Lectionary Texts: Isaiah 43, Hebrews 7: 23-28, Mark 10:46-52

It happened on a British Airways flight out of Johannesburg. A middle aged, obviously well-off, white South African woman found herself seated next to a South African of Indian origin. He was a Sikh, and wore a long beard and a turban. She motioned for the flight attendant. "What seems to be the problem", the flight attendant asked. "Can't you see!" the woman retorted indignantly. "You have seated me beside this turban. I can't possibly sit here for one moment longer. Find me another seat. NOW!" "Please calm down Madam", the flight attendant replied. "As you can see, the flight is full but I will see what I can do for you. I will check on seats in club and first class." The woman glanced indignantly at the man seated beside her and the nearby passengers were very uncomfortable.

A few minutes later the flight attendant returned. "I have good news Madam. As I suspected, Economy is full. Club is full. Normally we cannot upgrade an Economy passenger to First Class but this is an exceptional circumstance and the captain has approved the change. Madam, no one should have to sit beside such an objectionable person. That would simply be outrageous." The woman was beaming. She looked down her nose at her neighbor and around at those in the seats near hers with a smug and satisfied look. Then the flight attendant looked at the Sikh gentleman. "Sir, the captain, the rest of the crew, and myself would be very pleased if you would accompany me to First Class where you will be more comfortable and you will not have to sit beside this obnoxious woman." At this point the surrounding passengers broke into applause. The man got up, gave his briefcase to the attendant and was led to First Class. It was as if she had slept through the 1990s and when she woke up the world had changed.

Had Jesus been there with his disciples, he would have said to them, "See, the first shall be last and the last first!"

In fact Jesus said this three times in this section of the gospel of Mark that we’ve been considering. Biblical scholars say that Mark 8:22 – 10:52, is an identifiable section – it’s a teaching unit on discipleship. But of course, Jesus’ teaching was not done is a classroom, with books. It was done on the way to Jerusalem – not just to Jerusalem, but to Calvary. It was done in the midst of life and interactions with people. In that section Jesus also tells the disciples three times, that he is going to be betrayed, killed and raised again. But with all that he said, and all the ways he demonstrated that principle, the disciples don’t get it. It was as if they were sleep walking from Bethsaida to Jericho Let’s open our Bibles and quickly walk through that section.

First thing I want you to notice is that the section begins with the healing of a blind man in Mark 8:22 and ends with the healing of a blind man in 10:46. I think Mark intentionally places these two stories like bookends to this teaching on discipleship. So, what’s the significance of that, you ask? Let’s find out.

We start with the first blind healing story in Bethsaida. You may notice that unlike the healing of Bartimaeus, Jesus has to do various things to this man’s eyes. For Bart Jesus didn’t even have to speak a word – he just announced that his faith had made him well. And unlike Bart, this man’s healing comes in stages. At first things are fuzzy. Only at Jesus’ second healing touch that the man begins to see properly. We come to the place of receiving God’s sight sometimes through stages, sometimes all at once. Sometimes Jesus uses saliva and mud and a therapeutic touch, at other times just a word would do.

Following that first blind-healing story is the crux of the gospel. Jesus asks the disciples "Who do you say that I am." This is the question Mark wants all of us throughout the generations to be asking. If you looked at the very first verse of the gospel of Mark, he makes a very clear and unambiguous declaration. "The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God." But the ever since making that proclamation, Mark has been writing stories in such a way that makes us dispute that, because in Mark Jesus is not behaving in a way that no self-respecting son of God should! I mean, he gets down and dirty with ordinary people, he touches lepers, builds friendships with sinners, and look at this – he even confronts the religious authorities. Mark wants to keep us in suspense. He does not want us to go away with his dogmatic declaration at the beginning. He wants us to grapple with the question. Having now read who Jesus was and what he did, you answer the question, he says, let each generation answer the question, "Who do you say that I am?"

Peter answers correctly, "You are the Messiah." Encouraged, Jesus tells for the first time that he will be betrayed and killed and will rise again in three days. Peter is stunned. He thought Messiah meant, Jesus would go to Jerusalem and violently overthrow the Romans and capture power. It was as if Peter was blind and Jesus was trying to pry open his eyes, but he did not want to see. Healing sometimes is so stunning, that a lot of people prefer to be blind. So, Peter takes Jesus aside and rebukes him – Jesus, you mustn’t say things like that -- and Jesus rebukes him back with the strongest possible language he can muster – Get behind me Satan. You may be blind, but I won’t let you lead me into your blindness.

Then Jesus goes on to teach them the cost of discipleship. "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel with save it." Today, we tend to sanitize this call as a call to pietistic spirituality, to a fast perhaps, or give up something like how we do at lent, or as a way to make sense of suffering. Have you not heard people say of sickness or addictions of a loved one, this is the cross I have to bear? I think Jesus did not intend this call that way at all. This is nothing short of a call to a radical, subversive confrontation with the powers. The way of non-violent revolution, Mohandas Gandhi said once, will not prevail on account of words or argument: "It shall be proved by persons living it in their daily lives with utter disregard to the consequences to themselves." Talking not enough, you have to walk the walk! This is how Martin Luther King lived – this is what a variety of heroes of our faith did. Healing from blindness means that we get a vision of God’s kingdom that becomes larger than our personal comfort or safety.

Then there was that glorious event of the transfiguration, which is a spiritual high point for the disciples. It was as if Jesus was putting them in a situation where they could not help but see – when they see Jesus with Moses and Elijah, two of the greatest prophets of history, how can they not get the connection? That event was meant to motivate them, spur them, and energize them to the second half of Jesus’ subversive ministry that would take him to the cross. His closest disciples, Peter, James and John were with him at the time, but they missed its significance and power. Peter says, "Its good to be here, Lord, why don’t we make three tents there – one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah." He doesn’t get it. The purpose of that event was to move them forward to bigger and greater things. But Peter wants to stay and bask in the glory. He is like the blind man – he does not get it.

So, are you surprised that when they came back to the city, and a father asked if they could heal his epileptic boy, they couldn’t? Their confrontation with the powers of epilepsy is a symbol of their confrontation with the political, economic and religious power structure. But they failed to heal the boy. And are you surprised? Look at these people. Then Jesus says for the second time that he is going to be betrayed and killed, the first thing the disciples do is argue among themselves about who is the greatest. So he has to rub it in. "Whoever wants to be first must be the last and the servant of all." They still don’t get it. So he takes a child in his arms to demonstrate it. But they still don’t get it. So, when they see someone casting out demons, they tell him to stop. And again Jesus has to rebuke them, "Do not stop him." You know, we might laugh at the woman in the British Airways flight. But this is not any different.

Jesus is using the little ones, the epileptic boy, the child he took in his arms, the strange exorcist, to teach them lessons in discipleship. Remember, the little ones here are the people in the margins of society. Jesus seems so exasperated with them that he drives the point home with a pretty strong saying about the little ones. "If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones… it would be better if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea."

Chapter 10, begins with a teaching about marriage and family – the institution where this radical theology must be lived out daily. The teaching on marriage is really a lesson on equalizing the marriage relationship between men and women where ancient divorce laws did not give any rights to the woman. Then again, Jesus blesses children, scolding those who stand in the way of the little ones coming to him. And then we have the rich young man. Jesus loved the rich young man and invited him to sell all he has, get rid of his encumbrances and come follow him. But he did not, because he had many possessions. And Jesus said to the disciples how hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God, and the disciples were perplexed. This is a subversive theology. And Jesus pushes it hard in this teaching, punctuating with yet another first shall be last and the last first. He does not end there, but immediately follows up with the third telling about his betrayal, death and resurrection. Its not just a one-two punch. It’s a one-two-three punch. But can you believe it, they still don’t get it. James and John asking to be in Jesus’ right and left. And Jesus says again, whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. And caps it off with his mission statement, The Son of Man came not be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

Can you see the point? Who is blind? The disciples are blind. They are like the woman in the plane. She thinks she is quite within her rights to object to the seating arrangement. While she was sleeping in a white South African suburb, the world had changed. At the beginning of the gospel Jesus preached, the kingdom of God is at hand. Now the promised kingdom is right under their noses. But they don’t see it. Jesus is living it out. He is teaching them with every incident, but they can’t grasp it. Mark is saying to us it is like the blind man Bartimaeus.

What a pathetic man Bartimaeus was. Just look at his name—it literally means the son of Timaeus, or son of uncleanness. The blindness made him ritually unclean – which means he could not go to the temple and he was cut off from his religious community. And imagine what it must have been like to be blind in Jesus' day. It certainly isn't easy now, but it was much harder back then. Back then they didn't have canes for the blind and seeing-eye dogs, braille or books on tape. A blind person couldn't work in the fields or work a trade. And no one wanted to take the time to try to teach them. Bart would have had to depend on others for everything. He was forced to beg for the money to buy his food. He had to trust a friend to keep track of his money for him and rely on someone to lead him to a street corner to beg and then to lead him home again. Bartimaeus was a prisoner to his blindness.

But at least he knew he was blind. The worst kind of blindness is when you don’t know you are blind. This was the high point of the begging season. The Passover was approaching and many pilgrims were coming through Jericho on their way to Jerusalem only 15 miles away. Religious people on a pilgrimage were generous. So there sat Bart, begging gifts from strangers. He would call to the passers by: "Sons of Abraham, have mercy on a blind beggar." He would call blindly into the crowd hoping someone would hear.

It is easy for people in Bart’s situation to lose hope. The important thing is that Bart didn’t. On this particular day Jesus and his disciples were passing through Jericho. Bart had heard of Jesus, of his teachings and healings. When he heard that Jesus was passing by his hope lit up inside of him. "Could this man of God heal me." "If he is truly the prophet that people say he is, if he is the messiah, surely, he can heal me." But how does a blind man find a stranger in a crowd of travelers passing by. Jesus was his hope, but he had little hope of finding Jesus. He couldn't see the way to go, but he could shout.

So Bart raised his voice. He began to cry out -- "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me." The people in the crowd were annoyed by his shouting. Someone rebuked him. But he did not care. He had hope that Jesus can heal him. "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" Jesus heard him. And he stopped. Can you believe that the Son of God stopped for a blind beggar? He called out to Bartimaeus. And Bart threw off his cloak, sprang to his feet and ran to Jesus. Now that may not be seem like much to us. But the cloak is what he would have spread out to collect money. His throwing off the cloak was his step of faith. "What do you want?" Jesus asked him. People probably expected him to ask for money, but he was way beyond that. He had already taken the plunge. He had thrown away his cloak. He expected to be healed. So he said, "I want to see again." But the healing was happening even as he was running to Jesus. So all that Jesus has to do is to affirm that and declare, "Your faith has made you whole."

Now, I want to suggest something to you. I think we as individuals, and we as a church, are very much like the disciples. We are also blind. Jesus is trying to teach us all kinds of lessons. Take up your cross and follow me, the first shall be last and the last first, whoever receives one of these little ones in my name receives and me and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me --- the list goes on and on. But what happens to us is that we get caught in our internal squabbles – who is the greatest, who will sit on the right and left, can a rich man really get into heaven and let’s try to keep the little ones away. Mark would points out that we are the ones who are blind. Like Bartimaeus, what a pathetic sight, Mark would say.

But Jesus of Nazareth is walking this way, folks. We can’t see him, because of our blindness, but we can cry out. Everytime people cried out in the Bible, God heard. We can cry out. And we know from the story that Jesus will stop, and call us. I want us to spring up to our feet, throw away whatever cloak we’ve been holding on to as a security blanket and run to him. He will ask what do you want. I hope we won’t ask for a few coins or dollars. Jesus can give us everything – healing, wholeness, a new life, a new future. I want to ask to be healed of our blindness. That we will see fully into the face of Jesus. I want you to be healed, I want me to be healed, I want us as a church to be healed. I know Jesus will stop when he hears our crying out. I know he will see our faith, in our springing up, our throwing away of our cloaks and running to him. And I believe he will say, your faith has healed you, made you whole, made you a new person. And we will regain our sight and we will follow him on the way, all the way to the cross.

It is about this sight that God spoke through the Prophet Isaiah. "I am about to do a new thing: now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?"