The Gospel isn’t meant to be gulped down on Sunday morning, but gnawed on through the week so it really becomes a part of us. You’ve got to work at it, like a dog with a good bone! Here’s the Gospel for this coming Sunday — the twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost — with food for thought about God’s power to do the seemingly impossible when God’s people are faithful. Gnaw away!

Twenty-third Sunday After Pentecost – Mark 10:46-52

Jesus and his disciples came to Jericho. As Jesus was leave Jericho with his disciples and a large crowd, a blind beggar named Bartimaeus ben-Timaeus, was sitting at the side of the road. was sitting by the roadside. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and to say, “Jesus, Heir of David, have pity on me!”

Many people scolded him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the louder, “Heir of David, have pity on me!”

Jesus stopped and said, “Call him here.”

So they called the blind man. “Don’t be afraid,” they said. “Get up; Jesus is calling you.” So throwing off his cloak, Bartimaeus jumped up and went to Jesus.

Then Jesus said, “What do you want me to do for you?”

“Rabbuni,” the blind man said, “I want to see.”

Jesus replied, “Go, your faith has saved you.” And immediately, Bartimaeus received the gift of sight and began to follow Jesus along the road.

The Backstory – What’s Going On Here?

This is the last passage before Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem – and we need to read it in light both of what comes next but also what has been coming before. Three times, Jesus has told the disciples not only that he is the Messiah but what must happen to the Messiah … only nobody gets the message. Until now … and as usual, it’s the last person you would expect. Bartimaeus, a beautiful child of God who has lost his sight and is mired in economic poverty. Bartimaeus calls him by a messianic title, “Heir of David,” and Jesus — over the objections of his disciples calls him to him, takes him from the edges and puts him in the middle of the community. Then, in contrast to James and John, who asked Jesus to do whatever they wanted for them, Jesus asks Bartimaeus, “What do you want me to do for you?” Bartimaeus tells Jesus where his wound is … he is blind … and Jesus heals him. And then something key happens … Bartimaeus “followed him on the way.” Of all the people Jesus heals in Mark’s Gospel, Bartimaeus is the only one who follows him. And with Bartimaeus by his side, Jesus draws near to Jerusalem.

A few things to chew on:

*The story here happens in Jericho. That in itself isn’t unusual … Jesus is heading toward Jerusalem and Jericho is about 15 miles away. But Jericho is much more meaningful than that. For the people of Israel as they were taking the promised land, Jericho was the site of one of their greatest triumphs of faithfulness. Jericho was an incredibly well fortified city, one that was seemingly impossible to take … but because the Israelites followed the commandments of God, Jericho fell. For anyone listening to this story, Jericho is a reminder not only of the deepest faithfulness in and obedience to God … but of God’s power to do the seemingly impossible when God’s people are faithful. There truly is nothing that is impossible when we follow with faith.

*The disciples rebuke Bartimaeus. Is it because of his station in life — that he is a blind beggar and they don’t deem him worthy of taking up Jesus’ time — or is it because what he is crying out “Jesus, Heir of David” is not what they want Jesus to be for them? Truth can often come from the most unlikely sources … and yet too often we look for wisdom only from “the usual suspects.” Who might untapped sources of wisdom in your life be? What about in our All Saints Church community?

Try This:

Bartimaeus cries out to Jesus with incredible persistence. Even when people are telling him to be quiet, he will not stop. Persistence is a key factor in our relationships – including with God. There is no substitute for daily prayer. The type of prayer isn’t even that important and can change as your life changes. Maybe it’s the daily office. Maybe it’s centering prayer. Maybe
it’s praying with scripture. The point is not to be dissuaded. To persevere. To cry out for Christ no matter what anyone else says.

This week, just pray. Every day. Take time and make sure you do it. Just be still and remember that you are in the presence of God. Cry out if you like … or say thank you if you like. Or ask for direction for your life … or just feel that you are loved.

Just pray. Every day. Without fail.

Call. Him. Here.

Theology done from the perspective of marginalized groups creates a richer, more comprehensible, more compassionate Christianity. To ignore the contributions from people with bodies different from our own is equivalent to saying some bodies are not as holy as others—that some members don’t belong in the body of Christ—despite scriptural witness to the contrary. – Austen Hartke. Transforming: The Bible and the Lives of Transgender Christians
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Erasure is not the way of Jesus.

But that has never stopped people who call themselves followers of Jesus from ignoring, erasing and dismissing people they find uncomfortable.

We see it in this Sunday’s Gospel. Jesus and his followers are walking toward Jerusalem and Bartimaeus, poor, unable to see, cries out from the side of the road. Those following Jesus “scolded him and told him to be quiet.”

In other words, they ordered Bartimaeus to be nonexistent to them … and to Jesus.

What happens next, perhaps more than any passage of scripture, defines what it means truly to follow the Christ.

First, we have to give major props to Bartimaeus. This was certainly not the first time someone had tried to erase, ignore and dismiss Bartimaeus. But he would not have it. Despite what the crowd was saying … a crowd that potentially could turn from ignoring him to beating and killing him … Bartimaeus “shouted all the louder.”

Bartimaeus was a child of God with divine identity and dignity. And he asserted that identity, that right to exist, that right to be seen, heard and taken seriously … and did so at great personal risk.

Bartimaeus is one of the great heroes of scripture. Because Bartimaeus refused to shut up and disappear.

And then Jesus steps in.

Because Jesus sees Bartimaeus. Jesus sees Bartimaeus divine identity and dignity.

Jesus hears a call to the real work of the kindom of God — much more important than anything else on their agenda … even than getting to Jerusalem.

So Jesus stops — and he has the disciples bring Bartimaeus to him. Bring him right into the center of the gathered community. Then he does something extraordinary:

Jesus not only sees him.
Jesus not only listens to him.
Jesus allows Bartimaeus to set the agenda for Jesus and the entire community.

Jesus stops everything and everyone, brings Bartimaeus – naked … fully himself and not hiding anything of who he is … into the center of the community and says:

What do you want me to do for you?

And Jesus does it.

And Bartimaeus is an outcast no longer. Bartimaeus is erased, ignored and dismissed no longer. Bartimaeus’ divine identity and dignity is embraced and celebrated. Bartimaeus joins the community and follows them along the way.

This week, a memo leaked revealing the Trump administration is considering redefining sex in a way that would erase, ignore and dismiss those among us who are transgender. It is a fundamental denial of the divine identity and dignity of transgender persons.

We have seen this before.

It is the administration and those who would support them … many of whom claim the name of Jesus … saying to the beautiful transgender persons among us what those who were following Jesus down the road leaving Jericho said to Bartimaeus.

And Jesus couldn’t be more clear about what we get to do next.

We get to stop and not only acknowledge those whom those in power would try to erase. We get to make room in the center of the community for their voices, make sure those voices are amplified so their full divine dignity and beauty can be seen, heard and felt.

Voices like those Austen Hartke quotes in his wonderful book, Transforming: The Bible and the Lives of Transgender Christians.

If there’s a mistake at all, it’s that we’ve created this understanding of gender that is so deeply limiting of God’s creation. That’s the mistake. We’ve always been diverse people. We’ve always recognized that using tools, for lack of a better word, to best support our bodies is a good thing. Certainly those of us who change our bodies physically because of our gender identity are not the first people in the world who have needed assistance to be our best selves.

God created us with the ability to also be creators, and some of those creators created surgical procedures and medical procedures and concepts and ideologies and systems and communities that do wonderful things! If we aren’t taking part in that creative process, then we’re going against our very created nature. —Lawrence

God doesn’t make mistakes; she just makes things easier or a bit more difficult to find. Transitioning doesn’t mean that God made a mistake, just that I need to work a bit harder to find the fullness of life God has for me. —River

I think that God knit me together in my mother’s womb, but has also been knitting me together every day since. I think God knit together my body and my identity. I’m not just a woman. I’m not just a man. I’m transgender. That’s what God intended. —Asher

We get to listen to those voices among us and then ask these divinely beautiful and brilliant members of our community

“What do you want us to do for you?”

The entire community gets to listen deeply to what they have to say, let them lead us, and walk with them on the way.

Jesus shows us that which the church is tempted to erase is actually the clarion call for the real work of bringing in the kin-dom of God.

The inconvenience, the annoyance, the disruption alerts us to the real work that is to be done.

Thank God for the divinely beautiful, powerful and dignified transgender persons among us.

Thank God for their witness. Thank God for their courage.

Thank God for all who have lived … and thank God, and may God have mercy on us for all those who have been abused and killed.

Thank God for those who, when the world has tried to erase them, cry all the more loudly.

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Check out the rest of Sunday’s readings

The Lectionary Page has all of the readings for this Sunday and every
Sunday – click here for this Sunday’s readings.

Collect for Sunday

Pray this throughout the week as you gnaw on this Gospel.

Almighty and everlasting God, in Christ you have revealed your glory among
the nations: Preserve the works of your mercy, that your Church throughout
the world may persevere with steadfast faith in the confession of your
Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the
Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.