Prayer: Have mercy on me, O Lord.
Sometimes we have blinded our eyes when we look the other way or ignore or neglect. Lord open our eyes!
Sometimes we have silenced our tongues, when we do not raise our voices in prayer, in protection, or in protest. Lord, lift our voices!
Lord, have mercy on us and help us to step beyond our blindness, indifference or fears.
Lord, have mercy on us and help us to raise our voices in praise, in prayer and in protest.
Lord, guide us on your way and strengthen us with your mercy. Amen!
Gospel: Mark 10.46-52 The Healing of Blind Bartimaeus
46 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. 47 When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 48 Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 49 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.” 50 So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. 51 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.” 52 Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith has made you well.” Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.
Sermon: Have mercy on me!
The gospel story we heard today is about the blind beggar Bartimaeus. The blind beggar sitting at the road, and when he hears, that Jesus is on his way… not when he sees him, but when he hears, because as a blind his other senses are even more alert, …. This blind beggar Bartimaeus begs Jesus: Have mercy on me!
BBB: Blind Beggar Bartimaeus or
BBB: Bold Believer Bartimaeus.
What is it that defines this man in the Gospel? Is it his handicap and disability? Is it his faith? Is it his poverty or is it his rich faith? Is it his boldness and persistence? What defines Bartimaeus as a human being at the roadside, and later Bartimaeus who follows Jesus on his way.
Blind beggar Bartimaeus
Bold believer Bartimaeus.
“Lord, have mercy on me!” is a bold cry for help, and even if people try to hush him up because he is addressing Jesus, as the “Son of David” and making a dangerous political and religious statement – even if they try to hush him, he is persistent in his prayer and bold in his belief.
When blind bold believer Bartimaeus cried out to Jesus, begging for mercy, Jesus heard him, stopped and asked: “ What do do you want me to do for you?” What an amazing question from Jesus? “What do you want me to do for you ?
What if Jesus asked us that questions? What is the mercy we seek in our personal lives? What would be your response?
Bartimaeus is boldly specific in his request. He wants to see again.
What would and could be hour honest answer to Jesus questions: “What do you want me to do for you?” What kind of mercy are we begging for in our lives?
Lord, have mercy on me!
As we each ponder on what kind of mercy we might pray for in our personal lives, I want to share with you 3 stories that was shared with me this past week. Merciful stories and witnesses.
This past week, I attended 3 days of Theological Conference with pastors, deans, deacons and 2 bishops from Pacifica and Southwest Synods. We call it Theoasis as a fine title that describes the nature of this conference among pastors in the dessert: that it is Theological Oasis to gather and drink of the well of life.
We were gathered as we usually are in October in Indian Wells, in the dessert to be filled up with good lectures, mindful conversations and food both for body and soul.
These three days at the Theoasis, we heard 3 small 5 minutes stories from 3 pastors, who shared experiences from the Time of Covid19. And in some way, all of these shared stories, reminded me of the story about the blind bold believer and beggar Bartimaeus, and how we in shared humanity and faith stretch our hands up, lift our voices and say: Lord have mercy on us! In many different walks of life, in many different life situations and in many different degrees of boldness and faith.
The first story was a story from the Camino de Santiago. It has become quite popular to walk the Camino: the Camino de Santiago, a pilgrimage of medieval origin leading to the shrine of the apostle Saint James in the cathedral of Santiago De Compostela in Northwest Spain. People of all ages, nationalities and backgrounds walk or bike the routes each year. Many You walk and you walk along with the ones you meet on the trail or at the overnight dormitories and Refugio’s along the route. The pilgrimage is a walk for religious or spiritual reasons, but also as an experience of culture, heritage, nature or even as a fitness challenge.
Pastor Dave went on the Camino this Spring, and he said that no one asked each other what they did for a living, but whey they were walking? Why are you here, and where are you going? Many are walking the Camino to find meaning, purpose, strength …and some are walking as one long prayer for mercy. Lord, have mercy on me! Pastor Dave specifically told us about one young man he met on the pilgrimage. He said he started the pilgrimage because he needed to find out if he wanted to continue to live – he was desperate for miracles but also said that he did not pray as he lacked a rosary. But on the very first stop, he met a woman who wished him well on the pilgrimage and gifted him her rosary as she thought he would need it. So, a first little miracle that brought him back to life……
Maybe we haven’t walked the Camino, but we may have walked other routes of search, spiritual quest and deeply personal trail to find meaning and purpose, - or to cry every step of the way: Lord, have mercy on me!
There can be many ways to cry out for mercy, as the blind bold beggar Bartimaeus did that day when he heard Jesus coming his way. Maybe walking the Camino is a way of walking out, living out that cry for mercy, meaning, grace and renewal. The Pilgrimage is a search, a spiritual or religious quest and a deeply personal human search.
Lord have mercy on me!
The second story was a story from a parish in San Diego. A parish with a strong call to help immigrants and refugees at the border. The pastors told a moving story about 4 families from Haiti who had come through the deserts and through many dangers and toils, across the border, and desperately needed help.
The congregation heard their cry: Lord, have mercy on us! And collected clothes, food and provided housing. The ministries managed to assist the families find their way through the jungle of administration and agencies, - and the pastors developed close relationships with these families, who often just become a number in a statistic, a news coverage, a political agenda or a fear.
Lord, have mercy on us, they cried.
You all remember the musical Sound of Music, don’t you. With the lovely family von Trapp who singingly managed to escape the Nazi during second World war by clamping every mountain and crossing the border to a safe country. We all love this family, a singing blond, white family of illegal refugees, who made their miraculous and spectacular escape at night to find mercy in a safe place on the other side of the border. They look like us in the movie, don’t they? We can relate to them, can’t we? A father and a mother wanting to protect their children and do everything in their power to safe them.
But how do we relate to those immigrants just at the south border who also come at night, over the borders, with the kids, to find a safe place to be. They cry out: Lord, have mercy on us… and sometimes I feel like crying out: Lord, have mercy on us for not caring and relating for a poor Mexican or Haitian Family as easily as an Austrian van Trapp fantasy family.
The third story was a story about our time in this moment. How Covid19 changed our every day lives, and also changes the lives for our youth. As the Youth and Confirmation classes were meeting on Zoom and in virtual reality, they were begging to be seen, heard and cared for. O lord, have mercy on me. This was a story told from a city parish in LA that might have been affected more than our suburban Orange county, as many of the kids were from less affluent families. Pastor Tyra Dennis told us about the cries from her youth group. All the questions, the sorrows, the anxiety, and the fear. All the loss of normalcy, closeness, comfort, hugs and freedom. So many of them lost family members to Covid or witnesses severe illnesses. All of this have weighed upon them, and maybe we have not been listening all too well when our children and youngster have been crying out. Maybe we wanted to spare them. To protect them.
In the aftermath and healing after Covid19, we need to listen to each other and pray together : Lord, have mercy on me.
The blind beggar was begging for mercy and became a bold believer.
The men and women walking the Camino were begging for meaning, comfort, and mercy.
The families climbing the mountains and crossing the borders are begging for mercy and shelter.
The children of Corvid are begging to be heard, seen and embraced.
When have you last prayed: Lord have mercy on me?
Silently or secretly? Desperately or delusional? Loudly and boldly?
We pray, have mercy on me, when we seem to be without mercy, in unforgiven unimaginable situations; in deserted isolated wilderness; in bad or broken relationships; or in merciless meaning-less pain.
The Gospel let us cry with the blind beggar and walk with the bold believer.
The Gospel let us reflect on our own lives, our own walks, our own disabilities, struggles and hardship.
The Gospel let us believe that we too can cry out our despair to Jesus; that he will stop and listen…. And that will be the first step on a new way to find forgiveness, healing, meaning, purpose, relief, comfort yes even mercy.
We do believe that we never walk alone, we never pray alone, we are never left alone. That is what we sing about in the beautiful old beloved hymn Amazing Grace, which is a hymn or a cry Lord have mercy on me, a wretch like me, a human like me.
This hymn is sung is always a confession of our faith in grace, that we are saved by grace alone. That we pray : Lord, have mercy on me… and God listens . As he did to the blind beggar and to wretches like us:
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost, but now am found
Was blind, but now I see.
Now we see and now we believe that:
The Lord has promised good to me
His word my hope secures
He will my shield and portion be
As long as life endures.
So, pray as the blind beggar and walk with the bold believer!
Amen.