One of the most important things we’re called to do as Christians is to show Jesus in our lives. I’m sure we all know what that means. To show Jesus in our lives is to do in our lives what Jesus did in his earthly life, and to do in our lives the things he taught us to do. As we also all know, that’s often easier said than done, but one of the ways we can be better able to show Jesus in our lives is by being able to see him in our lives. In other words, to be able to see a situation through Christ’s eyes and then act in the way he would have acted in the same or a similar situation. So these two very important aspects of Christian life go hand in hand; being able to see Jesus in our lives so that we can show Jesus in our lives, and I was reminded of this just a few days ago.
On Thursday mornings during school terms, I go into St Gabriel’s school to lead worship time (that’s what most of us, I’m sure, would know and call an assembly). As I walked into school last Thursday, I saw a display of paper decorations in the shape of pumpkin lanterns. That wasn’t surprising given the time of year, but in front of them was a card saying, “Being a Christian is just like being a pumpkin.” And mingled amongst the decorations were cards saying how being a Christian is like being a pumpkin. One, for example, said that “God scoops out the seeds of badness and leaves behind what’s good.” But the one I thought gave the best explanation of why being a Christian is like being a pumpkin said, “Jesus puts a light inside us that shines out for the whole world to see.” And I thought that was the best explanation because it brought together these two aspects of Christian life; being able to see Jesus in all things, in this case, a pumpkin lantern, and showing Jesus in our lives.
Actually, I was quite pleased when I saw this display in school because I’d decided to speak in assembly about being able to see Jesus and showing Jesus in our lives anyway, and so I was able to use the display and a few of the cards from it, something the children would already be familiar with, to lead into what I’d planned to use as an example of seeing Jesus and showing Jesus, which was this morning’s Gospel, the story of blind Bartimaeus.
This is a story all about being able to see, isn’t it? Bartimaeus, the blind beggar, hears that Jesus is going to pass his way and so he calls out, asking Jesus for pity, for mercy. And he won’t be put off; the more people tell him to be quiet, the louder he shouts until, in the end, Jesus calls him over and grants Bartimaeus what he wants, which is to be able to see again. So, on the surface, this is a Gospel story of a healing miracle but, as with so many stories about Jesus, there’s a bit more to it than that.
Bartimaeus is blind, he can’t see and so he has to beg for a living. But, in another sense, Bartimaeus sees more than many other people can even though his eyes are blind. He calls on Jesus as the “Son of David”, which is a title of the Messiah, and he clearly believes that Jesus can cure him. So Bartimaeus can already see in one way because he can see Jesus through the eyes of faith. We’re not told how Bartimaeus had come to know about Jesus, but he clearly had, and although he was blind in a physical sense, what he knew about Jesus through the eyes of faith had enabled him to see God in Jesus, and to see who Jesus really was.
And through his faith, Bartimaeus would have allowed other people present that day to see Jesus too. Not in a physical sense, they could already do that, but in the sense of seeing with their minds and hearts, of seeing by understanding who Jesus was and coming to faith themselves. We know that one of the things prophesied of the Messiah was that he would bring sight to the blind. So Bartimaeus’ faith allowed people to see God in Jesus, and that allowed them to really see Jesus. Not to simply see Jesus with their eyes but to see him with their minds and hearts and perhaps for the first time to see something that blind Bartimaeus had already seen, who Jesus really was.
We don’t know what happened to Bartimaeus after Jesus restored his sight, except that, as we read this morning, he followed Jesus. That’s often a kind of Gospel code for saying that someone became a disciple. Bartimaeus is also named, which again is thought to indicate a disciple, someone who is known to the Church. So these things suggest that after Jesus restored his sight, Bartimaeus did indeed become a disciple of Jesus and so he probably went on to show Jesus in his life many more times. Perhaps he did that by recounting the story of his own healing, and it would be very surprising if he didn’t retell that story, and no doubt he also showed Jesus in his life by doing the things that Jesus taught his disciples to do.
I think the story of blind Bartimaeus can teach us so much about what it means to be a Christian because in many ways, we’re all like Bartimaeus. We might not be blind in the physical sense that he was, but like him, we can’t see Jesus with our eyes and so we have to see Jesus in other ways. We have to see him with our minds and hearts so that we can come to faith and understanding. That’s something we’ve all done; we wouldn’t be members of the church if we hadn’t. Just like Bartimaeus, we’ve all heard about Jesus and what we’ve heard has allowed us to see who Jesus really is even though we’ve never seen him with our eyes. Just like Bartimaeus, we’ve all called to Jesus, and still do in prayer and worship. And in answer, Jesus has called us to him. We wouldn’t be members of the church if he hadn’t. And having come to Jesus, we’ve all experienced the change he’s made in our lives and to our lives, not least in having our eyes, the eyes of our faith and understanding opened. We probably wouldn’t remain as members of the church if that wasn’t the case.
So we’ve all shared some of the experience of Jesus that Bartimaeus had and as a result of that, like him, we’ve become disciples of Jesus too. And as disciples, we’re called to share that experience with others. We’re called to show Jesus to others so that they can see him and come to know him for who he really is. We can do that through our words, by telling others what we know about Jesus and what the Scriptures say about him. But we can also do that by sharing our own experiences of seeing Jesus and the change seeing him has made to us and our lives. And we can let people see Jesus in us by what we do in our lives. But we’ll be better able to do that if we can see Jesus in our lives ourselves. If we can see each situation through his eyes and see what it is he would do in each situation.
So, for example, when it seems that everyone is pointing the finger of blame or accusation at someone, do we go with the flow and join in with the clamour of the crowd? Or do we take time to stop and think, to consider what more there might be to the situation, and then ask what that might be before we rush into judgement on people? We know what Jesus did when he was confronted with a crowd of people shouting for a woman to be stoned to death; so we know what we should do in those situations.
If we find ourselves in a position of authority, do we allow that to go to our heads and use it as an excuse to throw our weight around, perhaps even to settle a few scores? Or do we remember what Jesus said about ‘Lording it over people’, about true greatness, about humility and forgiveness, and act according to his teaching and example?
It’s said that we all enjoy a bit of gossip and scandal and perhaps that’s true; but should we? When we hear a hint of gossip or scandal, do we encourage it because we’re hungry for more? Are we gossips and scandal mongers ourselves? Or, when we hear gossip and scandal and are tempted to join in with it ourselves, do we take the time to stop and think before we speak? Do we take the time to consider the harm our careless words might cause to those we’re talking about? Do we give ourselves the time to recall Jesus’ warning that we will have to give an account of what we say and that our words will either justify or condemn us?
If we want to show Jesus in our lives, we have to act in the way that Jesus did and said that we should. If our words and actions are contrary to Jesus’ teaching and example, how can we possibly show him in our lives? The answer is that we can’t and don’t. And so if we want to show Jesus in our lives, we have to see Jesus in each and every situation we find ourselves in. We have to try to see what Jesus would do in that situation and then do what he would do. It’s not easy, but that’s what we have to try to do, always. That is what it means to see Jesus in our lives and to show Jesus in our lives. It’s what it means to be a light in the world, and I suppose it’s why being a Christian is like being a pumpkin lantern.
Amen.
The Propers for the 30th Sunday of Ordinary Time can be viewed here.
Parish Church of St Mark Chadderton 