Remembering the Past...
        Planning the Future

    Park Christian Church
                                                                    (Disciples of Christ)

October 25, 2009

Scripture:         Mark 10:46-52

Sermon:           “Honest Prayer”

            Turning our hearts and minds now to the word of God, let us read together the scripture lesson for the day.  Turn with me to the Gospel According to Mark, chapter 10 where we will read together verses 46 through 52.  You can find that easily on page 64 of the New Testament in the pew Bible.

            Now, I want to go back to last week for just a minute.  We studied together the story that is directly in front on the one we are about to read.  And there is a little phrase in there that is repeated exactly in this week’s story.

            Last week, you recall, James and John, two brothers who had been with Jesus since the beginning of his ministry, said to Jesus, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.”  And Jesus said these words:  “What is it you want me to do for you?”

            James and John proceeded to put themselves on display, you know.  “We’d like to sit at your right and at your left hand in your glory.  Give to us some really great rewards, positions of power, and positions of prestige.”  That’s how they responded to Jesus.

            We now encounter this same group of people, Jesus and his disciples, leaving the town of Jericho.  Jesus says those very same words again:  “What is it you want me to do for you?”

            You can’t read these two stories right there together in the same chapter without noticing that those words got repeated within just a few verses of one another.  Only, this time, Jesus says them to a blind beggar who’s been clamoring for Jesus’ attention on the side of the road.  I kind of get the idea that Jesus repeated those words while shooting a glance over towards James and John while he said it.  “What is it that you want me to do for you?”

            Remember, his own disciples asked Jesus to give them prestige, honor, glory.  This man, however, asks only that he might be able to see again.

            Let us listen for the word of the Lord…

            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.  When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”  Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”  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.”  So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus.  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.”  Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith has made you well.”  Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.

            His own disciples asked for greatness.

            Bartimaeus?  He said, “Have mercy on me!”

            Do you see the difference?

            I’ve seen Bartimaeus before.  You probably have as well.  He’s usually standing at the end of the State Street ramp up there on 265.  And he’s holding a sign that says, “Will Work For Food.”  Sometimes it says “Disabled Veteran, God Bless”.  Have you seen Bartimaeus around here?  The blind beggar?

            I don’t know what to do with that man on most days.  When he’s standing outside of Starbucks’s, there are times when I do give him all the change in my car’s ashtray.  But, usually I just keep my window rolled up and drive by.

            I’m curious if he really is a disabled veteran.  You know folks don’t always tell the truth when they are looking for money.  And there is a suspicion deep in the back of my mind that Bartimaeus, the blind beggar, actually lives in one of those top floor penthouse apartments overlooking the Ohio River and Slugger Field.  You know the one’s I’m talking about?  I think, “I’ll bet this guy makes enough money doing this on the side of the road to live better than all of the rest of us.”

            If it’s not that, you know…well, who knows what Bartimaeus is going to use the money for?  I mean, the last thing I want on my conscience is a contribution to the man’s substance abuse problems.  Right?  How else do you end up living on the street, holding a sign?  If I were to roll down my window and hand him some cash, how do I know that he wouldn’t use it to buy a bottle that he doesn’t need?  Get a fix?  Well, I wouldn’t be helping him at all if that were the case.

            Jesus said to him, “What is it that I can do for you?”  Don’t you want to say to Jesus that you can’t do anything to help those people?  But, there he is.  Let him make a fool of himself.  “What is it that I can do for you?”

            Not too many people really take the time to talk to Bartimaeus.  Like I said, I prefer to keep my car windows rolled up.  Don’t make eye contact.  Even if you do leave a dollar or two, you sure don’t want to stop and talk.  I imagine it’s been a while since anyone really paid attention to him.  “What is it that I can do for you?”  It’s like Jesus actually took the man seriously.  As if he was, actually, in dire straits and desperately needing someone to help him get out of that situation.

            And he said, “What I’d like is to be able to use my eyes.  What you can do for me is let me see again, Jesus of Nazareth.  Son of David.  That’s what you can do for me.  I need help.  I need your mercy.”

            I was half expecting him to say that Jesus could, maybe, spare a little bit of change.  Weren’t you? 

            It turns out that Bartimaeus was just about the only one being honest with Jesus that day in Jericho.  Probably it was a big deal to have a prophet come to town.  It’s the kind of occasion when you clean up the place a little bit.  You put on your best face.  Sweep the dust under the rug, clean the dishes, and light some of those scented candles to cover the smell of the old dog.  (Can you tell that I’ve been preparing for my parents to come and visit?)  But, you sure don’t want someone like Jesus to have to put up with homeless street beggars asking for change while he’s visiting.  It’s embarrassing.

            Those folks about died when Bartimaeus starting calling out to Jesus.  “Hey, Son of David, look this way.”  It’s just not what the Chamber of Commerce had in mind.  So, they were putting on their best face for Jesus.  But, they weren’t really being honest with him.  They didn’t want him to see the whole truth.  Cover up the unsightly reality of life.  Put on a good show.

            But, Bartimaeus just told it like it was.  “I can’t see.  And I make a living by asking folks for money.  I don’t have much to my name.  I don’t have friends.  I don’t even smell very good.  And what I’d like is for you to help me change all of that.”

            Now, on the occasions when you speak to Jesus, do you hit him with that kind of honesty?  Or, do you try to put the best face on things and hope he won’t notice what’s really going on?

            See, I think that Bartimaeus has a great deal to teach us about how we speak with Jesus.  Open.  Honest.  Trusting in his mercy.  He just lays it all out there on the table.  How do you speak with Jesus?  Are your prayers so honest and trusting?  Or, do you feel like you have to paint a prettier picture than happens to be true?

            Now, when we pray together in church, you know, there is a certain kind of language that we like to use.  There is a certain language that is appropriate.  But, let’s face it, we don’t normally speak like that.  It seems that we believe God is only listening to us when we spruce it up a little bit.

            I knew a man that prayed in church using only what I’d call the King’s English.  I mean he would address God as if he was kneeling down in front of the throne.  “Thou art most wonderful and gracious.  Thou didst givest to us thy Son as it pleased thee.”  And he’d throw in a couple more thous and thees and thys for good measure.  He was an elder.  So our communion when he prayed at the table always felt like this formal affair.  I felt out of place, looking for my black tie and dinner jacket.

            That’s all well and good.  But, are we really ever honest with our prayers?  Bartimaeus has something to offer us on that, I think.  “I’m blind, in case you didn’t notice, Jesus.  I’m a beggar.  Don’t have much to offer.  Here I am just the way I woke up this morning.  This is the stuff I’m dealing with.”

            It’s honest prayer, I think. 

            Do you find yourself trying to clean up the place a little bit before inviting God in?  As if God isn’t somehow aware of the truth, do you find yourself doing that?  You even say in your prayers that you’re okay, you’re going to be okay, you trust what’s going on around you even if you don’t understand it?  You think, “I’ve got to let God know that my faith is stronger than it truly feels like right now.  Maybe then God will hear what I’ve got to say.”

            We hear about all of this joy we’re supposed to be experiencing, you know.  All of this victory in life.  And we’re afraid that if we’re not feeling it, well, we better at least look like it.  Would we ever dare to pray a prayer like this: 

            I am crying nonstop.  I can’t stop crying.  And I won’t stop crying until God hears me.  I’m afraid.  I’m angry.  I’m thoroughly ticked off right now.  Do you hear that, God?  I don’t even know if I believe in all of this anymore.  But, I’m praying.

            Would you ever dare to be so honest?  I’ll let you in on a little secret.  Those words are simply my translation of a prayer that you can read in your own Bible.  Read the book of Lamentations some time.  It’s just raw human desperation.

            I think that we have an idea that we’ve got to get all cleaned up, get our acts together, get looking presentable before we can dare to approach the Almighty and Holy God.  Why else do we fret over how we arrived in church on any given day?  What are they going to think of me if they could see the naked truth?  What would God think?  Know what I mean?  Like God didn’t already get a good look! 

            What is it that Jesus said?  “Don’t pray with all of those empty words, thinking that is what is going to get you heard!  Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”  (Matthew 6:7-8)

            And maybe part of our inabilities to be real with God come from a real misunderstanding of just what prayer is.  What are we doing when we speak with God, anyway?  Is it just an emergency phone call at the last minute when all other options have failed?  Is it just a laundry list of complaints or expectations or, I don’t know, a “Honey-Do” list of things for God to take care of? 

            I was with a couple of friends in the ministry as we were visiting with a wise old pastor.  One of us said, “I’m really just struggling with the whole idea of the efficacy of prayer.”  (Do you know what I’m saying?  Efficacy—like is prayer even effective?  Do my prayers actually get God to go and do something?)  Well, at least she was being honest.  You pray with an agenda often enough and you learn that when your agenda isn’t achieved that prayer isn’t what you were hoping for it to be.

            This old pastor said to us, “Well, I guess I just never thought of saying a prayer on the condition that it would be effective.  I always just talked with God because God is here to listen.  It’s a relationship, you know.  What are you hiding?  Why are you only talking with someone you’re in love with when you want something?  No, I think that prayer is simply being real with someone that you love.”

            Do you pray like that?

            Maybe it is that God is just dying to talk with us all the time, just the way we are, with all of the things that are really on our hearts and minds.  Something like a relationship.  And, perhaps, the truth is that until we can be real, be honest, be ourselves, we cannot truly be open to all the ways that God speaks to us.

            May your eyes be open, too. 

Rev. David James Brown

Park Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)