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| Are you waiting to roller blade off a cliff to talk to God? |
Job 42:1-6, 10-17
Psalm 34:1-8, (19-22)
Hebrews 7:23-28
Mark 10:46-52
© 2021 Seth Olson
Holy God, let my words be your words, and when my words are not your words, let your people be wise enough to know the same. Amen.
There once was a man rollerblading down a mountain—which isn't an intelligent thing to do for a start—when he sailed off the edge of a cliff into the air. As he plummeted to the ground, he managed to catch hold of the root of a tree which was hanging out of the cliff face.
He was hanging there and was not really sure what he was going to do—his arms were getting tired, he could not hold on for much longer, there was no way to climb up, no ledge to stand on, and those rollerblades were getting heavier—when he heard this voice calling to him.
‘DAVE’ the voice said—for that was his name, and I was going to mention it at the beginning of the joke, but forgot—the voice said, 'DAVE!’
Dave was a bit surprised, because he was sure that there was no one else up the mountain with him. But he could hear this voice. ‘Yes?’ Dave said, ‘Is someone up there?’
‘YES’ the voice replied ‘THERE IS’
‘Help Me!’ Dave cried, ‘I can't hold on much longer’
‘I KNOW YOU CAN'T’ the voice cried ‘THAT'S WHY I'M HERE, TO SAVE YOU.’
‘Do I know you?’ Dave asked
‘OF COURSE, YOU DO’ the voice said, ‘IT'S ME, GOD!’
‘God?’
‘YES, AND I'VE COME TO SAVE YOU. YOU DO BELIEVE IN ME, DON'T YOU?’
‘Oh yes God!’ Dave replied ‘Now please throw down a rope’
‘BUT I'M GOD. I DON'T NEED A ROPE TO SAVE YOU DAVE. YOU BELIEVE IN ME, DON'T YOU?’
‘Of course, I do’ Dave replied.
‘GOOD’ said God. ‘NOW ALL I WANT YOU TO DO IS TO LET GO OF THE ROOT, AND I'LL CATCH YOU AND BRING YOU BACK TO THE TOP OF THE CLIFF’
‘Uhh..’ said Dave
‘YOU DO BELIEVE IN ME, DON'T YOU?’ God asked
‘Uhmmm, yes?’ said Dave
‘THEN JUST LET GO, AND I'LL CATCH YOU’
So, Dave thought about this for a few seconds, then yelled ‘IS THERE ANYBODY ELSE UP THERE?!?!’”[1]
Did you laugh at that joke? Yeah, so did I. Were we chuckling because it captured our relationship with God? Have we become so weary that we are missing the moments when God is staring us right in the face or is asking us to trust in God? A study conducted a few years ago sheds light on a new wave of belief in the United States. There are 5 tenants that many Christians and non-Christians alike now hold as core beliefs:
1. A God exists who created and orders the world and watches over human life on earth.
2. God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions.
3. The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself.
4. God does not need to be particularly involved in one’s life except when God is needed to resolve a problem.
5. Good people go to heaven when they die.[2]
Maybe we laughed at this type of humor because of number four: God need not be involved in our lives except when a problem arises. Society teaches us to be self-reliant. We get by on our own wherewithal until the moment comes when we are clinging to a root on the side of a cliff, then we want God to come and save the day. The last 18 months we all have been dangling precariously with more than roller blades weighing us down. And, if we are seeing things through the religious worldview of this joke, then God is like a butler uninvolved in our lives until we ring the bell for assistance,[3] or like Alexa or another smart device that is always listening, but only responds when we say her name or Okay Google. Okay God!
And if we buy into this whole model, we are to be sweet, feeling good about ourselves, knowing that nice folks go to heaven—that the Divine Watchmaker wound it all up and is around when the timepiece needs to be rewound or fixed. However, in this way of seeing life, God is not involved in our day-to-day existence, nor is God dwelling within, around, and among us. God is not rollerblading down the mountain alongside Dave. God is not passing by enfleshed as a fully human and fully divine carpenter from Nazareth. Except, that is exactly who God is.
In today’s Good News from Mark, Jesus from Nazareth made his way with his disciples towards Jerusalem. Bartimaeus, not a nameless blind man, but the son of Timaeus (a clue that he was someone known later to Mark’s community) yelled up at God as he figuratively hung off the side of a cliff. Even though he could not behold with his eyes, he could see something that the rest of the crowd was unable to perceive. For the first time in this account of the Gospel someone called Jesus the Son of David.
See, to this blind man God was not someone who was far off. No, in the person of Jesus, God had provided an heir to the throne, which David once occupied. Yes, Peter called Jesus Messiah. Sure, others recognized Jesus as a great teacher. And yet, it took a blind man to behold that Jesus was the walking and talking, living and breathing, healing and saving fulfillment of the Prophets and the hope of God’s People. Even in the face of a crowd who told Bartimaeus to hush he cried all the louder for Jesus.
Now the crowd switched in an instant, they were like bandwagon fans in this crazy college football season who pull for whoever is ranked #1 in the polls. They went from Bartimaeus’ naysayers to his cheerleaders immediately. This sort of herd mentality cannot be trusted—in much the same way as a worldview cannot be relied upon that sees God as valet or smart device.
Bartimaeus saw God differently. He outshouted the crowd, such that Jesus stopped and listened to the man. Jesus invited over the one who wanted to see again. Then, the carpenter from Nazareth uttered some familiar words, “What would you have me do for you?” Remember these words?
Jesus spoke the same words in last week’s Gospel account to James and John when they wanted to sit one at Jesus’ right hand and one at his left. Ironically enough, the sons of Zebedee could not see that they were asking not to sit upon glorious thrones, but to drink the cup of sacrifice and to undergo a baptism of suffering. Bartimaeus—having lost his sight, which he once had—already suffered much, and through this lens of loss could see who Jesus truly was. He could see that God’s Kingdom was near—that in Jesus God was incarnate.
How is your vision? In our lives, right here and now, where do you see God? Is God far off? Is God nearby? It does not take rollerblading off a cliff, losing your sight, or some other perilous moment for you to cry out to God. Our Divine Parent is closer than our very breath and our every heartbeat.
We can falsely believe that we are the center of the universe, that we are doing just fine without any help from God or one another. We can think that God waits downstairs for us to ring the bell, or sits silently listening until we say, “Okay God,” but if this is our belief, then we are not following the Incarnate One. We are not trusting in God with us. See, Jesus looked deeply into the souls of people like you and me and wondered, “What would you have me do for you?” Just like he said this to James, John, and Bartimaeus, he says it to us. Bartimaeus knew that God was not a distant problem-solver, but was the Holy One who came to make him well and to make all things well.
You and I are called to have the same vision as Bartimaeus. The crowds around us may encourage us one moment and tell us to be quiet the next. Others will insist that God watches us from far away, that our lives are all about us, and that God only loves those who are good—the Good News tells us something different! Cry out over the crowd to Jesus who reigns as the fulfillment of our greatest hopes, as the one who heals us, as the one who unites heaven and earth. Hear him ask you, “What would you have me do for you?”
Seek new vision. Have faith that heals you. Follow Jesus on the way. And you will see like Bartimaeus. Amen.
[1] Travaglia, S. (2009). The Real Other Stuff. Retrieved from The S Files: http://bofh.ntk.net/OtherStuff/RealOtherStuff/christian-joke.php
[2] Smith, C. (2005). On “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism” as U.S. Teenagers’ Actual, Tacit, De Facto Religious Faith. Retrieved from Princeton Theological Seminary: https://www.ptsem.edu/uploadedFiles/School_of_Christian_Vocation_and_Mission/Institute_for_Youth_Ministry/Princeton_Lectures/Smith-Moralistic.pdf
[3] Zscheile, D. (2015). "Agile Church: A Spirit Led Innovation in an Uncertain Age". Birmingham, AL, USA.
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