Where Are We Looking For Hope? - Sermon for the Twenty Second Sunday After Pentecost (October 27, 2024)

Scripture Readings: Jeremiah 31:7–9 | Psalm 126 | Hebrews 7:23–28 | Mark 10:46–52

​“Then Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” (Mark 10:51).
 
Last week, we spent some time reflecting on the kind of leadership we really need today… and the ministry that Christ invites His people to share in with Him: not seeking after our own honour or status or glory… but sharing in God’s great love for the world… serving the wellbeing of others… and even suffering along with Jesus until the fullness of His Kingdom, won once and for all  at the cross, comes at last.
 
We looked at how upside down this vision of greatness looks from the perspective of the world around us… but also at how powerful and transformative it can be to be led by God’s self-giving love in all we do.
 
But what about those who are not at all concerned about greatness, and those who are already powerless? Those with no ambitions, apart from being set free from their own crushing situations?
 
If Christ’s “upside down” Kingdom would have us reconsider what it means for those who might be called to take the lead… how are we to rethink the stories of those who are most often seen as insignificant? The people on the margins. The poor. The isolated. The vulnerable. For those of us feeling lost, broken, hurting and alone today… what hope does Christ’s Kingdom really have for folks like us?
 
Our Gospel reading today tells us the story of a man named Bartimaeus whose whole life was transformed by a passing encounter with Jesus Christ our Lord. It’s a story that stands is shape contrast with our Gospel reading from last week, and the bold request from James and John, who, despite their closeness to Jesus, could not yet see the truth of what God’s Kingdom was all about. No, this week we are invited to see a stranger… a poor blind man who looks to Jesus for mercy… and receives far more.
 
But before we dig into the story itself, I’d like us to take a few minutes to look at the significance of the title that Jesus is called here: “the Son of David”.
 
David was by far Israel’s greatest king… ruling over the twelve Tribes of Israel, and establishing Jerusalem as it’s capital city. He came from incredibly humble beginnings… the youngest of eight brothers, tasked with shepherding his family’s sheep. But the LORD noticed David… and raised him up to be the shepherd of God’s sheep… the king over God’s covenant people, protecting and providing for them, and guiding them in God’s good ways.
 
And at a crucial point in his story, David receives a powerful promise from Yahweh, the Living God… that one of his descendants would reign as king forever.

Excuse this long passage, but listen to the promise that God made to David, and to all His people. 2 Samuel 7:8-16:
 
“Now therefore thus you shall say to my servant David: Thus says the Lord of hosts: I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep to be prince over my people Israel; and I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth.
 
And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may live in their own place, and be disturbed no more; and evildoers shall afflict them no more, as formerly, from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies.
 
Moreover the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me. When he commits iniquity, I will punish him with a rod such as mortals use, with blows inflicted by human beings. But I will not take my steadfast love from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me; your throne shall be established forever.”
 
What a powerful, hope-filled promise God gave to David and to his people. But the rest of story of David’s descendants, and his nation is not a happy one. As we read through the rest of Israel’s story in the Scriptures, we find it’s a story of self-destruction.
 
Not long after God makes this promise to King David, he falls into grievous sin. He has an affair with Bathsheba, gets her pregnant, then has her husband killed to cover it up. And from this point on, David’s household descends into bloody infighting, intrigue, and incest… and one of his sons, Absalom, whose name means “my father is peace” leads a rebellion against him.
 
Eventually, one of Bathsheba’s sons, Solomon, becomes king after David dies. And his story seems to start out pretty well. When God says to Solomon “Ask what I should give you.” (1 Kings 5:3), Solomon requests wisdom to rule and guide God’s people well. But soon he too ends up falling into the trap of sin. As his power and greatness grew, Solomon became more and more like the rest of the kings of the earth, amassing military power, forging networks of alliances, and hoarding wealth… placing his hope in his own resources and capabilities instead of in the Living God.
 
And so, even though Solomon was the one who built the first great Temple to God in Jerusalem, his reign would end with him setting up many places of worship for the false gods of the nations around Israel, leading the people away from their covenant relationship with the LORD.
 
And the story gets worse. His son Rehoboam takes the same path as his father, and leads the nation into civil war, splitting the Northern ten tribes of Israel from Judah in the South. And it’s a giant downward spiral from there, as king after king after king abandons their calling to care for Gods people, and lead them in His holy ways… seeking instead their own ambitions and greatness… at great cost to their own people.
 
Now a handful of David’s descendants did try to turn things around again. Kings of Judah like Hezekiah and Josiah. But these were the exceptions that prove the rule. Eventually, due to their unending unfaithfulness to the LORD, first the northern Kingdom of Israel, and then the Southern Kingdom of Judah are swept away into Exile.
 
What had started off in the hope of peace and life had ended in disaster. God’s people were carried off as the spoils of war… led far away from home with no way to return in sight.
 
Our own stories can feel like this at times. When we turn on the news and see all of the conflicts and chaos at work… between our nations, our political parties, our communities… and even our homes. There’s so much confusion, and fear driving people’s decisions… overshadowing so much of the good gifts that life has to offer. What kind of hope is there in times like this? Especially for those so easily overlooked?
 
After all, most people are not really scheming for power or glory. Most of us are just trying to get by, while facing all sorts of struggles… in mind, body, and spirit.
 
So where can we look for hope today? We can look to God’s great mercy and unfailing love.
 
Our first reading this morning comes from the prophet Jeremiah, whose own situation was pretty bleak. He was called to serve as God’s prophet, sharing His words of warning, as Jerusalem was about to fall. Much of Jeremiah’s message was about calling God’s people to turn around… to repent… to stop placing their hope in their own schemes and plans, and instead to accept the coming consequences of turning their backs on their covenant with the LORD.
 
But our reading today is one of the few bright spots in the prophet’s message: that despite how dark the future was going to get, the LORD had not abandoned them. God tells them to trust Him… to place their hope in His mercy and love… and one day the Exile would end. God would bring their children home again, and lead them into life.
 
This was a promise not to avoid suffering, but to come through it. The Exile would still happened… but it’s darkness would not endure. It would not be the end of their story. God gives them this word of hope:

“See, I am going to bring them from the land of the north,
and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth,
among them the blind and the lame,
those with child and those in labor, together;
a great company, they shall return here.” (Jeremiah 31:8).
 
And true to His word, the Living God brought them back from Exile. But for many years they were still kept waiting for the promised descendant of David to reign as their Messiah King. To provide for and protect them, and lead them into God’s good Kingdom forever.
 
And this is when Jesus of Nazareth comes onto the scene. He was a descendant of David’s line, but born and raise in obscurity… living among the poor, and lowly… and at this point in the story, He was travelling from town to town without a home… bringing the light of God’s good Kingdom to all those still dwelling in darkness.
 
Last week we heard how even His closest disciples imagined that He had come to set up a great earthly kingdom, one that would overthrow the Romans, and that would lead them to status and glory.
 
But we saw that Jesus had come to bring about God’s heavenly Kingdom to bear fruit here on Earth. Not expanding with military force or amassed wealth, or strategic alliances, but through everyday people being touched and transformed by the great mercy and self-giving love of the Living God.
 
The people He met received glimpses of this Kingdom at work in His teachings, and miracles… signs of God’s power and purposes… bringing help, and healing and hope to those around Him, as He slowly makes His way to the cross, to overthrow once and for all all the powers of darkness that keep us trapped in our old self-destructive ways.
 
To set us free from the fear of death, by facing it for us, and rising again to new life.
 
And to set us free from our guilt and shame, taking our sin onto Himself, so that we can find true forgiveness.
 
And to set us free from all that keeps us from taking part in the New Life God has in store for all of His children. From sharing in the life of His New Creation, as we follow Him even now.
 
While He was on the way to this ultimate victory, Jesus touched and transformed many lives… turning them around, and through their stories, bringing the Kingdom of Heaven into view.
 
And one of those lives belonged to Bartimaeus, a blind beggar sitting by the road outside of Jericho, who hears that Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. Though he was blind, Bartimaeus could see in Jesus the hope for new life that he needed… that he was longing for.
 
So he starts crying out: “Jesus, Son of David… have mercy on me!” Son of David. Son of God’s promise to care for His people Israel… the coming King… “have mercy on me!”
 
Those around him tried to silence him… to shut him up, but Bartimaeus would not be deterred. “Son of David… have mercy on me!” He continued to shout as the crowd passed him by.
 
But the LORD took notice of him. Jesus did not ignore his cries, and He would not leave His sheep behind.
Mark 10:49-51, “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.’ So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. Then Jesus said to him, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’”
 
“What do you want me to do for you?”
 
These were the very same words that Jesus spoke to James and John last week, when they made their bold request… blindly asking for the favour of sitting at Christ’s right and left hand in His Kingdom… seeking places of power and glory for themselves, and missing what God’s Kingdom is really all about.
 
And now Jesus says these same words to Bartimaeus… coming to Jesus poor, blind, and desperate… and who looks to Jesus not for a favour… but for a miracle.
 
“The blind man said to him, ‘My teacher, let me see again.’” (Mark 10:51). “Let me see again.”
 
Think about it. As bold as James and John’s request had been, what Bartimaeus was asking for was even greater. James and John at least kept their ambitions grounded in the realm of possibility. After all, every earthly king and queen has honoured counsellors to rule by their side. They were asking for positions for themselves within an earthly Kingdom… not requesting the impossible.
 
But what Bartimaeus asked for goes well beyond the bounds of a reasonable request. He asked Jesus for what God alone could give: to restore his sight…. to completely transform the story of his life, his present circumstances and hopes for the future… to restore his sight… setting him free to take hold of the wealth of possibilities that so many of us take for granted… like the freedom to behold the beauty of the world around us, and seeing familiar faces of loved ones again… and the freedom to no longer stumble along in the darkness, but to choose his own path… to live life to the fullest. To restore his sight would be to restore his whole life.
 
And this request would be madness… insanity, if he asked anyone else to do this for him. But Bartimaeus was looking to the only One who truly could set him free. For Jesus really is the Son of David… the promised Messiah, come to set God’s people free… to protect and to care for them as a true King should… just as a shepherd tending their sheep… seeking to sustain them, provide for them, and lead them always into life.
 
And Jesus remains our Shepherd King, our Messiah today! He alone is the crucified and Risen Lord, and we can look to Him to bring us the freedom we all truly need: the freedom from the fear of suffering, and death… the freedom of forgiveness of our sins… freedom from guilt and shame… from hatred, and greed… the freedom to live and love God’s way.  
 
And unlike His answer to James and John, our Lord looked at Bartimaeus in compassion and love, and “said to him, ‘Go; your faith has made you well.’ Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.”
 
In an instant, Jesus transformed Bartimaeus’ life… as He has transformed the lives of countless others over the centuries… including in this very room: opening our eyes to help us share in God’s Kingdom… setting us free to truly live.
 
But did you notice what Bartimaeus chooses to do with his newfound freedom? He follows Jesus. He focusses his attention… his life on the One who set him free, and lets Him lead the way. He places his faith in Jesus, not just for a favour… or for a miracle… but to lead him into life.
 
Is that our response today? As we face our own struggles… in body, and mind, and spirit… are we open to following Jesus, not as a way to avoid all suffering, as we saw last week… but as a way to take part in God’s Kingdom, here and now, and forever… wherever He may lead us?
 
Following Jesus won’t be easy. Many challenges will come our way when we try to live His way in the world. But even when things get rough, and we can’t see an end to the difficulties that we have to face, we can look to Jesus and know that we can trust Him to lead us into the new life of His Kingdom. We can believe in His mercy, and compassion, and in His steadfast love which is stronger by far than any darkness that may lie before us.
 
So like Bartimaeus, may we also look to our Saviour Jesus, our Shepherd King, and follow Him. May we not be discouraged or deterred by the voices and forces that try to keep us from His side. May we place our faith and hope in His great mercy and unending love. And may our transformed lives help others glimpse God’s heavenly Kingdom at work even now. Amen.