10/25/2015 – 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Mark 10: 46-52

      What do we want from Jesus?  What do we want from our faith?  What do we want out of life?  These questions popped into my mind as I thought about our Gospel readings from the last several weeks from the 10^th chapter of Mark, in which people ask questions of Jesus, in which different people want different things from him.  Two weeks ago, a rich young man asked Jesus what he needed to do to inherit eternal life.  Even though the citizens of Ancient Israel would have seen this young man’s prosperity as a blessing from God, he walks away from his encounter with Jesus in sadness, unwilling to give away his possessions to the poor, unwilling to make that final leap in order to follow Jesus unconditionally as his disciple. Then, in last week’s Gospel, James and John asked Jesus to grant them positions of honor when he rises to his glory in God's kingdom.  Today, we meet the blind beggar Bartimaeus, sitting on the roadside, certainly not in a position of honor or glory. 

       Like James and John who want to be honored and who want to rise about the apostles, like the rich man who cannot let go of his attachment to wealth and possessions, we can become prisoners to many things in our lives. Having nice things, or attaining a position of power, or fitting into the value system of our modern world, or experiencing pleasure -  all those things are not intrinsically bad in themselves.  However, the ways of our modern world can seduce us and entice us away from God. 

       We can learn so much from what Bartimaeus asks of Jesus.  My good friend Sister Paulinus Oakes, a Sister of Mercy who was a legend in our Diocese of Jackson for many decades, gave me a book when I first started my priesthood been by a Jesuit priest from India, Father Paul Coutinho, entitled How Big is Your God?  I find myself going back and rereading the short chapters in this book from time to time.  In one chapter, Father Coutinho states that God is fundamentally an experience, not a theology.  This makes sense, but how many Christians approach God as a theological construct or idea rather than an experience in their lives?  How many Christians approach their faith as a set of rules and commandments, rather than a personal experience with the living Christ?  For Bartimaeus, God is an experience in his life, an experience that he realizes can help him. He reaches out to Jesus without any constraints or embarrassment, as he shouts out to him from the side of the road: “Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me, have mercy on me!”  And what do the disciples try to do?  Rather than encourage Bartimaeus or laud him for his great faith in Jesus’ power to heal, rather than validate his recognition of Jesus as the Messiah, in the lineage of King David, they try to restrain him and silence him!  But Bartimaeus is direct and brash and tenacious, as he won't back down, as he keeps calling out, “Son of David, have pity on me!”  Bartimaeus is also shrewd and a bit sneaky; he knows that in the ancient Mediterranean code of honor that the people of Ancient Israel followed, it would be difficult for Jesus to accept the honor Bartimaeus bestowed on him by calling him Messiah without rewarding Bartimaeus in some way.  We recall how the rich young man was unable to give up his many possessions in order to follow Jesus, yet Bartimaeus throws off his cloak with joy and enthusiasm in order to follow Jesus with his newly gained sight, even though this cloak is probably his only worldly possession worth anything.  Not only has Bartimaeus gained his physical sight, but his sight of faith has been renewed and energized – he's willing to follow Jesus wholeheartedly as his disciple. 

     Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung stated that reality is that which affects us.  In other words, whatever affects us in our lives is real to us. Bartimaeus had faith in God.  He had faith in God's power to heal and to be a real, tangible presence in his life.  God affects Bartimaeus' life: God motivates him, touches him, opens up infinite possibilities for him.  Thus, for Bartimaeus, boy, is God real. 

      And, what about us?  Does our faith and our relationship with Jesus make God a reality in our lives?  As we hear the story about Bartimaeus this morning, we might ask ourselves if there is anything we need to ask of God, if there is anything we need to do in order to make God a much more real presence in our lives.  It's good for us to reflect upon the reality of God in our lives as we think about how God is asking us to use our talents, gifts, and treasures in our lives.