A, The Fourth Sunday in Lent - Ephesians 5:10 "A God Pleasing Person"

And try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. (Ephesians 5:10 ESV)

What is the will of God? How do we know what God wants?  Where do we go to find this out?  “God’s will is done on earth as it is in heaven” Jesus teaches us to pray! (Matthew 6:10)  So we pray for his will to be done. But how do I know it’s being done?  Where do I look to check?  How do I know?  Is it a certain feeling or is that feeling just a bad case of spiritual indigestion — self-justification set to repeat on me?

How we discern, find out, work out, or prove something has moved folk throughout the ages into great explorations, expeditions, across oceans, deep into the unknown, to illuminate our human desire to know.

The desire for knowledge drives one to search.  Science searches the unknown in laboratories as well as in locations that have kept their existence covered in mystery.  Medical science searches to uncover the truth of the human body.  Humanity likes to uncover all sorts of things in its desire for knowledge.

From not long after we’re born, we want to learn.  We learn to walk, to talk, to read, to explore and discover.   But what’s the purpose of finding out?  Why do we study these things? 

Mostly the study of “unknown stuff” helps us gain knowledge to do certain things.  In our eyes we seek knowledge for our own good, or the good of others, or the “greater good”.  It’s been this way since Adam and Eve were tempted to know what God knew!  However, their discernment was not pleasing to the Lord!

Our search to prove, to understand, to fathom, to distinguish, to learn, also means we misunderstand, misread, mishear, misfit, mistake, misjudge and misuse when we want to know.  The end result is  that we often find our desire to know makes us miss the mark.  Our knowledge for good or the “greater good” ends up being practised in bad ways.  Why is this so?  Why do we have the desire to do good, but when it comes to doing it, it’s not all that good at all.

Human desire is geared for pleasure.  Originally that pleasure was intended to please God but now it misses the mark and is used to please ourselves.  As a result, the pleasures of the human heart are now clouded with darkness.  When Adam and Eve got up to mischief in the garden, their mischief was literally a bad head, turning from God their head to their own heads through the deception of Satan.

Jesus’ words from Matthew chapter fifteen tells us that, “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.” (Matthew 15:19 ESV)

Dietrich Bonhoeffer in contemplation over these words of Jesus says, “It is the deep night that hovers over the sources of all human action, even over all noble and devout impulses.” (Life Together: 31)  

We see in our readings today how easy the desires of the human heart can lead a person astray. 

Samuel was brooding over God’s rejection of King Saul. 

How often do we find ourselves brooding and fretting over the way things have gone when the good, we’ve sought, usually for ourselves, has gone bad for us.  I imagine Samuel’s grief was caused by him being turned in on himself, seeing only his actions rather than the bigger picture of what was pleasing to the Lord.

Even though God regretted with a deep sigh over Saul, he calls Samuel out of his grief over Saul to do his work of anointing a new king.  

But on entering Bethlehem to anoint a new king, Samuel’s desires were misplaced as he looked on Jesse’s oldest son, Eliab, to be the new king.  Yet we hear, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7 ESV)

Even as we walk as children of the light, there’s still within us a longing to slip back into the darkness of our human desires.  Samuel was there only by God’s will, and it pleased God to bring an unseen son to light for Samuel to anoint.  Samuel brooded in darkness, and in the darkness of his heart he could not see as God saw, until God brought the light of his will to light.

The disciples of Jesus could not see the truth of a man born blind from birth.  But then again, how could they see by their own desires?  So, they ask Jesus, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” (John 9:1–5 ESV)

Human desire creates human blindness.  Ironically the gospel reading begins with a blind man, and the blind understanding of the disciples, and after the healing of the blind man Jesus announces, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” (John 9:39 ESV)

In other words, a person whose desires once stopped them from seeing what pleased God will be able to see and please God, and those who see what pleases God and don’t please him will become blind and remain in their guilt!

So, it’s important to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. But how does one do this without becoming blinded by our own darkness of sight? God’s will, God’s desire, God’s pleasure is done on earth and in heaven by Jesus Christ.  We can only please God through Jesus Christ! He is the true worshipper of God.  Jesus does his will and God the Father listens to him!

The blindness of the disciples was exposed during Jesus’ earthly ministry.  In Jesus’ death and resurrection, the disciples witnessed the fulfilment of God’s pleasure to forgive humanity.  In the wake of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit continues to fulfil the pleasure of our Father in heaven, as humans are led to lay down their arms through repentance and daily grow in understanding the costly price Christ made to please the Father.   And, the Holy Spirit continues to work within helping believers forgive as each of us have been forgiven.

This all centres on Jesus and the Holy Spirit’s work within.  When we turn in on ourselves we return to our desires clouded by darkness, and once again become blind.  This is like a blind man deliberately gouging out his own eyes after receiving his sight from Jesus.  Or, like after God chose to anoint David, Samuel decides, “No! I believe Eliab is the one” and anoints him instead.

In Paul’s encouragement to discern what pleases the Lord as a child of God he commands you, “Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” (Ephesians 5:17 ESV)

And the only way possible for this to occur within us and between us is to, “be filled with the Spirit… giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.” (Ephesians 5:18b,20–21 ESV)

You and I are not the light of the world.  We shouldn’t expect to be able to please God through what we desire to do.  When we take it on ourselves to please God by thinking we can be our own rays of eternal light and life, the only light we emit is the deceptive light of Lucifer.

However, in submitting to Christ as the only Light of this world, we please God by allowing the Holy Spirit to work the daily death of self and resurrection in Jesus Christ through repentance and the forgiveness of sin and our forgiving of sin.

This reverence for Christ is not a fear that’s afraid of him or of what the world thinks when we confess, are forgiven, and forgive through repentance  No! It’s reverence and desire to please God and be in his holy presence knowing he’s invited us into fellowship with him, through the Light of Life, his Son Jesus Christ. 

When you allow the Holy Spirit to make Jesus Christ the “Light of your world!”  Know you are his child invited by Jesus to “come and follow me!” ­— to repent and forgive as he has forgiven, is forgiving, and will forgive you! 

Jesus promises us, “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” (Luke 12:32 ESV)

“For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:13 ESV)

Let the Spirit lead you from yourself to Jesus!  God the Father will reveal the mystery of doing and being a God pleasing person.  Amen. 

B, Pentecost 22 Proper 25 - Mark 10:46-52 "Superior Sight with Inferior Blindness"

Mark 10:46–48 (ESV) And they came to Jericho. And as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a great crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside.  And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”  And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”  And Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart. Get up; he is calling you.”  And throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus.  And Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” And the blind man said to him, “Rabbi, let me recover my sight.”  And Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way.

As human beings we are always learning about inferiority and superiority, and how they affect our relationships with other people.

If we feel inferior around others, we tend to typecast ourselves as not being good enough or not worthy of being in certain company.  A person who sees themselves as inferior, pictures themselves as having little to no value in the presence of a person of great honour.

This produces one of two things.  Either, the inferior will have a sense of awe, and treat the other person with honour, showing them deep reverence and respect. Or, on sensing inferiority, instead of awe, will consider honour awful, and show contempt.  Like a tall poppy, we desire and devise ways to chop down superiority in a demonstration of disrespect.

The opposite of inferiority is superiority.  Where one is present the other is usually not far away.  They are like opposite sides of the same coin.  They have a relationship like rise and fall, up and down, in and out. Even if the relationship is chalk and cheese, there is still an association with each other, despite the difference.

When we feel inferior, our perception of the other person’s superiority causes reverence or irreverence, respect or disrespect.

A person who feels or sees themselves as superior, like the inferior, will have something being produced in them too.  Superiority wants to be honoured!  When we feel superior, we want to be lifted up, noticed, and appreciated.  There’s an expectation that all must fall down at one’s feet and pay homage. 

Alternatively, we might want to use the honoured position on someone, in some way.  From a perceived height, we might put down those who appear to be on the rise.  Or, we might have a desire to use our honour to help the inferior, either condescendingly or humbly. 

Inferiority and superiority!  Such is the pecking order in the chook pen of community, living in the hen house of humanity!

This same inferiority-superiority dynamic is at work when Jesus heals Bartimaeus.

Jesus is passing through Jericho, travelling to Jerusalem.  He is about to travel the road to his triumphal entry and death at the cross.  This is the road on which the parable of the Good Samaritan is set.  As Jesus passes through Jericho on his way to Jerusalem, he nears Bartimaeus, a blind beggar.

Bartimaeus, literally, son of Timaeus, hears the Son of Man, Jesus of Nazareth is going to Jerusalem. He cries out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

It is easy to overlook what is occurring here, but the same inferiority-superiority subtleties are playing out as the account unfolds!

It’s obvious that Bartimaeus is the inferior.  We might assume Jesus is the superior, and he is, in so many ways!  But, here in this narrative, in Mark, the superior are those who rebuke the blind beggar for crying out to Jesus, Son of David, for mercy.

In Mark’s Gospel account, his central theme is housed between two accounts of healing.  In Mark 8 Jesus heals a blind man at Bethsaida (8:22-26), then Peter confesses him as the Christ (8:29). Jesus begins the first of three revelations that he is going to suffer, die, and be raised (8:31, 9:31, 10:33-34) and tell Satan to “get behind” (8:33).  And coupled with this prophetic triptych of his death and resurrection is the theme of Jesus’ value as the Son of Man, the Suffering Servant of humankind.

So, we arrive here on the road to Jerusalem with those who have struggle to see Jesus as the Servant king, soon to be coronated on the cross, but with blind beggar Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, who only had eyes of faith for Jesus, Son of David.

The superiority of those travelling with Jesus and probably others who begged or traded on the same stretch of road as Bartimaeus, sought to rebuke the son of Timaeus for calling out to Jesus.

There is an irony here in the text that cannot go unmentioned.  The name Timaeus, has as its root, the meaning of honour. The word rebuke and the name Timaeus carry the same root word meaning of honour or value. Bartimaeus a blind beggar, the lowest of the low has the name “son of honour”.  Yet those who rebuke him are taxing or robbing him of his honour for calling out to Jesus.  Rebuking, literally in the Greek, means to devalue and discredit. And this is what the superior seek to do to the little honour they believe Bartimaeus holds. 

The irony continues as the superior seek to censure the inferior.  But Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, continues calling out, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” This is the beggars cry to have his honour restored.  In fact, of all the parties in this passage of Scripture, Bartimaeus reveals himself as the one who has the best view of Jesus, despite being blind.

And so, the relationship between the two unfolds!

Jesus doesn’t patronise Bartimaeus with condescension nor does Bartimaeus bestow any fake reverence or contempt.  Jesus honours Bartimaeus as equal.  Bartimaeus pleads for Jesus’ mercy  who is on his way to be anointed as the Christ on the cross.  Crowned on the cross as the King of Righteousness!

 And Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart. Get up; he is calling you.”  And throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus.  And Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” And the blind man said to him, “Rabbi, let me recover my sight.”  And Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way. Mark 10:49–52 (ESV)

Notice how Jesus doesn’t call Bartimaeus!  Instead. he tells those around him to call the beggar.  So, they do! The superior ones tell him to take courage, “Jesus is calling you.”

Yet again, here there is more irony. Bartimaeus was already showing great courage!  Rather, Jesus was calling the superior ones around him to, “Take heart, open your eyes, have faith in the Son of Man, who seeks to serve you and save you from the slavery of your superiority.”

Jesus honours Bartimaeus with sight, and having restored his sight, Bartimaeus follows Jesus.

That’s all we hear about Bartimaeus.  One could arguably assume he saw and participated in Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday because we are told, “he recovered his sight and followed him on the way.” 

Bartimaeus possibly would have seen his sight restorer, Jesus, the Son of David, ride a colt into Jerusalem  to shouts of, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!  Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!” (Mark 11:9–10 ESV)

Who are you in this passage of Scripture?  What part do you play?  Are you one who honours Jesus by letting him remove your blindness?  Like Bartimaeus, Jesus calls you and honours you through his servanthood, his death and resurrection. He is walking with you, right now, on your road through death to eternity with him.  Amen.

Let us lay aside our inferiority and our superiority. Let us honour Jesus as he serves us with forgiveness, through his Word, his sacraments, and through others who also share in his forgiveness. Amen.