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+In the Name…
And Jesus said to him, ‘Go your way; your faith has made you well.’ And immediately he received his sight and followed him on the way” (St. Mark 10:52).
The Gospel according to St. Mark is the shortest one of the four Gospels – being only sixteen chapters. The passage you have heard this morning is the story of our Lord’s final miracle according to St. Mark – the healing of the blind man, Bartimaeus.
It is a beautiful story of a blind beggar receiving his sight from the Lord and seeing the healed man then following Jesus as a disciple. But it also a story about the perseverance of faith against disappointment and discouragement – with which each and every one of has or presently struggles.
You will remember that when Bartimaeus heard that Jesus was passing by, he cried out to Him, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Before there was a response from Jesus, we are told that “Many rebuked him, telling him to be silent.”
We can only assume that these “many” thought that either he was deservedly blind because of his sins (which was a common belief as to why people had such and other physical afflictions); or that they thought that Jesus had more important things to do; or that they wanted Jesus to focus on them and not on him.
Whatever motivated their rebuke of Bartimaeus and their telling him to be silent, Bartimaeus would not be silenced, so he cried out again, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
Jesus stopped in his tracks and said, “Call him.” We’re told that the blind man threw off his mantle, sprang up, and came to Jesus,” and then heard the question from the lips of Jesus, “What do you want me to do for you?”
Now we all remember what we heard last Sunday from the lips of the Apostles James and John when they said to Jesus, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” We were and still are shocked in hearing such a presumptuous request from two men when they were to be thinking of the cost of discipleship and identifying with the Lord who had called them after Jesus had for the third time predicted what was in store for him, that he would be delivered up to the chief priests and scribes, condemned to death, delivered to the Gentiles, mocked, spit upon, scourged, and killed. And they were selfishly, shockingly, and ambitiously consumed and concerned about being granted places at Jesus’ right and left hand in His glory!
Bartimaeus seeks Jesus and His power to act with humility and with a desire not for glory but for healing which He believed Jesus, being the Son of David, the Messiah, in His mercy would do. He reached out with faith to be healed, not with a request for status and recognition.
Isn’t it more than ironic that this time we hear Jesus ask Bartimaeus what Bartimaeus wanted Jesus to do for him? Of course Jesus knew what His request would be, but He wants to hear it so that others would as well (including James and John) as to what should come from men’s hearts and what the spirit of man should first seek – that being, the mercy of God.
I learned first hand this week in a very particular way what the fruit of faith and persistent prayer is after periods of discouragement and frustration. For a number of years, I have prayed daily (as so many of you have and as countless others have as well) for a new day of unity amongst Christians, particularly between Anglo-Catholics and the Roman Catholic Church which has since the mid-19th century Oxford Movement and subsequent Catholic revival has been within the fervent prayers of generations of Anglo-Catholic bishops, priests, deacons, religious, and lay persons.
For the past two years, being personally committed to, active in, and involved with high level, serious discussions with the Vatican and some of its representatives, I have prayed every morning and evening for something new and creative to be borne, something that would glorify God, fulfill the prayer of Jesus in John 17:21, “that they may all be one,” while honoring and preserving elements of our distinctive and cherished Anglican spiritual and liturgical heritage and patrimony, with intercommunion and the sharing of gifts with the Catholic Church.
These prayers of mine and many of you and so many others have been answered in a way that was hoped for, and at a time unexpected. Isn’t that so much like the Lord and the movement of the Holy Spirit when prayers are consistent, when the strength of faith outdoes the weakness of faith (by God’s grace!), and when “Hope” as a companion theological virtue along with faith and love is held onto?
Whether it be prayer for unity in the Church of Christ; prayers for healing of body, soul, spirit, and relationships; or prayer to persevere as a Christian disciple when the going is so tough and seemingly fruitless, we are to pray unceasingly as we walk by faith not by sight, holding fast to the words of Jesus in the Gospel according to St, Mark, “Therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you are receiving it, and it will be yours” (11:24).
St. Julian of Norwich once wrote, “”Pray inwardly, even if you do not enjoy it. It does good though you feel nothing, even though you think you are doing nothing” (Revelations of Divine Love)
I remember two years ago speaking to His Eminence Cardinal Justin Rigali, Archbishop of Philadelphia, about the Traditional Anglican Communion’s Petition for unity submitted to the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith in Rome. He said to me, “David - pray, pray, pray.”
Dare I go outside of the Christian world to end this sermon with a statement of prayer from a very holy man, who reached beyond himself and the human sphere for greater things – Gandhi – who said, “Prayer is not an old woman’s idle amusement. Properly understood and applied it is the most potent instrument of action.”
God grant us all the grace to pray, pray, pray that we be open to and instruments of the merciful and life-changing action of the loving God we worship as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
+In the Name…
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