“JESUS, SON OF DAVID HAS MERCY UPON US”
Saint Luke 18. 31-43
Quinquagesima: 6 March Anno Domini 2011
The Revd Fr JW Watson SSP
The twelve Disciples are the perfect "type" or representation of all future followers of the Christ. The number "12" recapitulates the completeness and totality of the "children of Israel" the Lambs of the Lord. He tells you as He told Peter and the rest, that you are being taken with Him up to Jerusalem. Jesus did all things that had to be done to rescue the "12," to rescue you the current "12" from eternal death and damnation. Jesus worked the work and obeyed the Commandments. Adam did not; Abraham did not; Moses did not; David did not; Peter did not; and you do not! Jesus would not have needed to go to Jerusalem that final time if you would simply love the way you were meant to. Love your creator more than yourself and your stuff. Love your neighbor. Because your love is dead in sin, He Who is Love incarnate had to die. But first He simply loved, complied, loved, obeyed, loved and served. Jesus served His fellow men and His heavenly Father. Jesus served the Scriptures as well. Jesus wrote the Hebrew words because He was the Word Made Flesh. By "doing" the prophecies He was simply being true to Himself - - the Truth, the Way and the Life.
He went to the Upper Room, Gethsemane, the Praetorium, and Calvary to fulfill all that the Prophets had written. He went to die because you can't, even for one day, one hour, "die to self" and live to God. He was delivered (BETRAYED) into the hands of non-believers because you daily betray Him by weak belief and by your own treatment of non-believers. He was mocked because by your actions and words (and even thoughts) you mock His words. You mock even His Holy Supper when you voluntarily absent yourself or show a cavalier demeanor and treat It as less than what it really is! He was spitefully entreated and spit upon because you treat others as badly as the Sanhedrin and Romans treated Him. You spit the venom of hate like King Cobras of Cussedness. He wants to hear the cooing of Doves and the lowing of Lambs, not gossip and put-downs.
"They understood none of these things," neither does your "old Adam" or natural man. To understand and believe is a gift of the Spirit. Only His words, and only the Word, creates faith. Only Jesus can open dead eyes and resuscitate deflated lungs.
And so, Bartimaeus, blind from birth, begging, in rags, broken and lost, is approached by Christ to again give you the Message which is Good; the gift which is Grace and Salvation.
What He did for the blind man He did for you - - and again does for you this morning.
Begging is a sign that you don't have what you need to live and can't get what you need to live by your own efforts. Don't think of the hucksters and fraudulent cheats you may see on modern street corners to color or pollute your reception of His word! Bartimaeus was blind and had no one to help him. He begged because he could not work or "pull himself up by his bootstraps." He begged for food and alms to be sure. He begged for mercy because he was miserable. He knew his own physical brokenness and he knew his own spiritual brokenness. He knew he was a sinner because his own body evidenced the falleness of man apart from God's deliverance and love.
Bartimaeus was far more fortunate than many who have wealth, good looks, youth, energy, friends, and fame. Bartimaeus knew that without the Lord there is only misery at the end. Bartimaeus prayed. At first, he simply prayed for Jesus to be what he believed God to be: charity, love, and GRACE. "Jesus, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me."
Save the "Our Father," there is no better prayer for a believer to speak than this!
Jesus had the blind beggar brought to Him. That is the job of every pastor and every parishioner - - to bring blind beggars to the font of Mercy. That is the work of the Law on every pastor and parishioner, to smite the breast and have the Spirit bring us back again daily into the Nazarene's presence: "Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner!"
Bartimaeus only asked of Jesus, only petitioned Him, because he had already been given the gift of faith to believe in Jesus. The beggar believed that Jesus was Messiah and thus able to give more than a denarius or a platitude. He asked not for wealth, power, vengeance on his enemies, youth, or "an unlimited number of wishes," but simply for his sight. Because he wanted to see, yes, sure… but because He wanted to see this God in the Flesh standing in front of him. Bartimaeus beheld with his own eyes exactly what you will on the day of Resurrection.
To have that (this) kind of faith in the Mercy of Jesus is a fruit of the Grace He bestows through His Word and Supper.
Bartimaeus could see, laugh & cry in a new and restored way, and glorify God. Jesus did not stay in Jericho but resumed His trip of continued obedience, and eventual arrival in Jerusalem. The cross of suffering and death awaited Him. Lententide awaits you all.
The Cross is heavy and will continue to chafe you and hurt you (discipline you) until the Crown is received. But Jesus carries you while you suffer these disciple-afflictions which mark you and brand you as + as belonging to Him - - the Crucified One.
This day, is enough for now. This day you receive sight; you follow Him to table; you glorify God; and you have Mercy.
In the Name of The + Father and of The Son and of The Holy Ghost