Let me see again

10/28

At the end of a hard week, I find myself once again at Good Shepherd Faith. After reading Mark10:46-52, I begin my "prompting," as they say here....

Mmm. It has really been a week. Again. Having lunch in Greenwich Village with an old friend, a journalist. Her phone hoes off. Bombs found in Obamas mailbox. Hilary's mailbox. The phone will continue to ping every time a new bomb is found. It's hard being a journalist, she says, when you have bene declared an enemy of the people.  And then yesterday, the news of the synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh, my home town, and where I worked in an interfaith ministry for 10 years. The shooting took place during a baby naming ceremony. At least eleven dead.

Pittsburgh strong....

All this while I still struggle daily with the knowledge that I now live in a country that separates parents from children. And puts children in cages. And, for some unknown reason believes it is necessary to take away rosary beads from detainees.

(And has expressed an interest in taking a look at our genitals...)

These are difficult times we are living in.

I don't say this to depress you. But theology is always done in context, and this friends is our context. And it is always the work, the life, of the faith community to figure out what it means to be  a faithful Christian in days like this. And the preacher's calling to help with that task.

And so...the one they call Blind Bartimaeus. One of my favorite characters. On the surface of it, a simple story. A man who is blind, and a beggar, hears that Jesus is passing by and calls out to Jesus for "mercy." As always people tell him to be quiet. Don't disturb Jesus. (Or us.) But nevertheless, he persists. Jesus asks him what he wants. He asks to be able to see again. Jesus tells him, "Go your faith has made you well." And Immediately he regains his sight. And he follows.

OK. Anytime we have a story like this, we walk into a bit of a theological mine field. It's easy to just dribble the homiletic ball down court and go in for the easy lay up, the slam dunk. Just believe in Jesus and everything will be ok. The catch is, it seems to leave the impression that there is a direct connection between faith and physical well being. (well there is but don't go there yet..)

I have been part of Presbyterians for Health Education and Welfare for many years. We are a community of ministry networks, one of which is the Disabilities Concerns network, One of its members once pointed out to me that in his version of the song, he would sing "I once was blind and I still am" One of my West Park members  once brought that up to our then music director, who was African American. He responded, "Oh but that is just a metaphor." And she said, "Yeah, like wash me and I shall be whiter than snow?" ( She herself lived with MS.) And he thought and said, "Oh." We forget that that the power to control metaphor us yet another expression of privilege.

When I worked in Tulsa, Oklahoma, I has a friend who had been a student at Oral Roberts University. He had been born with a withered leg. His fellow students constantly prayed for his"healing" and when his leg didn't change, they actually got angry with him, He obviously did not have faith. Ultimately, Oral Roberts himself had to intervene and tell the students that God's ways were always mysterious.

Here's the point...Jesus tells him... before anything has happened, "your faith has made your well." He does not say, "Your faith has restored your vision" It is after Jesus' announcement that something has already happened that his sight is restored. That's the thing with Jesus, watch what has already happened before we see it. (Here comes a metaphor) Archbishop Tutu during the struggle against apartheid used to say "We have already won. The other side just hasn't realized it yet." Tutu's announcement of what God had already done helped the people experience an inner liberation that could help sustain them in the ultimate victory of external liberation.

In this story, the man's vision being restored is only an expression of what as already been achieved.

So what does that have to say to us today? What is the good news? Well, I think a lot of us are having problems with vision. With what we can see. Bob Dylan sang, "How many times must a man look up before he can see the sky? How many ears must one man have before he can hear people cry?"  I know I feel like another Dylan song, "It's not dark yet, but it's getting there..."

There's two different vision problems here. Some  of us cannot see the consequences of words that are said and policies and what they are doing to people in real life. That words can give the permission to unleash acts of darkness, acts of evil. On the other side, some of cannot see a way out or what to do or where it all ends.

Like Bartimaeus we cry out 'Lord have mercy on me. Let me see again..." As the old hymn said ,"Open my eyes that I may see.." or the old hymn sung in the midst of the potato famine, "Be thou my (remember?) vision.."


Jesus tells us "your faith has made you well.." Can you believe it? Can we believe it enough to claim our "wellness," our vision, even in these days of darkness? Can we proclaim what we see?

Go, your faith has made you well.....

Amen

And we have our conversation. The pianist feels its not fair just to criticize one side. And he has his own litany of examples of liberal incivility and worse. That would be a long conversation. The short answer is that to be neutral in a conflict of unequal power is to side with the oppressor. The voice of the soloist is sweet and light and comforting as a ray of light breaking through. Soon enough tis back to the cold windy street again.





Gospel Mark 10:46-52

46They 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. 47When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" 48Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" 49Jesus stood still and said, "Call him here." And they called the blind man, saying to him, "Take heart; get up, he is calling you." 50So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. 51Then 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." 52Jesus said to him, "Go; your faith has made you well." Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.