First Reading: Jeremiah 31:7-9
7Thus says the Lord:
Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob,
and raise shouts for the chief of the nations;
proclaim, give praise, and say,
“Save, O Lord, your people,
the remnant of Israel.”
8See, 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.
9With weeping they shall come,
and with consolations I will lead them back,
I will let them walk by brooks of water,
in a straight path in which they shall not stumble;
for I have become a father to Israel,
and Ephraim is my firstborn.
Psalm: Psalm 126
Those who sowed with tears will reap with songs of joy. (Ps. 126:5)
1When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion,
then were we like those who dream.
2Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy.
Then they said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.”
3The Lord has done great things for us,
and we are glad indeed.
4Restore our fortunes, O Lord,
like the watercourses of the Negeb.
5Those who sowed with tears
will reap with songs of joy.
6Those who go out weeping, carrying the seed,
will come again with joy, shouldering their sheaves.
Second Reading: Hebrews 7:23-28
23The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office; 24but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. 25Consequently he is able for all time to save those who approach God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.
26For it was fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, blameless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. 27Unlike the other high priests, he has no need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for those of the people; this he did once for all when he offered himself. 28For the law appoints as high priests those who are subject to weakness, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.
Gospel: Mark 10:46-52
46As [Jesus] and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside. 47When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 48Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 49Jesus stood still and said, “Call him here.” And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart; get up, he is calling you.” 50So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. 51Then 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.” 52Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith has made you well.” Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.
CHILDREN’S SERMON: If I could give you a lump of clay or play dough, what would you want to form it into if you could? Share with your neighbor.
Let us pray. Lord, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight, my Strength and my Redeemer.
SERMON
Today we Lutherans celebrate Reformation Sunday which we associate with Martin Luther nailing his 95 theses on the church door in Wittenberg on Oct. 31, 1517. American culture will look to this coming Thursday, October 31,we call Halloween, and be thinking about trick-n-treating, costumes and for many, stare with amazement at the yard decorations of spider webs and coffins that have become so popular. According to Wikipedia somewhere in the 4th century the Catholic or dominant Christian church started celebrating feast days honoring martyrs. Somewhere around 731 or 32 Pope Gregory named November 1st as a feast day honoring the strong bond between the Church Triumphant, saints in heaven, and the Church Militant, Christians still living. All Saints Sunday will be next Sunday when we honor the church universal and especially those who passed this last year.
That explains this Friday and next Sunday, but what about Thursday? Halloween, literally the Holy Evening before All Saints Day and the day that marks the beginning of the Protestant Reformation, was believed to be a “thin place” in time when spirits of the dead could cross over and visit the living. These spirits could choose to play mischief on people who harassed them during life. Hence traditions like wearing costumes to trick the spirits or giving sweets to appease them. It is all very interesting but how does it apply to our text today?
The beliefs of many of the reformers like Martin Luther can be summarized in five “Solae”, five “Alone” statements that spoke to major beliefs that needed to be addressed in the Catholic Church and which Luther wanted to enter into debate concerning. Luther proposed:
Scripture Alone – not scripture and tradition but scripture alone has the voice of authority for our beliefs.
Christ Alone – not Christ and the saints. Mary or a saint could not share some of her super grace with us less perfect believers who wait in Purgatory until we are sinless.
Faith Alone – not faith and works. It is through faith in Christ and his work on the cross that saves us and not any good works we do.
Grace Alone – not indulgences. Salvation is a gift from God and we cannot earn it or buy it.
Glory goes to God Alone.
Scripture, Christ, faith, grace and all glory to God are the defining aspects of our faith for us Lutherans and are worth reviewing today by looking at a Biblical example, Blind Bartimaeus.
Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar,
was sitting by the roadside.
Jesus and his disciples have been on a journey to reach Jerusalem and Jesus is trying to prepare them for the crucifixion. If we go back to chapter 8 of Mark, we find Jesus healing a blind man at the beginning of the journey and today as we near the end of the journey, we have a healing of a blind man, Bartimaeus. Between these two miracles dealing with blindness, three times Jesus tries to tell the disciples about the coming crucifixion. We have met various people wanting to be part of the coming kingdom and have read about their perception that Jesus is the coming Messiah. Last week we heard James and John quibbling about being on the left and right hand of Jesus. In fact, two thieves were by his side on the cross. One believed and one did not. Today we meet blind Bartimaeus sitting by the side of the road that leads from Jericho to Jerusalem.
Remember Jericho was where Joshua crossed the Jordan and led the Israelites from wandering in the wilderness into the Promised Land. Like the people with Joshua and those in our text, we are journeying to the Promised Land, but we have not arrived yet. We are all “on the way.” Bartimaeus is not with the crowd though, he is sitting by the side of the road, blind and begging.
Jesus used roads to teach. He told about the Good Samaritan who encountered a man beaten up by thieves and left to die. In the parable, the “good guys” walk past this victim of life but the Good Samaritan stops and helps the person. Zacheus climbed up in a tree to see Jesus walk by on the road because he felt unworthy and too short to join the crowd. The Father of the prodigal son ran down the road to meet his wayward son returning. Paul experienced the blinding light on the road to Damascus and believed. Then there is the Road to Emmaus. Yup, the journey is important. Where are you on the road of faith?
Today we meet another man, Bartimaeus, reduced by life and left to beg for the leftovers of life from people who might notice and respond to his plea for help. We may ask ourselves if we feel like an unnamed person in the crowd trying to follow Jesus or do we identify with Bartimaeus. Perhaps some of you today feel sidelined by life, by age, by illness, by language, by disabilities or even by finances. So many things push us to the side of the faith road, begging for help. It seems like the “crowd” blocks us from accessing Jesus as he passes by and we cry out, “help.” Perhaps we think Jesus only cares about those successful churches that attract the crowds and we are discouraged wondering if Jesus even notices the ministry and struggles of Bethany. It is possible to feel that way some days. It is also possible to just be following the crowd.
Like Bartimeaus, Luther was looking for a God he just could not seem to approach and love. His mentor sent him to Scripture to find his answer. It was when his mentor sent him to Scripture that Luther realized that salvation was a gift given by God and not the result of him leading a good life, The first sola is Sola Scriptura. Scripture alone is the authoritative voice about life and salvation. At his trial in Worms, Luther famously says,
Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures or by clear reason (for I do not trust either in the pope or in councils alone, since it is well known that they have often erred and contradicted themselves), I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not recant anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience. May God help me. Here I stand. I can do no other. Amen.
Blindness that had created a tremendous hunger within Bartimaeus, drove him to yell out when he heard Jesus was passing. Bartimaeus addressed Jesus as “Son of David.” Note, we are not in Israel yet but crossing the border. I think we must assume Bartimaeus is uneducated, not a priest or theologian, not the rich man who knew the law and had kept it from his youth, and certainly not a disciple worrying about his position in the new kingdom. It is likely he was not an Israelite. Nope, this is someone living at the bottom of the social ladder, a blind man who saw with the eyes of his heart a truth. Jesus is Son of David. Bartimaeus calls to the compassion of a Messiah that is true humanity and understands his pain. He calls to the heart of Jesus, over the crowd that is trying to hush him and erase him. Bartimaeus approaches Jesus with words from scripture. He has not found healing by going to the Temple or dealing with the priests.
The second sola is “Sola Cristus,” Christ Alone. It is only through Christ and not the Pope, Mary or the saints that we find salvation. Holy people cannot share their supply of grace with us. They are wonderful spiritual examples and leaders but they are not the savior. By the end of the text, Bartimaeus is walking beside Jesus to enter Jerusalem. This healing is sandwiched between being by the side of the road and being on the road with Jesus, between blindness and sight.
Jesus asks Bartimaeus,
“What do you want me to do for you?”
Now there is the million-dollar question. What do we want Jesus to do for us? Do we really know what we want from God today?
Solomon asked for wisdom to govern God’s people. His wisdom did not protect him from the harem. Hezekiah asked for 15 more years of life but then got in trouble showing his wealth to the emissaries of the enemy. Namaan wanted to be healed of leprosy but had to bath in the Jordon and had to be encouraged by his servants to humble himself. We often say, “Be careful what you pray for!” If we pray for patience, we may get trials that teach us patience! Jesus asks and does not assume but asks Bartimaeus what he wants. The third sola of the Reformation is Sola Fideles, Faith Alone.
At the time of Luther people revered relics and went on pilgrimages to holy places. Works of faith were important. You could be forgiven so many years in purgatory for each good deed you did. In the Luther film, Luther travels to Rome and returns cynical about works of faith. In the epistle of James, James debates faith and works and asks, “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? (James 2: 14) Faith is not intellectual assent like believing that President Biden is president of the United States. We can believe that but it does not impact our lives. True faith impacts our lives and actions. And so Luther maintained that faith alone and not special actions that are beyond a blind man is all that is necessary.
This is closely related to the fourth sola, Gracia Sola, Grace Alone. Salvation is a gift from God obtained through Christ’s death on the cross. We can do nothing, no good works, to earn it.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God not by works – so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”(Ephesians 2:8-10)
Bartimaeus responds. “My teacher, let me see again.” He believed Jesus – faith – and he asked for a gift only God could give – sight. Bartimaeus then threw off his robe and followed Jesus to Jerusalem. Bartimaeaus is not sent to the temple to satisfy the priests. He is not told to not tell anyone. He is not sent home to tell others. He follows Jesus on the road to Jerusalem and the cross.
There is one more interesting detail we can consider this morning in our text. The robe. Nope we are not talking about the movie, “The Robe.” Mark records for us that when Jesus calls Bartimaeus to come forth, Bartimaeus throws off his robe and jumps up to go to Jesus. Unlike the young man two weeks ago who left sad because he, the man, had many possessions, this beggar throws away his possession.
The robe is somehow a status symbol. Robes seem to be mentioned in several Biblical scenes: at the cross the soldiers cast lots for Jesus’ robe, the woman with bleeding believed if only she could touch Jesus’ robe she would be healed, and people put the sick on the roads Jesus walked on so they could touch his robe and be healed. The robe of Bartimaeus is cast off though. In Kenya, handicapped were placed by the roads to beg. The robe would have protected Bartimaeus from the sun. It could have been used to nap on. Or it could have been laid out like his collection plate for people to throw their gifts on. Bartimaeus threw away his security blanket and went to Jesus. Bartimaeus was anticipating transformation. Jesus confirms by saying, “Go, your faith has made you well.”
With these words, Mark changes this story from just another healing of a blind person to a lesson about faith for disciples. When Jesus finds us, we are sitting blind by the side of the road. It does not matter if we are infants in the arms of our parents or wayward teens lost in modern culture, or little ole elders looking death in the eye. We are blind and helpless, sitting by the side of the road of life. We have no motion and we are dependent on the help of others to survive. The crowds blur our access to Jesus.
We are all sinners and we call out for help. None of us is an island and we cannot make it through life by ourselves. But when we learn that Jesus is passing, we can cry out. Jesus, son of David, God in the flesh with a heart of compassion and not far off in the clouds observing and judging – have mercy on us. We are that lump of clay or play dough from the children’s sermon. We believe that God is reforming us, our church and his world through the Scriptures we are to internalize. Through incarnation in the life of Jesus Christ. Through a relationship built on faith that results in good works. Through the grace of the gifts he gives us out of love. And all this is to his glory.
The people of God said, “AMEN!!”
On the Way to Wonder 