A Sermon by Pastor Tom Lacey . . .

THERE'S A BLIND MAN ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD

Mark 10:46-52, Preached at Congregational Church of Boca Raton, October 25, 2009

A man goes to a bar with his dog. He goes up to the bar and asks for a drink. The bartender says "You can't bring that dog in here!" The guy, without missing a beat, says "This is my seeing-eye dog." "Oh man, " the bartender says, "I'm sorry, here, the first one's on me." The man takes his drink and goes to a table near the door. Another guy walks in the bar with a Chihuahua. The first guys sees him, stops him and says "You can't bring that dog in here unless you tell him it's a seeing-eye dog." The second man thanks the first man and continues to the bar. He asks for a drink. The bartender says "Hey, you can't bring that dog in here!" The second man replies "This is my seeing-eye dog." The bartender says, "No, I don't think so. They don't have Chihuahuas as seeing-eye dogs." The man pauses for a half-second and replies "What?!?! They gave me a Chihuahua?!?"

Blindness is one of the greatest preventable health hazards. Each second one person goes blind; each minute one child loses his or her eyesight. Roughly 90 per cent of all blind people live in the Two Thirds World. According to the Christian Blind Mission (CBM) blindness could be prevented or cured by simple means in 70 to 80 per cent of all cases. Some 20 million people, mostly in Africa and Asia, have lost their sight because of cataracts, the most common cause of blindness. A simple operation costing around $30 in developing countries will give them their sight back. Trachoma is caused by polluted water and insufficient hygiene. Six million people have gone irrevocably blind as a result of this infection. This illness can be avoided by applying a relatively cheap tetracycline eye ointment. Blindness in up to 500,000 children is caused by a Vitamin A deficiency. A healthy diet and vitamin additives are sufficient to prevent this disease.

If the number of blind people continues to increase at the present rate, by the year 2020 there will be 77 million men, women and children unable to see the world around them. Together with other agencies, including the World Health Organization (WHO), CBM has started the initiative Vision 2020 to eliminate avoidable blindness. The number of blind people could be reduced to 25 million in the next 17 years.

At first glance, or taken out of context, this story about a blind beggar being restored to sight may appear to be simply another miracle story in the ministry of Jesus the healer. When we step back and see it in its place in the larger narrative, however, we hear more clearly how God is speaking to our hearts today through this simple story of mercy, healing, and faith. Jesus and the disciples are approaching the end of their travels. They're at Jericho, on the edge of Jerusalem, on the edge of suffering and death for Jesus. As they've traveled along, the disciples have been busy figuring out where they want to sit when their dreams of triumph and success come to realization. Somehow, much of what has gone before, much of what Jesus has said and done, much of who Jesus is, has gone right past them. It's not a stretch to say that they have been, in their own way, blind. Not long after the disciples have been bickering over their places in glory, a blind man by the side of the road, hindered rather than helped by those around him, recognizes Jesus for who he is. Not long after Jesus tells his followers that the last shall be first in his way of doing things, the disciples don't seem to object to a beggar being pushed to the edge of the scene, out of the line of people waiting to see Jesus. In Mark's story, there are no reports of a  contrary voice to the many that sternly ordered Bartimaeus to be quiet. We wonder, is anyone paying attention here?

Of course, even if nobody else is paying attention, Jesus still is. Jesus’ attitude in this story is extraordinary. We can distinguish four stages in this encounter, and all of them contribute to the miraculous healing. First, Jesus stops. Second, he makes sure he and the man meet, personally. Third, he asks Bartimaeus what he wants Jesus to do for him. Fourth, Jesus tells Bartimaeus that he is the one who has accomplished a good work when he says, "Go; your faith has saved you." At each stage we can see the respectful love of Jesus, and we know from our own experience that this kind of love does work miracles.

In half the world you meet blind persons begging in any city street. They advertize their blindness by calling out or wailing, or with the help of a sighted child to accost passers-by. But it's the 'hidden blind' in rural villages who suffer most. They are a burden to their communities. Because they can't contribute to the work of food-gathering they lose dignity. Throughout these countries you'll find ophthalmologists from many Western nations doing their healing work at an amazingly low cost, saving sight and restoring dignity.

In our passage, Jesus is not alone. Bartimaeus plays a large role. His character is significant. Sitting at the side of the road, he is the model of all those who are marginalized, forced to beg for mercy while great ones, capable ones, successful ones, seeing ones, empowered ones pass by. But the faith which saves him is shown by his unconquerable spirit, that refusal to accept he is destined to remain there for the rest of his life. And so he shouts out, no matter who confronts, ridicules, or tries to quiet him. These are those who have grown to accept that his predestined place is to remain at the side of the road. Perhaps some of them were also beggars, now genuinely embarrassed and even angry that one of theirs would want anything better for himself. But there is a second group of bystanders, mentioned in verse 49, who are the opposite; they wake up and see the possibilities. They too believe that he should have his moment before the Lord. There are many people sitting at the side of the road, shouting to us to have pity on them, but they often shout in strange ways: by behaving badly at home or in the classroom; by taking drugs and alcohol; by denying who loves them, who claims them, and what they are capable of for God and good. From Jesus we learn the four steps to letting miracles happen: Stop. Listen. Help. Encourage.

Remember the rich young ruler two weeks ago who could not give everything up and follow Jesus? While Bartimaeus doesn't possess much, the little that he has, his cloak, something he needs to survive, is quickly tossed off when Jesus calls him. Bartimaeus casts aside his old life. He believes he won't need it again; he's trusts he won't be returning to his spot by the side of the road, begging in order to live. Let your faith lean forward; may your trust in Christ be ready to leap at the opportunity to answer God's healing call. Now the truth is not everyone is like this. Bartimaeus is the only one in Mark's Gospel who Jesus healed and then continued with him afterward.

A young Jew scratched these words on the wall of a Warsaw ghetto: "I believe in the sun, even if it does not shine. I believe in love, even if I do not feel it. I believe in God, even if I do not see him."  Blindness, according to the biblical prophets, may be voluntary as well as involuntary. One can choose to be blind. Spiritual blindness, the refusal to see reality God's way, is quite possibly more oppressive than physical blindness. The people Jesus accused of being 'blind leaders of the blind' knew their Bibles by heart. They were very prayerful, very religious. So from Christ's viewpoint, it's possible to know the Bible coming and going, to attend church, to pray the prayers, talk the talk, but not do the works or walk the walk. It's possible to know all the theology, all the doctrine, and still not really "see!"

When Samsul Arifin returned to his village in east Java, his father took one look at him and collapsed. He couldn't believe that his son could see. Samsil's people believed his blindness was karma, his fate. So the Australian ophthalmologist had to persuade him that it's his (the doctor's) karma to alleviate blindness! Another Javanese boy, 16, had been blind for years. After his operation he was so emotional he couldn't bring himself to lift the pad off his eye. The doctor soothed the boy and lifted the pad. The world swam into focus. He could see. The boy wasn't the only one weeping for joy! Scripture says, "Now we see dimly, then we shall see face to face." Even though this is true, we still need to see better than we do now. Today's a good day to believe then see. Look at the world from fresh eyes. Jesus told people that the kingdom is near. He showed it by his miracles, he taught it in his stories, he lived it in his life, he died for it on the cross, and God revealed it in his resurrection. There is more than meets the eye; there is more than meets the doubt; there is more here than those who ignore who God is and what God does are willing to see. Be a believer. Be a visionary. See.

Singer and composer Stevie Wonder never saw his blindness as the handicap others did. "One of my teachers told me I had three strikes against me: that I was poor, black and blind, and the only thing an uneducated blind person could do was make rugs and pot-holders." Within a few years Wonder was being billed by his record company as "the 12-year-old blind genius." "Being blind," he says, "you don't judge books by their covers; you go through things that are relatively insignificant and pick out things that are more important. The people I feel sorry for are those who have sight but still don't see."

If you find your seeing is without sight, take courage. If you have come to realize that there really is more to life, but you don't know how to find it or what to do to get it, don't be discouraged. It would have been great to have been on the side of the road when Jesus passed by, to shout out, "I want to see, Jesus;" "I want to hear, Son of David;" "I want to believe, my Lord and my God." But would it really have been any different? Would you have "seen" Jesus, would you have believed in him, when he was a mere man, a thirty year old Jew, a soon to be crucified criminal? Jesus' disciple, Peter, later wrote to people suffering persecution for their faith, "Although you have not seen him you love him. And even though you do not see him now, you believe in him. And you experience an indescribable joy!" Where there is Jesus, there is joy. Where there is faith, there is fire. Where there is God, there is goodness. Grab hold of God. Fight for your faith. Jump up to Jesus.

 When Bramwell Booth, son of General William Booth founder of the Salvation Army, broke the news to his father that his father would never see again, the old man responded, "Son, I have done what I could for God and the people with my eyes. Now I shall do what I can without my eyes." There is more here than meets the blind eyes. The kingdom is very near.

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