One
of my favourite songs is Louis Armstrong’s,
“It’s a wonderful world”. I
love his deep husky voice and the lyrics.
“I see trees of
green,
red roses too,
I see the bloom,
for me and you,
and I think to
myself,
what a wonderful
world.
The colours of the
rainbow, so pretty in the sky,
Are also on the
faces,
of people passing
by
I see friends
shaking hands
Saying how do you
do
They’re really
saying,
I love you.”
It’s
a
real ‘feel good’ song and makes me
appreciative of
the blessings I have, which I often
take for
granted, and how lucky we are to live in such
a beautiful world, with family
and friends who love us.
But
in a way it also highlights the fact that
there are many things in the world
which are not so good. There
are
hardships, people suffer through ill health,
poverty, famine, and at the cruel
hand of others.
And sometimes, it
appears as though love has gone from the world
and people often too busy to
stop, listen and see; too busy to journey
together, to stop along the road and
say hi, how are you, and actually listen to
the answer.
And
this was just the same in Jesus’ time.
There were hardships, disease, cruelty.
But into this world, God walked amongst
the people in human form, but
not everyone recognised that fact.
In
today’s Gospel reading we hear of Jesus his
disciples walking together on the
road from Jericho and towards Jerusalem, where
Jesus was later to have his
triumphant entry. Can
you visualise
it? A
scorching hot day, a dusty road
busy with hundreds of people. It
was
soon to be the Passover and everywhere people
were dashing about, rushing to
get ready, pushing through the crowds and
making their way towards the
temple. Along
the road walked Jesus,
also on his way to the Temple, but He was not
rushing.
He was walking and talking to his
fellow
travellers.
The road would be lined with
people, all curious and trying to catch a
glimpse of him.
At
the northern gate sat a blind man, a beggar,
named Bartimaeus who couldn’t physically
see the world around him,
but he had obviously heard about this man
named Jesus; he had heard stories of
the miracle Jesus had performed, and knew that
Jesus, in his grace, could heal
him and change his life forever.
Although
it
was noisy and he could hear people everywhere,
he was determined to attract
Jesus’ attention. He
started to call to
him “Son of David, have pity on me!” And
he shouted louder and louder, determined to
stop Jesus and to him.
To
those who were walking and talking with Jesus,
this shouting was a huge
intrusion and they shouted back and sneered at
Bartimaeus telling him to be
quiet! But
he didn’t give up and when
Jesus heard his call He stopped and asked
Bartimaeus to come to him. “What
do you want me to do for you?” Jesus
asks, and Bartimaeus says, “let me see again.”
Jesus replies, “Go, your faith has
healed you.”
And immediately Bartimaeus is healed. But
he doesn’t turn away and start a new life
elsewhere..…he turns and follows Jesus.
Of
course, this passage is not just another story
of Jesus’ healing ministry. As
with everything in the scriptures, it has
far deeper meaning.
This
is the last event in the
journey of Jesus towards Jerusalem. At
first glance it looks like 'another miracle'
but there are aspects to consider.
There
is a similar healing miracle earlier
on in the gospel where we read of another man
being healed of blindness and, it
is believed, that these two episodes of
healing of blindness, highlights the
spiritual blindness of the disciples. They
do not fully understand who Jesus is. By
contrast the physically blind man in today's
story has good 'spiritual' sight. He
'sees' that is, he understands, that Jesus
is 'the Son of David” in whom he has great
faith and, unlike the disciples who
had earlier requested glory, the blind man
requested mercy and healing.
Bartimaeus
may
have been a poor, lowly beggar who couldn’t
physically see, but he is far
from blind when it comes to seeing that this
man, this Jesus that he had heard
spoken of, was so special that He had the
power to heal.
His blindness is clearly physical; as
is the
healing he receives through faith in Jesus.
But we cannot overlook its spiritual
dimension too.
Even before Bartimaeus can see
physically, he
has some kind of insight that makes him see
Jesus as the source of healing and
love.
When
Bartimaeus rises up and throws off his
cloak. He throws away the old and puts
on a new life in Christ. He
is changed, he is made new, which, in a sense,
could be thought of as his moment
of baptism. He rises out of the dust,
casting off the old, and becomes a
follower of Christ. Not
only does he have physical vision, but he
also has spiritual vision, which draws
him to follow Jesus.
Many
people
are not physically blind, and yet when it
comes to insight and vision some,
even us as Christians, can be very lacking. Maybe
we are too busy to notice what is going
on around us; too busy to slow down and spend
time getting to know God, which
can cause spiritual blindness, with eyes
that can see but whose inner vision is
constrained by a lack of faith, or
belief.
So,
what is the way out of this blindness?
Well, when Bartimaeus comes to Jesus,
the answer he receives to this
question is clear: “Your faith has made
you well”.
It’s
true. Faith
is the answer. Jesus
says that even when we have faith the
size of a mustard seed, it will still enable
us to move mountains!
God
wants us to open our eyes to a different
world.
When we remove the blind restrictions
and are bathed in the light of
Christ, we see others, and ourselves,
differently.
We see each other as someone who God
values
and loves.
Through clear eyes of faith,
when you look in the mirror, you can see
yourself deeply held in God’s loving
embrace.
With faith, you can open your
eyes and
see life differently. The
world through which you travel, the
companions on your journey, the adventures you
have on the way, take on a whole
new look when you walk, in faith, with God.
So
take time to follow Jesus, to have vision, and
to walk in faith with the people
with whom Jesus walks, and see the miracles of
God’s work in all its
glory.
Jesus
says…have faith, open your eyes and
believe.