The Healing Word.

Readings: Isaiah 55: 6-11.

⁶ Seek the Lord while he may be found;
    call on him while he is near.
⁷ Let the wicked forsake their ways
    and the unrighteous their thoughts.
Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them,
    and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

⁸ “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
⁹ “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so are my ways higher than your ways
    and my thoughts than your thoughts.
¹⁰ As the rain and the snow
    come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
    without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
    so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,   

¹¹ so is my word that goes out from my mouth:

 It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
    and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

Mark 10: 46-52. Blind Bartimaeus Receives His Sight

⁴⁶ Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (which means “son of Timaeus”), was sitting by the roadside begging. ⁴⁷ When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

⁴⁸ Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

⁴⁹ Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.”

So they called to the blind man, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.” ⁵⁰ Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus.

⁵¹ “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him.

The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.”

⁵² “Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.

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Today is the last Sunday in the season of Trinity. Next week we turn our thoughts towards Advent and then Christmas. This Sunday is also known as Bible Sunday so I want to share some thoughts about “The Healing Word” who is, of course, Jesus.

Chapter 10 of St Mark’s gospel is full of questions being put to Jesus and all in some way relate to discipleship and what it means to truly follow Jesus. 

vv.1-12: It begins with a tricky question from the Pharisees who are keen to hear what he has to say but not because they want to become disciples but because they want to trip him up. The question is about the legality of divorce. Jesus responds as he often does by asking them a question about what the law says on divorce. Jesus then points them back to the origins in Genesis of how men and women were created to relate to one another and to God. The Pharisees are not serious in their possible discipleship, they just want to be able to accuse him of false teaching so that they can arrest him.

vv.13-16: The second scene is of parents bringing their children to Jesus for him to bless. The disciples are indignant and try to keep them away perhaps feeling that Jesus has better things to do than care for the children! But Jesus quickly puts them straight, reminding them that “for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. ¹⁵ Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.’“ Again the disciples need to realise that age is not a barrier to discipleship!

vv.17-31: Then we have the man who approaches Jesus with the question: 

“What must I do to inherit eternal life?” After a brief conversation in which the man tells Jesus he has done his best to keep all the commandments, 

²¹ Jesus looked at him and loved him. ‘One thing you lack,’ he said. ‘Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.’ Jesus goes on the make the point that being rich is not going to gain you entrance into the kingdom of heaven. The man goes away sorrowful because he cannot commit to that.

The disciples tell Jesus that they have left everything to follow him, their homes and their families so surely they must be “in”. But Jesus replied,

²⁹ ‘Truly I tell you, no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel ³⁰ will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields – along with persecutions – and in the age to come eternal life. ³¹ But many who are first will be last, and the last first.’

In a nutshell we need to get rid of our baggage and anything that hinders our relationship with God if we would follow Jesus.

vv.35-45: Next we have the request from James and John, already top notch disciples or so they believe! ‘Teacher,’ they said, ‘we want you to do for us whatever we ask.’ Jesus invites them to make their request. ‘Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.’ Jesus has already just told his disciples that he is going to Jerusalem where he will be arrested, tried and killed but then rise again. But they have missed the point entirely. The way to glory is through suffering and they will struggle to follow that way. There is a cost to true discipleship. 

When the rest of the disciples heard about the request of James and John, they became indignant with them. ⁴² Jesus called them together and said, ‘You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. ⁴³ Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, ⁴⁴ and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. ⁴⁵ For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.’”

So far we have seen that serious discipleship is not dependent on learning, qualifications, age or wealth but it is about humility and servanthood. 

Finally in Chapter 10: 46-52, we come to the story of Bartimaeus. Here we see true discipleship in action.

Bartimaeus is a blind beggar who had his pitch just outside Jericho. He has obviously heard about Jesus and the miracles he has been performing. So when he hears the crowd and realises that Jesus is among them he starts calling out to him. 

“Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

The crowd try to hush him up but he only shouts more loudly. Jesus hears him and gets his disciples to call him and bring Bartimaeus to him. Perhaps you can imagine the consternation of the Jewish authorities, the crowd and the disciples. After all beggars are about the lowest of the low. Surely the Rabbi Jesus would not want to contaminate themselves with him? Have they learnt nothing of Jesus yet?

Quickly Bartimaeus is ushered to Jesus. Even more quickly Bartimaeus jumps up and flinging off his cloak rushes to meet Jesus. Please note that his cloak was very important to him as it both kept him warm and protected but also probably gathered his money when he laid it on the street at his feet. It is as if in that moment of hearing Jesus call him, he lets go of the past and all his security and places all his trust in Jesus.

Now Jesus asks the question! “What do you want me to do for you?” You might think it a stupid question to ask a blind person after all presumably he wanted to see more than anything else. But sometimes what seems obvious to onlookers may not be what the person dares to ask for. He might have asked to become a better blind beggar with a guaranteed income for life. Or for a new cloak or a better pitch or a permanent home? Perhaps I am being a bit fanciful. But there is a sense in which in that question draws out faith and for Bartimaeus it certainly did. He longed to be different, to be healed, to be free. His reply is swift and simple.

“Rabbi, I want to see.” Jesus commends him for his faith and in that moment he is healed of his blindness and can see. Imagine the joy and wonder as the first person he sees is Jesus. I think Jesus would have been smiling at him and looking into his eyes with great love and compassion. Then perhaps turning him round to look at all the crowds of people around them both. But now here is the crunch. Mark says:

“Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the road.” 

Here we see the response of true discipleship. Bartimaeus leaves his past behind and becomes a follower of Jesus. The only qualification he has is that he has encountered the Living Word, Jesus his Healer and Saviour and has chosen to leave everything behind and follow him.

Isaiah says this in chapter 55:11

¹¹ so is my word that goes out from my mouth:

 It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
    and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

This is the incarnation, the word made flesh and living among us, Jesus the Messiah who carries out the divine purpose in his life, death and resurrection. The purpose of bringing healing, forgiveness and reconciliation between us and God our creator. 

What is the healing word? Or rather who is the healing word?

The Healing Word is Jesus.

John 1: 10-14

¹⁰ He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognise him. ¹¹ He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. ¹² Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God – ¹³ children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

¹⁴ The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Jesus is the Healing Word. 

Let us pray.

Dear Lord Jesus,

Give us the courage to throw off the past, to leave our baggage behind 

and to receive you our Healer, the Living Word,

Then may we follow you along the road that leads to eternal life.

Amen.