. We are dependent on what other people have told us.
In many ways we are more fortunate than Bartimaeus, because we do not just hear rumours.
We have the stories of Jesus written down - what the people who were with him heard him say and what they saw him do, including this story.
And we have the account of his death and resurrection, of the coming of the Spirit and what happens to those first believers.
And we have the testimony of women and men who for 2000 years have put their trust in Jesus and found him to be true.
We have the witness of those who have so staked their lives on him that they have been prepared to suffer dreadfully for him – and they have found him faithful.
I remember Father Kiril in the Orthodox seminary in St Petersburg. He was an elderly priest who was a father figure for many of the students. We learnt his story. He was sentenced to 10 years in a labour camp in the old Atheist state that was the Soviet Union. Not just once, but three times. Thirty years in prison. So much suffering. He could have been so angry, so bitter, so resentful. But when you looked at him you saw a man whose face literally shone.
Bartimaeus heard rumours of Jesus.
We have far more than rumours. We have accounts of a faith that has been tested and tried for 2000 years, sometimes from believers who have endured intense persecution; and Jesus has not been found to be wanting.
2. Bartimaeus calls out to Jesus
Many of the beggars will have heard rumours about Jesus. Maybe they talked together about him. Maybe they had become fans
But one day, when they hear that Jesus has come to Jericho, that Jesus is walking along the street where they are begging, that Jesus is close, it is Bartimaeus who calls out to him.
‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me’.
He is calling to Jesus because he wants Jesus to see him.
And the title he gives Jesus is significant.
In calling him Son of David, he is saying, ‘Jesus, I believe – I am prepared to put my trust – that you are the one who is the promised descendent of David, you are the Messiah’.
And when the crowd ‘sternly order him to be quiet’, he does not stop. He simply shouts louder.
‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me’.
Perhaps the crowd are uncomfortable with the ‘Son of David’ language – it could get you in trouble with the authorities. Maybe they see him as a nuisance. Maybe they think that Jesus would not be bothered with him.
But he continues to call out: ‘Jesus, Son of David have mercy on me’
I think that I can now say I know a fair bit of theology. I have been an ordained minister for 37 years. I know about Jesus. I can talk about Jesus.
And yet there is a world of difference between knowing about Jesus and speaking about Jesus and calling on Jesus.
Bartimaeus is a great model for us.
Jesus’ disciples could see Jesus when they spoke to him.
Bartimaeus could not. He was calling out into the darkness.
And when we pray, we are calling out to Jesus in the darkness
There are probably several reasons why – when we were children - we are told to close our eyes when we pray. Possibly it is to help us concentrate.
But perhaps when we close our eyes we can remember Bartimaeus, who called out in the darkness to Jesus.
The first and basic prayer is when we use the name of Jesus to call on him to turn to us.
Prayer is fundamentally in our blindness and helplessness, calling out to Jesus, by using his name.
Perhaps we call out to Jesus as the Son of the David, the Messiah.
Perhaps we call out to him for physical healing, or we call to him for parents or older relatives or for children – maybe going through so much pain. And our hearts break for them.
There is another person who prays almost the same prayer as Bartimaeus. The woman from Syro-Phoenicia. She calls out ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me – my daughter is possessed by a demon’. She saw the distress and pain of her daughter and she calls on Jesus to heal her daughter and have mercy ‘on me’. And like Bartimaeus she continues to call to Jesus, even when his followers tell her to be quiet, and Jesus himself is silent with her.
We call to Jesus as the Son of David, the Messiah, and we ask him to bring in God’s kingdom.
Or perhaps we call out to Jesus as the Son of the God.
One of the many riches that we received from Russian Orthodox believers is what is known as the Jesus prayer.
‘Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner’
It is the calling on the Lord Jesus.
It is a believer’s prayer.
I got that wrong when I first heard it. I thought it was the prayer of a person who had no assurance. But as it was explained to me, we call on him as our Lord, and no one can call Jesus Lord – and mean it – without the Holy Spirit.
We call out to him – as our Lord: the one to whom we have submitted.
as Jesus - the name God has given us; the one who lived 2000 years ago, crucified, risen and ascended;
We call to him as the Christ – another word for Messiah – as God’s king of God’s kingdom.
But we also call to him as the Son of God – the one who is in a unique relationship with the Father in heaven – who is the beloved of Father God and who loves Father God.
When Jesus was baptised, a voice came from heaven and said, ‘This is my son, my beloved, with whom I am well pleased’?
And he has come to draw us into that relationship, so that we might know his Father as our Father, so that we might be as beloved as he is beloved, and love as he loves.
So we cry out to him, in our brokenness and sinfulness, and ask him to cleanse us, to change us, to transform us, to make us radiant sons and daughters.
3. Bartimaeus asks Jesus to let him see
They bring Bartimaeus to Jesus, and Jesus asks him, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’
He replies, ‘My Teacher, let me see’.
Bartimaeus is looking for physical healing in a physical Kingdom of God.
That is also part of our hope.
It does happen. Some of you, I am sure will have wonderful stories. Write them down. It is so easy to forget them.
I’ve heard of people whose physical sight has been permanently restored, but I personally can recall two occasions when people were given temporary sight.
I think of Derek in Holloway. He was going blind. I visited him regularly and it seemed that as he lost his physical sight, his spiritual insight grew and grew. And one day in church, during the talk, he told me afterward, for about 2 minutes he was suddenly given the gift of absolute clear sight. He said I could see you and the people who I have heard about, so clearly. And then it went.
Or I think of Joan, a retired vicar’s wife – she was at St Peter’s in BSE - who had a similar experience on a retreat. She came down to Morning Prayer and thought, ‘I’ve forgotten my glasses and I won’t be able to see anything. And the set Psalm for that morning happened to be Psalm 25, and she said that she suddenly was able to see the words of the Psalm so clearly and was able to join in. And then her sight went. It turned out that God spoke to a number of people through Psalm 25 that weekend (in very different contexts) – which really annoyed me because I wasn’t speaking on Psalm 25.
So of course, we call out to Jesus for healing – for ourselves and for others
But our hope is much more than just physical healing: our hope is transfiguration, that we will shine with the reflected radiance of Jesus the Son of God.
That as we call out to Jesus in our brokenness and helplessness, we will be filled and transformed by the Holy Spirit, so that we become sons and daughters of God, ‘participants in the divine nature’ (2 Peter 1:4), ‘filled with all the fulness of God’ (Ephesians 3:19). Our hope is that we will be changed from glory into glory
And so sometimes when I pray ‘Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner’, and it is a prayer that I pray often when walki ng or at 3am in the morning if I can’t get to sleep, I will then add on the words, “I want to see”.
Lord, I want to see this world, this creation as you see it.
I want to see other people as you see them – with the compassion that you have for them.
I want to see myself as I really am: both to see the filth that is in me and to see how much you love me and have forgiven me.
And Lord I want to see you.
And I know that that prayer will be answered – although not fully this side of death!
Moses prayed and asked that he might see the glory of God and was told that he could only see God’s back as he passed.
John writes, after the birth of Jesus the unique Son of God, ‘The Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as a father’s only son’ (John 1:14)
And he later writes, ‘Beloved we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is’ (1 John 3:2)
For Bartimaeus, and for us, it begins with hearing in the darkness; it becomes a calling out to Jesus and it ends with seeing
“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me … I want to see.”
Most of us have only heard of Jesus.
We’ve heard rumours of Jesus. We cannot see for ourselves. We are dependent on what other people have told us.
In many ways we are more fortunate than Bartimaeus, because we do not just hear rumours.
We have the stories of Jesus written down - what the people who were with him heard him say and what they saw him do, including this story.
And we have the account of his death and resurrection, of the coming of the Spirit and what happens to those first believers.
And we have the testimony of women and men who for 2000 years have put their trust in Jesus and found him to be true.
We have the witness of those who have so staked their lives on him that they have been prepared to suffer dreadfully for him – and they have found him faithful.
I remember Father Kiril in the Orthodox seminary in St Petersburg. He was an elderly priest who was a father figure for many of the students. We learnt his story. He was sentenced to 10 years in a labour camp in the old Atheist state that was the Soviet Union. Not just once, but three times. Thirty years in prison. So much suffering. He could have been so angry, so bitter, so resentful. But when you looked at him you saw a man whose face literally shone.
Bartimaeus heard rumours of Jesus.
We have far more than rumours. We have accounts of a faith that has been tested and tried for 2000 years, sometimes from believers who have endured intense persecution; and Jesus has not been found to be wanting.
2. Bartimaeus calls out to Jesus
Many of the beggars will have heard rumours about Jesus. Maybe they talked together about him. Maybe they had become fans
But one day, when they hear that Jesus has come to Jericho, that Jesus is walking along the street where they are begging, that Jesus is close, it is Bartimaeus who calls out to him.
‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me’.
He is calling to Jesus because he wants Jesus to see him.
And the title he gives Jesus is significant.
In calling him Son of David, he is saying, ‘Jesus, I believe – I am prepared to put my trust – that you are the one who is the promised descendent of David, you are the Messiah’.
And when the crowd ‘sternly order him to be quiet’, he does not stop. He simply shouts louder.
‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me’.
Perhaps the crowd are uncomfortable with the ‘Son of David’ language – it could get you in trouble with the authorities. Maybe they see him as a nuisance. Maybe they think that Jesus would not be bothered with him.
But he continues to call out: ‘Jesus, Son of David have mercy on me’
I think that I can now say I know a fair bit of theology. I have been an ordained minister for 37 years. I know about Jesus. I can talk about Jesus.
And yet there is a world of difference between knowing about Jesus and speaking about Jesus and calling on Jesus.
Bartimaeus is a great model for us.
Jesus’ disciples could see Jesus when they spoke to him.
Bartimaeus could not. He was calling out into the darkness.
And when we pray, we are calling out to Jesus in the darkness
There are probably several reasons why – when we were children - we are told to close our eyes when we pray. Possibly it is to help us concentrate.
But perhaps when we close our eyes we can remember Bartimaeus, who called out in the darkness to Jesus.
The first and basic prayer is when we use the name of Jesus to call on him to turn to us.
Prayer is fundamentally in our blindness and helplessness, calling out to Jesus, by using his name.
Perhaps we call out to Jesus as the Son of the David, the Messiah.
Perhaps we call out to him for physical healing, or we call to him for parents or older relatives or for children – maybe going through so much pain. And our hearts break for them.
There is another person who prays almost the same prayer as Bartimaeus. The woman from Syro-Phoenicia. She calls out ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me – my daughter is possessed by a demon’. She saw the distress and pain of her daughter and she calls on Jesus to heal her daughter and have mercy ‘on me’. And like Bartimaeus she continues to call to Jesus, even when his followers tell her to be quiet, and Jesus himself is silent with her.
We call to Jesus as the Son of David, the Messiah, and we ask him to bring in God’s kingdom.
Or perhaps we call out to Jesus as the Son of the God.
One of the many riches that we received from Russian Orthodox believers is what is known as the Jesus prayer.
‘Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner’
It is the calling on the Lord Jesus.
It is a believer’s prayer.
I got that wrong when I first heard it. I thought it was the prayer of a person who had no assurance. But as it was explained to me, we call on him as our Lord, and no one can call Jesus Lord – and mean it – without the Holy Spirit.
We call out to him – as our Lord: the one to whom we have submitted.
as Jesus - the name God has given us; the one who lived 2000 years ago, crucified, risen and ascended;
We call to him as the Christ – another word for Messiah – as God’s king of God’s kingdom.
But we also call to him as the Son of God – the one who is in a unique relationship with the Father in heaven – who is the beloved of Father God and who loves Father God.
When Jesus was baptised, a voice came from heaven and said, ‘This is my son, my beloved, with whom I am well pleased’?
And he has come to draw us into that relationship, so that we might know his Father as our Father, so that we might be as beloved as he is beloved, and love as he loves.
So we cry out to him, in our brokenness and sinfulness, and ask him to cleanse us, to change us, to transform us, to make us radiant sons and daughters.
3. Bartimaeus asks Jesus to let him see
They bring Bartimaeus to Jesus, and Jesus asks him, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’
He replies, ‘My Teacher, let me see’.
Bartimaeus is looking for physical healing in a physical Kingdom of God.
That is also part of our hope.
It does happen. Some of you, I am sure will have wonderful stories. Write them down. It is so easy to forget them.
I’ve heard of people whose physical sight has been permanently restored, but I personally can recall two occasions when people were given temporary sight.
I think of Derek in Holloway. He was going blind. I visited him regularly and it seemed that as he lost his physical sight, his spiritual insight grew and grew. And one day in church, during the talk, he told me afterward, for about 2 minutes he was suddenly given the gift of absolute clear sight. He said I could see you and the people who I have heard about, so clearly. And then it went.
Or I think of Joan, a retired vicar’s wife – she was at St Peter’s in BSE - who had a similar experience on a retreat. She came down to Morning Prayer and thought, ‘I’ve forgotten my glasses and I won’t be able to see anything. And the set Psalm for that morning happened to be Psalm 25, and she said that she suddenly was able to see the words of the Psalm so clearly and was able to join in. And then her sight went. It turned out that God spoke to a number of people through Psalm 25 that weekend (in very different contexts) – which really annoyed me because I wasn’t speaking on Psalm 25.
So of course, we call out to Jesus for healing – for ourselves and for others
But our hope is much more than just physical healing: our hope is transfiguration, that we will shine with the reflected radiance of Jesus the Son of God.
That as we call out to Jesus in our brokenness and helplessness, we will be filled and transformed by the Holy Spirit, so that we become sons and daughters of God, ‘participants in the divine nature’ (2 Peter 1:4), ‘filled with all the fulness of God’ (Ephesians 3:19). Our hope is that we will be changed from glory into glory
And so sometimes when I pray ‘Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner’, and it is a prayer that I pray often when walki ng or at 3am in the morning if I can’t get to sleep, I will then add on the words, “I want to see”.
Lord, I want to see this world, this creation as you see it.
I want to see other people as you see them – with the compassion that you have for them.
I want to see myself as I really am: both to see the filth that is in me and to see how much you love me and have forgiven me.
And Lord I want to see you.
And I know that that prayer will be answered – although not fully this side of death!
Moses prayed and asked that he might see the glory of God and was told that he could only see God’s back as he passed.
John writes, after the birth of Jesus the unique Son of God, ‘The Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as a father’s only son’ (John 1:14)
And he later writes, ‘Beloved we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is’ (1 John 3:2)
For Bartimaeus, and for us, it begins with hearing in the darkness; it becomes a calling out to Jesus and it ends with seeing
“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me … I want to see.”
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