October 24, 2021 – The Twenty-Second Sunday After Pentecost

Mother Elizabeth Farr

We pray these words in our Collect today, “And, that we may obtain what you promise, make us love what you command. . .” Alight and everlasting God, make us love what you command. We might remember that love as an emotion cannot be manipulated. God doesn’t seek to control or choreograph our emotions. When we pray, “make us love,” this is love in the sense of deep, unwavering loyalty. Make us loyal to what you command. Make us devoted. Inspire in us discipline to what you command. This is what we pray today in our Collect.

And so our next question might be: what does God command? In the Rite I service of Holy Eucharist we remember the Summary of God’s commandments – the same summary that Jesus will offer in next week’s Gospel. And that summary is this: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. . . And you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”1 Any other of God’s commandments can be summarised by these two: 1) love God, 2) love your neighbor – and you can only love your neighbor well if you first love yourself.

Over the past few Sundays, Jesus has been teaching in the 10th chapter of Mark, teaching what it means to be his disciple, to follow him on the way, and to love what God commands. As he welcomes the little children into his midst, Jesus says, “Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.”2

In responding to the rich man’s question of “What must I do to inherit eternal life?,”3 Jesus says, “Go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”4 And finally, as James and John inquire as to whether they may sit at Jesus’ right and left, Jesus responds, “. . . whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all.”5

To love what God commands means to reject the world’s love of power and privilege. To love what God commands means to become like a child – one who is completely without authority and not yet mired by the metrics of merit.6 To love what God commands means placing our full trust in God’s abundance – and not any abundance of our own making. To love what God commands means to lead from a posture of service, not of dominance.

The disciples are still learning. The disciples are still praying, as we do today, “Make us love what you command.” And then we meet someone today, in this final section of Mark, Chapter 10, someone from the margins, who doesn’t tell us but shows us what it is to love what God commands. Bartimaeus calls to Jesus from the side of the road. He is not daunted nor discouraged by the size of the crowd and the way that they dismiss him. He sees something they do not see. He knows someone the crowd and the disciples do not yet fully know.

Like the little children that Jesus welcomed, Bartimaeus cries out with complete abandon – with no inhibition – even louder as the crowd tries to shush him, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” And Jesus hears the cry of this beloved child of God. Jesus hears Bartimaeus, and he stops. Jesus stands still – hearing a voice the world might listen to last – hearing a voice the crowd wanted to listen to last. Jesus stands still, calling on the world and the crowd to listen to this voice first. To listen to God’s beloved. To listen to Bartimaeus.

The disciples and the crowd have to remember what it is to love what God commands. And Jesus doesn’t just show them – he invites the crowd and the disciples to practice, to practice what it is to be loyal and devoted, to be disciplined in loving God’s command. “Call him here,”7 Jesus says, and so the crowd and the disciples have to move beyond themselves. They have to approach who a moment ago they considered unapproachable. They have to practice what it is to invite others – often those that look nothing like themselves – onto the road where Jesus is – onto the way. And so the crowd goes and tells Bartimaeus, “Get up, he is calling you.”8 Come onto the road. Come – and follow Jesus.

And then this beloved of God who has nothing – nothing more than the voice which allows him to beg mercy from the travelers that pass him by – this man gives up everything – the very cloak on his back. And his cloak is everything – his bit of shelter from the weather, his bedding to sleep, and the basket with which he collects the coins of mercy thrown his way.9 Bartimaeus leaves it all – as the rich man could not do. Bartimeaus finds treasure in heaven, and runs to Jesus.

And when Jesus asks him, “What do you want me to do for you?”10 Bartimaeus responds, “Let me see again.”11 Bartimaeus names his deepest need, and it’s probably a good idea to pause here. I’ve intentionally not named until this point that Bartimaeus is blind – because it’s actually not the most important detail of the story or of Bartimaeus’ witness. To be blind in the time of Jesus meant that one was immediately separated from full life in the community – livelihood and family were remote possibilities.  Because of this, those who were blind were counted among the least, the last, and the lost – among whom Jesus spent so much of his time and who were so often recipients of his healing and miracles.

This is to say that because someone is blind – or differently-abled in any other way – does not mean that they are not whole. That their different ability is in need of healing. Jesus heals to restore people to community, and for Bartimaeus in the time that he lived, restoration to community and to wholeness meant the restoration of his sight. His lack of sight was not a sign of sin or curse (again, we could look back to the story of Job and remember that God does not sanction suffering). The power of Bartimaeus’ story and witness is what he did see – with the eyes of his heart, and his mind, and his soul.

Bartimaeus loved what God commands, and that love – of God – his neighbor – and himself – made him well.

To close, a slightly amended and expanded Collect of the Day:

Almighty and everlasting God, make us loyal to what you command. Make us devoted. Make us disciplined in our love of you and of our neighbor. Open wide the eyes of our hearts, our minds, and our souls that we may see ourselves and one another as you do – as beloved. As marvelously made.12 As worthy – worthy of Jesus, your son, standing still to meet us in the crowd. Worthy to name before you our deepest desires and greatest needs. Worthy of the call to follow you. Make us loyal, almighty God, to join you on the way. Amen.

1 BCP, p. 324

2 Mark 10:15

3 Mark 10:17

4 Mark 10:21

5 Mark 10:43-44

6 Commentary on Mark 10:15; The Jewish Annotated New Testament, p. 81

7 Mark 10:49

8 Mark 10:49

9 Indebted to the commentary of Luis Menéndez-Antuña offered here: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-30-2/commentary-on-mark-1046-52-5

10 Mark 10:51

11 Mark 10:51

12 Psalm 139:13; BCP p. 795)

Year B, Proper 25   –   October 24, 2021 – The Twenty-Second Sunday After Pentecost   –  The Rev. Elizabeth Langford Farr