“When the Poor Won’t Be Quite”
Mark 10:46-52
In their book, Justice in the Burbs: Being the Hands of Jesus Wherever You Live, Will and Lisa Samson write:
“The suburbs seem particularly designed to avoid facing the bigger issues of life.
It almost feels as if these communities were designed to avoid interruption by anything unpleasant or uncomfortable.
Planned developments have ways of controlling who comes near.
And electronic garage door openers seal the deal.
The burbs are safe, but they are safe at the price of keeping out questions of need, questions of poverty, questions of insufficiency.
In fact, they are designed to maintain an illusion of a particular life, the American Dream, where no one is needy, where there is a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage, and a boat, and those tools we never use, and a riding lawn mower…
Let’s face it—we don’t want to be bothered by those in need.
It would be too disruptive.”
We have made it fairly easy to ignore the poor and the beggar.
With our windows rolled up, our sunglasses on and our stereos blasting we don’t have to be bothered by the smells, the cries, nor the look of some parts of our community where people are living in what is akin to a 3rd world country.
As a matter of fact, we can be down- right blind to these problems—these fellow human beings.
Right before our passage for this morning, Jesus’ disciples had been arguing with each other about which one of them will be the greatest in the Kingdom of God.
They have listened to Jesus describe His mission, and yet they still don’t get it.
They have heard Jesus tell them that God’s Kingdom is not about power, position, prestige or any of that…
…but they remain spiritually blind to this.
So when they are leaving Jericho their minds are occupied with big ideas, inwardly focused goals and they aren’t ready for what is about to happen.
Bartimaeus, a blind beggar who sitting beside the road just wouldn’t keep quite!!!
He was shouting, “Jesus, Son of David, show me mercy!”
He was asking for attention, it was getting distracting—he was being a downright pest!!!
After-all, the people following Jesus know how beggars should act—most have learned to be quite, to hold a cardboard sign with a scrawled message on it, and simply smile or say “God Bless You” if someone stops to give them money.
But still, even these folks are annoying.
Sure, we know that some people are legitimately poor, but others are just lazy and shiftless, and they really make us uncomfortable.
Those of us who are not poor eye them with suspicion or even judgment.
“The poor get uppity about their poverty.”
“They demand attention and time as if they are entitled to it.”
“Perhaps the world could tolerate the poor a bit more if they would just be quite and leave us alone!”
It’s really no surprise that the crowd following Jesus “scolds” Bartimaeus and tells him “to be quite.”
The people following Jesus are too busy to listen to his complaints.
But Bartimaeus, the beggar, won’t shut up.
He keeps demanding attention.
And we are told that Jesus stops.
Can you imagine the people in front continuing to walk a few paces before they realize that they are alone?
And then they turn, puzzled.
“Why are we stopping?” they may have wondered.
Then Jesus tells the crowd, “Call [Bartimaeus] forward.”
Jesus doesn’t shout back at him and tell him to get up.
Instead, Jesus commands His followers to bring Bartimaeus to Jesus.
And this is “telling” is it not?
These are the very people who had been “scolding Bartimaeus” and telling him to be quite.
And if we think about it, as we hear Jesus telling His followers to call Bartimaues to Him, we can’t help but be reminded about other things Jesus has said about the poor:
“I was hungry and you fed me…As you’ve done it to the least of these, you’ve done it to me.”
So Jesus’ followers have to stop their journey because their Savior won’t budge until they pay attention to the beggar.
Could it be that Jesus will not allow the Church to move forward until the Church hears the voice of the poor?
Someone who attends our church came and helped with East Ridge Cares for Kids for the first time this past Tuesday.
And all afternoon, he appeared awestruck as he saw what was going on.
I invited him to ride back in one of the vans with me, to take the children back to the Superior Creek Lodge, the Day’s Inn and the Waverly Motel.
He noticed how many of the parents at these places showed genuine love and concern for their children as they were dropped off.
We talked about the fact that a number of the folks he saw do have jobs, but the jobs don’t pay a “living wage.”
He told me that he has been living with tunnel vision.
That he was unaware of what is going on in our own backyard.
I could tell he was very touched.
If you can, I encourage everyone and anyone to come some Tuesday and help with East Ridge Cares 4 Kids.
Jim and Barbara Jackson, through food that Peggy Self gets from the Rescue Mission, have been taking fresh produce to the hotels and also to some pretty tough neighborhoods in Chattanooga several days a week.
At one spot, Jim was telling me that there was nearly a riot as persons rushed to get the free food.
I am sure Jim would love to have your help if you would like to go with him.
On Thursday, November 15, the week before Thanksgiving, we will have a Thanksgiving meal for our church family and for the families who live in the hotels in our area.
This will give us all a chance to get to know our neighbors better.
To stop, listen and make some new friends.
It’s interesting that when Bartimeaus “jumped up and came to Jesus,” that Jesus asked him this question: “What do you want me to do for you?”
Some of us might think to ourselves, “Duh!!! What do you think he wants?”
“He’s a beggar! He wants money!”
“He lives off society, he’s unable to work or be effective in any kind of employment—he wants a handout!!!”
But Jesus doesn’t assume to know what Bartimaeus wants.
So Jesus asks him.
How many of us actually listen to the poor?
Instead of assuming we know what people want or need would it be good to start with: “What do you want me to do for you?”
Jesus knows better than to assume.
Jesus treats Bartimaeus like a human being.
So Jesus asks him what he wants.
“I want to see,” Bartimaeus replies.
“Restore my sight.”
When we make the effort to listen to the poor, we might hear surprising things.
Things like, “We need public transportation, a way to get to work or the grocery store.”
“I need daycare for my child so I can get my degree.”
“I need a low-interest loan.”
“I need someone to pay attention to me. I need to know that someone cares.”
These aren’t requests for handouts.
They are requests for empowerment!!!
When Andrew Young was the Mayor of Atlanta, he was deeply disturbed by the number of homeless people on the streets, and the city’s apparent inability to address the issue.
He told his staff that he wanted to better understand those who lived on the streets, the roots of their problems, and the city’s inadequate response.
So he decided he was going to put on old clothes and be with the homeless for three days and two nights.
His staff reacted a lot like Jesus’ followers when Bartimaeus was calling for attention:
“Mayor, you are too busy,” they said.
“We need you in the office.”
Naysayers warned him, “Everyone knows you and you’ll be recognized, so you’ll learn nothing.”
But, he went.
He walked, watched, talked, listened, and learned.
When he returned his staff asked, “Well, what have you to teach us?”
Young’s reply was, “No one recognized me.”
No one looks into the eyes of the poor.
As mayor of a major American City, Young was on the evening news; he was a frequent speaker at political events, civic meetings, churches.
“But this was different,” he explained.
“No one looks into the faces of the homeless.
There is no encounter.
We simply do not see the person.
We are blind to their humanity.
So it is with the hungry, the hurting, the hopeless, the jobless.”
Let’s all take a look at the front of our bulletins for this morning.
As you see, on the front is an “eye chart.”
We are asked to read these things when we go for an eye exam or when we go to try and renew our driver’s license.
Most all of us can probably read the top letters, and maybe even the middle to bottom letters.
But some of us may not be able to read the really small letters at the very bottom.
And if we were to hold our bulletin far enough away from our face, none of us would be able to read the entire chart.
As Bartimaeus talks with Jesus, I wonder if the listening crowd begins to recognize their own blindness.
Bartimaeus is physically blind, and his disability has kept him poor.
But the crowd has been blind to Bartimaeus, spiritually blind.
So when Jesus works His miracle on Bartimaeus, it’s also a miracle for the crowd and for us as well.
Not only does Jesus give Bartimaeus the power to live a new life, He gives the crowd and us new eyes and a new life as well!!!
What do we see when we open our eyes of faith?
Do we see Jesus at work in the world?
Do we see Jesus in the faces of the homeless, the prisoners, the outcastes and the hungry?
In the scene of the last judgment in Matthew 25, some of the people don’t recognize Jesus.
They said, “Lord, when did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and not help you?”
They were more blind than Bartimaeus.
And if truth be told, there are many times when I am just as blind.
There are many times when Jesus has walked right by me and I’ve missed Him completely.
I’ve missed untold opportunities to minister to others.
And, if truth be told, we all have.
Jesus has walked right by us and we missed Him, remember?
We all need to cry out with Bartimaeus, “Jesus, Son of David, show me mercy.”
And when Jesus asks us what we want?
Well, we all need to see.
Amen.
