The Twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost-Proper 25B

The Very Rev Melanie Dickson Lemburg 23rd Sunday after Pentecost-Proper 25B October 27, 2024 This morning, we’re going to engage with the gospel story in way where I will invite you ponder aspects of your own life with some guided questions.i Feel free to close your eyes as you listen, if that is helpful. Bartimaeus is a beggar, blind and alone while surrounded by a sea of people. How are you like Bartimaeus today? What are the things that are keeping you from seeing Jesus? He hears of Jesus and for the first time in a long time, he begins to hope—hope that someone will truly see him, help him, show him a way out of begging toward wholeness and belonging. What tiny bud of hope blooms in you? Bartimaeus calls out to Jesus, “Mercify me!” And the crowd tells him to be quiet; don’t make a scene; know your place. What are the voices who tell you not to change, not to hope? And he almost listens to them, obeys them, not taking the chance. Because sometimes it’s just too painful to hope. What part does your own voice play in your silencing, in the silencing of your hope? But that tiny bud of hope has fully flowered in Bartimaeus and can no longer be ignored, so he calls out again, this time even louder: “Mercify me!” And Jesus stops. And he turns. But Bartimaeus can’t see any of this. And Jesus tells the crowd to call Bartimaeus. The very ones who had held him back, suddenly shift to help him saying: “Take heart! He is calling you!” And in that moment, Bartimaeus has a tremendous choice: to stay there in the safety of his cloak—his blanket, shelter, source of income, his place of home-or to leave it behind so he can answer the Lord’s call. What comforts do you cling to that you think sustain you, that you need to throw off so you can move forward as Jesus calls you to grow, to change, to deepen, to be healed? Where might Jesus be inviting you to step forward, to move toward him in trust, even when you cannot see the path before you? Bartimaeus makes his way to Jesus, and Jesus asks him: “What do you want me to do for you?” What do you want Jesus to do for you? How would you answer him? Bartimaeus doesn’t ask for Jesus to make him not be a beggar anymore; he goes deeper, asking Jesus to “open these eyes, Lord, long closed.”ii What do you need to see differently? What are your impediments to seeing, to trusting? (Or what blocks you from seeing, from trusting?) What lies below the surface of your longing? Dive deep for it, like a shiny penny in the deep end of the pool, your hand outstretched to claim it. Jesus tells Bartimaeus that he can go home now; his faith has made him well; his trust has saved him. Where is the healing, the hope bubbling up from within you? When Bartimaeus regains his sight, he doesn’t go home. Instead he follows Jesus on the way, along the path of discipleship toward Jerusalem and the cross. What new direction will your faithfulness to Jesus lead you into next? i. This is inspired by a reflection titled Choosing Life in the book Finding Jesus, Discovering Self by Caren Goldman and William Dols. ii. This is from a line in David Whyte’s poem “The Opening of Eyes.”