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October 25, 2009

Twenty-First Sunday after Pentecost

* * *   Squeaky Wheel   * * *

Please Read

Mark 10:46-52

Read also

Job 42:1-6

Job 42:10-17
Psalm 34:1-8
Hebrews 7:23-28

They came to Jericho. As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"

Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, "Son of David, have mercy on me!"

Jesus stood still and said, "Call him here."

And they called the blind man, saying to him, "Take heart; get up, he is calling you."  So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus.

Then 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."

Jesus said to him, "Go; your faith has made you well." Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.

--- [Mark 10:46-52]

* * *   Squeaky Wheel   * * *

“The squeaky wheel gets the grease”

So the saying goes.

And whatever else you want to say

about Bartimaeus,

he knew how to squeak,

loudly, persistently. 

And when his neighbors,

annoyed by his squeaking and squawking,

his loud shouting,

tried to silence him,
he shouted all the more.

And Jesus, no squeaker or squawker,

simply stood there and said quietly

“Call him here.”

Picture the scene:

Bartimaeus squeaking and squawking

so loudly that he cannot hear Jesus words.

And the crowd, against their will,

summoning the one they sought to silence,

perhaps thinking the Master

would rebuke the noisy blind man.

Now watch!

Bartimaeus makes his way to Jesus’ side

And Jesus,

sensing beneath the strident shouting,

the pain, the need,

the endless darkness

responded to the squeaks and squawks

with a question:

The same question

he had asked of the rich young man

"What do you want me to do for you?"

The answer was obvious,

but Jesus made him articulate his need,

turning the squeaks and squawks

into a simple focused request

“Let me see again.”

(How often,

amid our own squeaks and squawks,

our awkward, painful acting-out

in the midst of our blindness,

how often do we pause and say,

“Lord, Let me see again.”

Maybe we should.)

But back to Bartimaeus:

What strikes us of course,

is his faith, his hope

his unrelenting persistence

in the face of his dark fate,

and how, when fate becomes fruition,

and the scales of blindness fall away,

and sight is restored,

his shout is transmuted into service.

Persistence and faith

followed through in action. 

Unlike the rich man,

who, unwilling to turn his back

upon the wealth he loved, 

went away sorrowing,

Bartimaeus followed him in the way.

All the way.

Discipleship, born of persistent needs,  

At last finds its expression in our deeds.

--- rvc