Pentecost 21

People who make their living as inspirational speakers will tell you that if you want to be successful you have to be goal oriented. You have to set your sights on one thing and then devote yourself to accomplishing it. No matter what gets in your way, no matter what you have to sacrifice. Set your goal, put your mind to accomplishing it, and do whatever it takes to get it done.

Jesus takes this to a whole other level. Jesus was single focused. Jesus had his purpose, his goal in mind. He knew what he had to do and he was willing to sacrifice, to pay whatever the cost so that he could get the job done. Jesus came with the intention that he save sinners from hell. His plan for accomplishing this single minded goal was to get the job done through his own death and resurrection on the cross. Jesus would let nothing stand in his way of accomplishing this goal for you.

The Gospel writer who penned the book of Mark tells us as much in chapter 8 when he records for us that Jesus took his disciples to the side and informed them that he would be handed over to the Jewish authorities to suffer and to be killed and then on the 3^rd day to rise. From then on, as you read through to the end of the Gospel, you should take note of Jesus' focus and read the remaining chapters, the things that Jesus does, the thing that Jesus says, with that in mind. Jesus has a purpose in mind, a goal that he has set. He is on his way to die. And he will stop at nothing until his task is complete.

Our text for today, is from Mark 10. Jesus is right in the middle of his trek to Jerusalem to suffer and die. His face is set, he is resolute, he is determined. He is going to complete his mission, yet even in his determination he takes time to listen to the cries of this one single blind man who cries out to him for mercy.

This Jesus who has come to accomplish his mission has come on a mission of mercy, a mission of love, and Jesus in his compassion for his creation stops, takes time from his purpose of the salvation of the entire human race so that he can save this one. A blind man, named Bartimaeus who was crying out to him to be heard. “Jesus. Son of David. Have mercy on me.”

How many times do you suppose Jesus has heard that cry? Here in our text, the voice belongs to a beggar, blind Bartimaeus. If we read the same account from the other gospels we find out that Bartimaeus had a friend with him, a second blind man. Both requested mercy. Both were healed. Mark only tells us of one. But there must have been hundreds, thousands, crowds and crowds of people who had some illness, some affliction, a disease, a disorder, a demon. They all needed mercy. How many do you suppose there were? The gospel writers only have so much paper and ink to spend. They can only tell of a few examples, but these few represent the rest. How many do you think there were?

How many have there been? From the beginning of time, from the time of Adam and Eve up till now, how many do you suppose there have been who have cried out in their suffering to God. “Lord, Have Mercy!” There are thousands, millions, beyond billions – a countless host. Perhaps your voice has been among them. “Jesus, Son of David, Have mercy on me.” I know mine has been.

And although his face was set, although he was firm and resolute in his purpose, Jesus heard the cries of the blind man. He stopped along the way. He ignored the voices of the crowds who wanted to silence the needy. He reached out to the man in mercy and he saved him.

How often is that single little word lost on us? Our text doesn't even translate the word, it simply says that Jesus made him well. Yes. But... the text literally says that Jesus saved him. In Greek it's se,swke,n from swzw “to save”. Jesus saved him. The man needed, not just healing for his blindness, these days any old ophthalmologist with the right training and the right equipment could give him that. No, this man needed something no doctor could provide. He needed to be saved. The man asked to be healed and Jesus gave him that, but not just that. Jesus saved him. For all those voices calling out to him for mercy, begging him for help with their afflictions, Jesus comes not just to take away blindness, not just to take away afflictions – he comes to save.

So often we don't even fully understand how severe our problems really are. We ask for help when we need to be saved.

The man was blind. He couldn't see, couldn't work, needed help to get around, had to beg for food. His blindness was a problem.

The same could be said of those who were (or are) crippled. They're handicapped, they're kept from living and leading the life that people do, most people who have all of their arms and legs working in good order.

The same can be said of those who have lost jobs in this economy, those who have cancer, those who suffer from allergies, those who suffer from chronic back pain, those who suffer from old age, those who suffer from abusive spouses or parents, those who suffer from all kinds of handicaps, those who suffer under the burden of caring for another, all kinds of suffering, all kinds of pain, all kinds of needs, all kinds of reason to cry out to God for mercy.

But guess what. The thing that moved you to cry out to God, the thing that moved you to pray, the thing that brought you to your knees, with nowhere else to turn... that is not even your problem. That is not thing that you need to be saved from. That is not the thing that is causing you your big problem.

You see, we so very regularly forget that our big problem is sin.

In modern warfare, when generals and commanders decide to take out a military target they go in with a bomb that is big enough to do all the necessary damage to render the target neutralized. Even though our modern weapons are equipped with laser guidance systems and can strike a target with pinpoint accuracy, there are always those things around the target that wind up receiving damage in the explosion. We cal lit “collateral damage”. Stuff that you weren't aiming at that got blown up anyways.

All those things we mentioned, the sicknesses, the injuries, the griefs, the abuse, the pain, the loss: all that stuff is “collateral damage”. Those things that cause you pain and drive you to cry out for mercy, they were not the original target, they were not the original aim, but they have been affected. Your health and wellbeing, your peace, your sanity, your prosperity, all these things crumbled to pieces when your world got blown apart by sin.

Adam and Eve, living in God's good created perfection chose the route of disobedience. The explosion of sin went off and all of the suffering in the world is its collateral damage. Sin results in suffering.

The child crying herself to sleep after the beatings from her father is collateral damage for sin.

The husband and father pouring over his monthly budget trying to figure out what else to cut so that the family can stay afloat until he can find work is collateral damage from sin.

The soldier looking on in horror as his brother in arms is pulverized by a grenade is collateral damage for sin.

The young mother weeping beside the hospital bed as her husband succumbs to cancer is collateral damage for sin.

Yes, my friends, this world is filled with suffering. It is filled with beggars, just like Bartimaeus who sit beside the road and cry out to God, “Lord, Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.”

And Jesus hears their cries. Their cries for mercy and their cries for help.

With Bartimaeus he stopped. In the midst of fulfilling his purpose, his plan, in the midst of his single minded goal, he stopped. Even with the crowds shushing the blind man. He stopped. He stopped to hear what Bartimaeus needed. He asked. Bartimaeus answered. He wanted to see. You might include your petition, your request. Jesus granted Bartimaeus his. Bartimaeus went home with vision. He could see.

But that was nothing special. Again, any doctor could probably do the same. If all we needed was to be healed from the collateral damage then we wouldn't have much need for Jesus. We could depend on science and medicine and technology to perform all the miracles we would need. But Bartimaeus had bigger problems. Problems he wasn't even wise enough to understand. So Jesus healed that one.

Remember where Jesus was going. To Jerusalem. And not to be Jerusalem's king. Not to be a Jewish king. Jesus came to be Heaven's King. He came to be your King.

So that he might be your king, he had to die.

If sin is a bomb and suffering is its collateral damage, then the cross is nuclear holocaust. The bigger bomb of forgiveness went off when Jesus died on the cross. In that instant all of your sin was vaporized, obliterated, completely destroyed.

Jesus died on the cross to save you from your sin. All of the suffering in your life, that occupies your time and your attention and eats away at the thoughts in your mind. That is all peripheral, incidental, marginal. It is the stuff off to the side that is not even the real issue. Jesus knows that issue. He died to save you from that issue. He died to save you from sin.

Jesus came to be a man and to walk His creation as one of us. He did this so that he might die for all of us, so that he might die to do away with sin. Sin causes so much evil, so much suffering, and Jesus permits the suffering to occur. But suffering is not our biggest problem. Sin is. And sin has been destroyed.

You very well may suffer. You very well may experience grief and sadness and pain. Your life might see hard times. But don't be afraid. Those things are not the big thing. The big thing... sin... has been removed.

When Bartimaeus requested that Jesus heal him, Jesus did not just meet his request, he did not just give him sight. Jesus saved him. Jesus saved him from sin. Likewise, Jesus has saved you. Your sin has been washed away, blown apart, done away with. You are forgiven. Heaven awaits.

Amen.