Trinity Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

Sermons 

Title: "Down the Jesus Road"

Text: Mark 10:46-52

We will not take grades.

What is it that is unusual, even unique,

about the story of Bartimaeus? [pause]

He is the only person Jesus heals

for whom we actually know his name.

Think about it:

There’s "the centurion’s daughter,"

"Peter’s mother-in-law,"

"the widow’s only son,"

"the Gerasene demoniac,"

"the daughter of the Canaanite woman,"

"the woman with the flow of blood,"

"the ten lepers" …

but all of those, we know by their illness or their story,

not by their name.

Bartimaeus is the only one.

Even that’s a little strange,

because we probably don’t know his actual name …

Remember that the text tells us his name is Bartimaeus,

and that he is the "son of Timaeus" …

well, that’s redundant.

In Aramaic, "bar" is the word for "son,"

and often, your middle name or even an implied surname

would be "bar-your father’s name."

But it’s unlikely that it would be your first name.

Think about that!

If it were, then your son would be BarBartimaeus,

and it would get ridiculous fairly quickly.

But that’s another topic for another day.

Of all the healings that Jesus performed,

in the time of his wandering and teaching,

only the name of Bartimaeus is recorded.

Why do you suppose that is?

Did the gospel writers have bad memories,

and this is the only name they could remember?

Or did Jesus go around healing people so quickly

that they often didn’t even have time to learn people’s names?

I suppose that both of those are possible,

but it seems to me that the real reason is that

Bartimaeus appears to have been the only one who

stayed around for "the rest of the story."

Remember that last line:

"Immediately he regained his sight

and followed him on the way."

Others, like the ten lepers,

went and showed themselves to the priests,

as Jesus had instructed them to do.

The demon-possessed man who had lived among the tombs

wanted to follow Jesus, if you’ll remember,

but Jesus told him to return to his village

and tell people there what had happened.

Only Bartimaeus "follows Jesus on the way."

Several months ago,

I learned a wonderful expression that comes from

our Native American brothers and sisters.

Among the Navajo,

when a person converted to Christianity,

it was often said of that person,

"He has gone down the Jesus road."

Isn’t that an interesting way of putting it?

On the one hand, of course,

there’s a certain sadness to it …

a sense that the person has left their tradition behind

to follow a different path.

But on the other hand,

it’s an insightful acknowledgment that

being a Christian, or becoming a Christian,

is not merely a statement of belief or a change of mind.

It is a road that one must travel.

Which implies, of course,

that there are other roads that you aren’t going to get to travel,

and other scenery that you may not get to see.

"He has gone down the Jesus road."

That’s what Bartimaeus did,

in a way that was different from the others that Jesus healed,

and a way that was like the twelve disciples,

and Mary Magdalene,

and a few others who left everything else behind

to "follow [Jesus] on the way."

That’s probably why they remembered and recorded his name.

But what does it mean, what might it mean,

for us, in our own day and time, to "go down the Jesus road"?

In a sense, many of us have been trying to walk that road

for most of our lives.

We’ve heard about Jesus since we were children;

we know more or less what he expects of us,

and what he expects us not to be doing …

In a way, we have been walking the Jesus road for a long time.

Except, if we’re really truthful with ourselves,

we actually haven’t been walking it all the time.

We know where it is …

we know that’s the path we should be walking …

but dang it, there are lots of rocks in that road,

and where there aren’t rocks there are potholes,

and it seems like the Jesus road is always uphill,

and there are so many other roads less difficult.

Much of the time, I think,

we spend walking our own road,

while of course always trying to keep the Jesus road in sight.

We don’t want to get far from it;

we certainly don’t want to go off in the opposite direction …

but it is a hard road to walk, a hard way to follow.

Even for those who got to see and experience Jesus "in person," so to speak …

there were only a few who walked his road.

Many took detours from their own roads to see him,

to listen to him teach and tell stories,

to see the amazing works he did.

But when the time came for him to move on,

most of the crowd stayed behind, in their own villages,

walking their own roads,

hoping to intersect with him at some time again in the future.

Only a handful walked the road with him.

And one of those was Bartimaeus.

A part of what our Reformation heritage is about

was an attempt to get the church

back onto the Jesus road.

Martin Luther, and John Calvin, and others

had a sense that the Roman Catholic Church,

as it existed in their time,

was a long way from the path that Jesus had set.

It had too much wealth, and wanted still more.

In fact, if you wanted to become a bishop,

all you had to do was buy yourself into office.

Religious leaders had a great deal of power,

in both the sacred and secular realms,

and they too often misused it.

Laypersons were not permitted to read the Bible for themselves,

but had always to take the priests’ word for

what road God expected them to follow.

None of the reformers intended to start a new church on a new road …

they wanted to pull the church that they loved

back onto what seemed to them the right path,

according to their understanding of scripture.

Which reminds us, doesn’t it,

that "going down the Jesus road"

is far easier to say than it is to do.

Not only is it a difficult road when we do get onto it;

it is sometimes difficult to know for certain

when we are on the right road.

We come to a fork, a time of decision,

and it isn’t always clear which way we should go.

We reach an obstacle,

and aren’t sure whether we’re supposed to go around it,

or climb over it, or dynamite it,

or whether it’s a sign that we ought to turn around now!

We think we’re on the right road,

but suddenly we are surrounded by fellow travelers

who really have different priorities and ideas than we have,

and it causes us to wonder.

Following Jesus "on the way"

is much easier to say than it is to do.

But that, in a strange way,

brings us back to our friend Bartimaeus.

Do you remember what he said

when he first learned that Jesus of Nazareth was coming by?

Did he yell out,

"Jesus, heal me; I want to be able to see."?

He did not.

Did he holler,

"Jesus, make all these people in Jericho be more generous to me.

Can’t you see that I’m blind and helpless?"?

He did not.

He shouted out,

"Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"

And even after the crowd ordered him to quit disturbing the peace,

he shouted even more loudly,

"Son of David, have mercy on me!"

That’s what it’s really all about isn’t it?

That’s what Martin Luther discovered, or re-discovered:

that it’s all about God’s grace and God’s mercy,

not about whether we always make the right choices

or do the good works

or follow the correct path.

It’s about the grace of God.

So that, when our own journey comes to a fork in the road,

or an unexpected obstacle, or a challenge in the form of other travelers,

we don’t have to solve the problem alone.

We have to shout, "Lord, have mercy on me!"

I’m about to choose the fork leading east instead of the one leading west …

If I’m wrong, Lord, have mercy on me.

In fact, have mercy on me even if I’m right,

because if this is the right path then it’s going to be a hard one.

I can’t get around this boulder, so I’m going to turn around and try something else.

Lord, have mercy on me!

If I’m supposed to move it instead, you’d better help me out.

I cannot make this journey with my own strength and my own wisdom;

Lord, have mercy on me!

Even if I do nothing but good works 24/7, I cannot save myself.

Lord, have mercy on me!

Once we recognize that it’s not up to us alone,

to walk the Jesus road,

and in fact, it never has been …

When we see that God’s mercy is what keeps us on the journey …

then, like Bartimaeus, we have indeed regained our sight.

We cannot "follow Jesus on the way"

without God’s grace to hold us there,

and to return us when we wander off.

God does not expect us to "go down the Jesus road"

with only our own faith and wits and works to sustain us.

God is with us on the way,

just as God is also waiting at the journey’s end.

The Jesus road is a challenging one, to be sure,

but it’s the only one that takes us where we want to go.

May the Lord have mercy on us,

as we seek to be faithful followers of Jesus "on the way."

Amen.