Pastor Steve Richards

I wonder how long it took for the disciples to see the message in the healing of Bartimaeus. The blind man sees. I’m a lot like the disciples. It takes me a while to recognize what should have been obvious at the time. The blind man sees. Jesus has just told the disciples for a third time that what awaits him in Jerusalem is death and resurrection. It is as if the disciples are not listening – for a third time. They are focused on achieving personal greatness – which of them is greater than the others.

And then as they are leaving Jericho – next stop Jerusalem, they pass Bartimaeus. The blind man who sees what they, the disciples cannot yet see.”Jesus, Son of David.”Son of David is a Messianic reference. Bartimaeus is blind, but he can see who Jesus really is. Something the disciples who can see are blind about. Then the Messiah asks the blind man how he, the Messiah, can serve him, Bartimaeus. The Messiah came to serve. The greatest is the servant of all – Disciples, do you see yet?

Once healed, Bartimaeus follows. He becomes one of the growing crowd who sees, even though the ones who have been with him the longest have yet to see. It must have happened in the days after the resurrection that the eyes of the disciples were truly opened and they understood. And when they did, I like to think the first one they saw was Bartimaeus.

This is why I keep reading the Bible. Each time that I do, I see something I did not see. What I see shows me something more about the light of Christ and as I live in that light, I see something more about me. The blind man sees.

Understandings change. Or another way to say this – we grow in our understanding. It may not be that we change our mind about something but we understand in a way we did not understand. Numbers 30 describes vows – who can make them and who can keep them (and how women are subject to the authority of their fathers or husbands; how we understand this will also change). But Jesus will teach in Matthew 5 that we should make no oaths (vows). Instead, always speak the truth. That makes sense! Why didn’t Moses think of that?

In Numbers 31, the Israelites were told to take vengeance against the Midianites as the consequence for their efforts to draw Israelites away from the worship of the one true God. But Jesus will teach another way – not vengeance but forgiveness. Several times in Matthew 5, Jesus says:You have heard that it was said, but I say to you.When we are listening to Jesus our understanding changes.

In Mark 9, the disciples catch glimpses of who Jesus really is, but they don’t understand. Perhaps the greatest surprise of the gospel of Mark is that the disciples finally do. They grow in their understanding. If I try to interpret everything that happens to me while it happens to me and then never allow room to change how I understand what happened, I’m in trouble. My life moves far too fast, I miss far too much, and I don’t understand until much later. Instead, I am called to do what the heavenly voice of Mark 9:7 said: This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!

Lord, speak for your servant is listening.

Sacrifice. These chapters in Numbers indicate that sacrifice was part of daily life. A sacrifice was the best that someone had to give, and as I read the descriptions it must not have been easy to give up what was required. Unless there was a different understanding of giving.

We are often give away what is extra or what we no longer need. We bring to the Goodwill, set up a garage sale, or give away in an effort to get rid of what we no longer need. We are glad to do this. What if I gave away the best? That would be crazy. I’ve worked hard and I’ve saved so I could have the best of what I have – and to give it away would be… a sacrifice. Or money – what would constitute a sacrifice?

I need a new understanding of what is mine – an Old Testament understanding of what is mine. What is mine is not mine but God’s. To be honest, sacrifice is hard. It requires trust – trust that I will have enough, trust that God will provide. I would sacrifice for my family. I might sacrifice for myself. If my country were at risk, I would sacrifice. Would I sacrifice as a daily practice in order to give glory to God?

Here’s how Frederick Buechner describes sacrifice: “To sacrifice something is to make it holy by giving it away for love.”

Then Mark tells me that to follow Jesus is what it means to be Christian – and that is sacrifice. To follow Jesus is not a walk in the park but a walk into danger and risk. It requires sacrifice: “deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” Did I really think the kingdom of God would require only a few minor adjustments to my life?

I read the four chapters from Numbers and one verse stands out for me: Numbers 25:17. Treat the Midianites as enemies and kill them. In the book of Numbers, I am learning that the God of Israel is a jealous God. God is not indifferent to Israel or to their relationships in this world. God demands exclusive devotion. God is enraged when we are seduced by other allegiances.

But I remember how Jesus would say in his Sermon on the Mount: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:44) This is why many people keep their distance from the Old Testament. It seems inconsistent with the New Testament. It seems like the God of one Testament is not the same God of the other Testament. How can God at one point encourage the killing of enemies and at another expect us to do what feels impossible – love our enemies? Is God asking us to do something even God cannot do?

Then I wondered why we are reading 1 Corinthians 13 – this one chapter in the middle of our readings from Mark. I have no idea what possible purpose the designer of this reading program had in mind. But then I came to verse twelve: For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

It is not God who changes through the scriptures from Old to New Testaments. We are the ones to change, to grow as we live into a relationship with God. Even today, my understanding of God and what God expects of me I know only in part. Did God want the Midianites killed? If I had been alive at that moment in history, I don’t know. I only know what I know today as a Christian – and even what I know in my lifetime is partial and incomplete. I must keep growing to see more clearly who God is and what God wants. Love is the bridge to God’s future.

[If you have been following this blog, you are seeing a pattern emerge that indicates something about my schedule. Sundays are typically a day when I do not get a reflection posted. Mondays tend to be a morning when my posting comes later. You could say this has something to do with my Sunday schedule  – and you would be right!]

Don’t underestimate what God can do or whom God can use to accomplish God’s purpose. One of the more amazing stories in the Bible is what we read in Numbers about Balaam and his donkey. Pet lovers will love this story. God speaks through a donkey. God speaks to and through Balaam who is not even a believer in the LORD (Yahweh).

In the readings from Mark, demons are the first to recognize who Jesus really is. Evil or darkness cannot exist in the presence of light. When and where evil is threatened, evil surfaces – but cannot overcome the power of Christ. But then this ugly story of the death of John the Baptist. Evil appears to triumph. But it only appears that way. The kingdom of which John had spoken and the forgiveness that he offered, would be the reality that would triumph. We read the stories in Mark 6-7. Nothing stops the presence and power of God’s kingdom breaking into the world – not hunger (Mark 6:30-44), not fear (Mark 6:45-56), not human laws (Mark 7:1-23).

Follow Jesus and what lies ahead is not a boring life of conventional religion, but things happening that will astonish. And as with the man deaf and mute who is healed: if I’m still too deaf to hear what Jesus is saying, the problem is with me and not the message.

Seeds are amazing. By looking at a seed, it is impossible to know exactly what that seed has the potential to become. And yet within the seed are the essentials of what it will become. All that is necessary is being scattered or planted in the right soil with the right conditions.

Although Jesus spoke about seeds, using an object everyone would understand, he was not giving a lesson in agriculture. His message was and is the kingdom of God. The seed/kingdom grows secretly, doing its own thing unobserved in the earth, and eventually the stalk appears, then the ear of corn and the swelling corn inside the ear. When ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come. Jesus has quoted Joel 3:13 – there is a coming Day of the Lord, the consummation of God’s kingdom.

Remember who your God is and what Jesus promised. In Mark’s gospel, this small beginning (just Jesus and twelve disciples) is the start of God’s intended kingdom – the kingdom that will eventually provide shade for the whole world. The seeds are scattered – in you and me – God knows what can grow if we will provide the right conditions.

What do we believe? Either the people would believe that God is the God he says he is and then they will stand on the promise of a new land OR God is a fraud and it is Moses who is to blame for bringing them to a new land that They believe is impossible to enter. There is no middle way. Either God is or God is not.

So what is the unforgiveable sin in Mark 3:29? Jesus’ critics had painted themselves into a corner by labeling Jesus’ work as the work of Satan. Here’s what New Testament scholar, N. T. Wright says about this verse: “It’s like holding a conspiracy theory – all the evidence you see will simply confirm your belief. You will be blind to the truth. It isn’t that God gets specially angry with one sin in particular. It’s rather that if you decide firmly that the doctor who is offering to perform a life-saving operation on you is in fact a sadistic murderer, you will never give your consent to the operation.”

There is no middle way. Either Jesus is the one who brought the kingdom of God or a dangerous madman. What do you believe? What you believe will determine whom you follow and how you live.

As I’m reading, I am thinking about how different God’s way is. To accept God’s way is not an easier way. The land before them was flowing with milk and honey. God’s promise was real. The first scouts were able to taste it. After months in the desert, it must have been incredible. But getting there would involve challenge and most looked within themselves and decided the challenges and risks were too great for them. The more they looked within the larger the obstacles became until they could no longer see God’s promise.

Then in reading Mark 2, Jesus’ way is a very different way. Different attitudes and behaviors get noticed especially when such attitudes and behaviors rub against conventional religious practices. But Jesus’ answer to criticism goes to the heart of the Christian way. Jesus is being obedient to a calling. Jesus’ whole ministry is to bring health not just to the physically sick but to Israel as a whole and the world as a whole. However, this is not an easier way. A lot of people will get upset. There are great challenge and risks that will require sacrifice and hardship. That’s also true for Jesus’ followers, even today. Can you see the promised land – that is, God’s vision of reality? What are the obstacles within me that keep me from seeing what God sees?

Jesus’ actions and words ring out like a loud alarm in today’s world telling us what time it is (time for the doctor to see the patients), warning us to look at things from God’s point of view (our perspectives often block God’s view), encouraging us to extend his healing and transforming power wherever and whenever it is needed.

May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us – yes, establish the work of our hands. (Psalm 90:17)

“Thank you for your patience.” I’ve heard those words countless times when I was expected to wait. My immediate thought to such words is “you have no idea how little patience I have right now.” Whining and complaining come easy when I am not getting what I want, when I want, how I want. If necessary, I will appeal to a higher authority. For me that means the store manager. For the Israelites, that meant Moses.

You would think the Israelites would have more patience and a lot more gratitude. For four hundred years they had been in Egypt – as slaves. Then one day they are given freedom. They experience the miraculous escape through the Red Sea, and what do they do? Within days of freedom, they are whining that life is too hard. They complain about now having enough to eat. So, God provides manna. After eleven months of being sustained in Sinai by eating manna, they head toward the Promised Land. And what do they do, but start whining about the manna that God provides. They want meat. So, God gives them meat – and a consequence of eating too much meat. They get sick.

Some days, I get tired or hungry or both. Something else in my day has not gone the way I wanted – and I whine. Usually to myself, sometimes to whomever is within the range of my voice, and I wonder what God hears.

The Israelites quickly focused on themselves, forgetting God’s promise. Did God exist for their purposes or did they exist for God’s purposes? Who gets to be God? I have discovered that when I get what I want I am not necessarily in a better place – not unless that place is God directed. The Israelites got what they wanted. It came with a cost – a very unpleasant one.

So, for today, I will carry with me the words from Psalm 27: I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.

He proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ – with all boldness and without hindrance. With these words, the book of Acts comes to an end. What happens next? Luke does not tell us. Will Paul have his trial before Caesar? The New Testament does not tell us.

But then, this is not really the story of Paul, is it? This is the story of the Lord Jesus Christ. The book of Acts is not an ending but a beginning. We now step into that beginning – with all boldness and without hindrance.

Lord, enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders in the name of your holy servant Jesus. Amen.