MARK 10:46-52

46  They came to Jericho. As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside.

47  When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"

48  Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, "Son of David, have mercy on me!"

49  Jesus stood still and said, "Call him here." And they called the blind man, saying to him, "Take heart; get up, he is calling you."

50  So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus.

51  Then Jesus said to him, "What do you want me to do for you?" The blind man said to him, "My teacher, let me see again."

52  Jesus said to him, "Go; your faith has made you well." Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.

You hear it all the time.  It’s a cold cruel world out there. Unfortunately, that’s often true.

You often see it when you turn the television on.

You often see it when you pick up a newspaper.

Sometimes it’s enough to even make a saint a little cynical.

That cynical attitude can be seen in a conversation that a high school student had one day with his principal. The conversation took place when the principal saw the student walking out of a classroom with a frown on his face. The principal could tell that the student needed a little encouragement. So, he walked over to the student and asked, “How are we today?”  The student just shook his head. “Awful,” he said.  “I don’t understand all that stuff the math teacher wants us to learn – all those logarithms and postulates and stuff.”  The principal smiled.  “Well,” he said, “I’m sure we can agree that it isn’t all that bad and that we can figure it all out if we really work hard at it.”  The student just shook his head again. “Sure,” he said. “We can say that. We can say that because the you half of we doesn’t have to learn that stuff all over again with the me half of we.”

Yes.  It can be a cold cruel world at times. Here’s a better example of what it’s like sometimes in that cold cruel world.  Did you hear the comments that Rush Limbaugh made this past week about Michael J. Fox? Michael J. Fox of course is the actor who has been living for the past 10 years with Parkinson’s. Because of his debilitating disease Michael J. Fox is an advocate for embryonic stem cell research. Many scientists believe that research may provide a cure someday for Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, breast cancer and a lot of other debilitating diseases.  So what did Michael J. Fox do?  He made a commercial for a politician who supports stem cell research. And what did Rush Limbaugh do?  Rush Limbaugh accused Michael J. of making his symptoms look worse than they really are so he could get the candidate Rush doesn’t like elected.

Now let’s be clear about one thing. I don’t care if a person is a Democrat or a Republican.  I don’t care if a person is for or against embryonic stem cell research.  When someone says something like that it makes me very sad.

It makes me feel the way Jesus probably felt that day while he was walking through Jericho. The world that day was also a pretty cold cruel place.

Just ask Bartimaeus. Bartimaeus really wanted to see Jesus that day. You see Bartimaeus had heard all the stories about the carpenter from Galilee. The problem though is everyone else in the crowd had also heard those stories. 

They knew that he’d performed a lot of miracles.

They knew that he’d silenced the holier-than-thou Pharisees on more than one occasion.

They knew that he might be the long awaited messiah.

So everyone wanted to see Jesus which complicated things for Bartimaeus. Because Bartimaeus was blind he couldn’t get up and run over to be with Jesus. The people in the crowd weren’t about to make it easy for him to be with Jesus either. 

So Bartimaeus did the only thing he could do to let Jesus know he was there.  He started to yell at the top of his lungs. “Jesus, Son of David,” he shouted, “have mercy on me.”  “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.” “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.”

He kept yelling it over and over which didn’t make the people in the crowd very happy.  You can almost hear them scolding him.  “Pipe down Bartimaeus.” “Stop that shouting Bartimaeus.  What makes you think that Jesus wants to talk to someone like you.” “Look Bartimaeus.  I’ll give you a half a denarii if you promise to just sit there and keep your mouth shut.” 

Unfortunately, people back then had a very negative attitude toward people who were blind. They were convinced that if you were blind or lame or deaf for that matter it meant that God was punishing you for your sins. So instead of showing Bartimaeus a little sympathy they were down right cold and cruel to him. Unfortunately, they really didn’t understand what it was like for Bartimaeus.

The situation was similar to one that Ruth Graham witnessed when she was a little girl. Ruth Graham, of course, is Billy Graham’s wife. What a lot people don’t know is that her parents were missionaries. Because of that Ruth spent much of her childhood growing up in China.  While they were there, several of the missionaries decided to build a tennis court. When the tennis court was finished it gave them a way to relax and get a little exercise in from time to time.  One day Ruth said some of the missionaries were playing tennis when a group of Chinese gentlemen came to visit. With their hands tucked up their sleeves, they watched the tennis game with interest.  After a while though, they became increasingly concerned. When the game was over the tennis players came off the court all sweaty and tired. As they stood their mopping their foreheads one of the Chinese gentleman greeted them very sympathetically and asked them a question. “We were talking among ourselves,” he said, “and we do not understand.  Can you Americans not afford to hire people to hit the little ball back and forth for you?”

In the same way the people in the crowd really didn’t understand what it was like for Bartimaeus. So it was easy for them to judge him. It was easy for them throw a few verbal jabs at him. It was easy for them to maybe even make a few jokes about him.  Imagine how surprised everyone in that crowd must have been when Jesus told them to bring Bartimaeus to him!  Not only did Jesus heal this man they thought was a bad person but Jesus also gave this bad person all the credit for the miracle. After everything was said and done Jesus looked at Bartimaeus and said to him, “Go your faith has made you well.”  Now why would Jesus do that if Bartimaeus was really a bad person?

When you look at it this way it raises the possibility that Jesus performed that miracle not only to help Bartimaeus, but also to help the people in the crowd. He performed that miracle not only because he cared about Bartimaeus, but because he cared about the people in the crowd. Not only did Jesus cure Bartimaeus of his physical blindness, but he also cured the people in that crowd of their spiritual blindness. Everything changed when Jesus told them to bring Bartimaeus to him.  The people in the crowd turned to Bartimaeus and rejoiced with him. “Get up,” the said, “take heart. (The teacher) is calling you.”  They suddenly realized that they had be unfair to Bartimaeus. 

So, they went from judging Bartimaeus to treating him with a little more compassion. They went from throwing verbal jabs at Bartimaeus to treating him with a little more kindness. They went from making jokes about him behind his back to treating him with a lot more consideration.

What happened that day between Bartimaeus and the people in that crowd is also important for us today.  Jesus doesn’t want that cold cruel world to poison your heart. If you listen very carefully you can hear him saying to you, “Don’t let all the nasty campaign ads and the sniping over illegal immigrants, abortion and welfare to dampen the compassion in your heart. Don’t let it dull the compassion in your heart.  Don’t let it diminish the compassion in your heart.”

A nurse at the UCLA Medical Center didn’t let that happen to her 13 years ago. On Monday, August 9, 1993 Sophia White burst into the nursery with a gun in her hand.  She was there for Elizabeth Staten. Why? Because she was convinced that Elizabeth Staten was having an affair with her husband. So, Sophia White fired six shots. Two of those shots hit Elizabeth Staten in her stomach and her wrist. After she was wounded Elizabeth Staten ran for her life.  The two women eventually ended up in the emergency room where Sophia White again fired her gun. That’s when another nurse by the name of Joan Black did something really unbelievable.  Joan Black calmly walked over to the gun toting woman and began speaking softly to her. She listened as Sophia White told her that she didn’t have anything to live for now that her husband and family were gone. As she listened Joan Black put her arms around Sophia White and hugged her. “You’re in pain,” she said.  “I’m sorry, but everybody has pain in their lives…I understand and we can work it out.”  As they talked Sophia White kept her finger on the trigger. When she pointed the gun to her head Joan Black just pushed her arm down and continued to hug her. Finally Sophia White gave the gun to the nurse who wouldn’t stop hugging her.

Now this story isn’t meant to justify what Sophia White did that day.  It does show you though what a little compassion can do. Jesus was in that emergency room when Joan Black hugged Sophia White. That’s the thing about compassion. It brings the person who’s hurting and yourself closer Jesus. It brings you closer to the Jesus who told the people in the crowd that day to bring Bartimaeus to him.  Amen.

Rev. Dr. Richard A. Hughes

October 29, 2006