The Shepherd’s Voice

Readings for Sunday, October 25^th
Jer 31:7-9
Heb 7:23-28
Mk 10:46-52

The Shepherd’s Voice – Sermon Audio

P. T. Forsyth said, “Prayerlessness is the worst sin, because it bespeaks as nothing else does, that root of all sin: ‘For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him’ ” (Rom. 1:21).
I must confess my prayerlessness the way Kierkegaard. confessed his sins:
Father in heaven! Hold not our sins up against us but hold us up against our sins, so that the thought of Thee when it wakens in our soul, and each time it wakens, should not remind us of what we have committed but of what Thou didst forgive, not of how we went astray but of how Thou didst save us!

A Time for Imagination:
A snake and a rabbit are racing along a pair of intersecting forest paths one day, when they collide. Immediately they began to argue with one another as to who was at fault for the mishap.
When the snake remarked that he had been blind since birth, and thus should have been given leeway on the path, the rabbit said that he, too, had been blind since birth. Pretty soon they were commiserating concerning the problems of being blind.
The snake regretted his loss of identity. He had never seen his reflection in the water, and for that reason did not know exactly what he looked like, or for that matter what he was. The rabbit declared I have the same problem. Seeing a way that they could help each other, the rabbit proposed that one feel the other from head to toe, in order to describe what the other animal was, what they looked like.
The snake agreed, and started by winding himself around the rabbit. After a few moments, he announced, “You’ve got very soft, fuzzy fur, long ears, big rear feet, and a little fuzzy ball for a tail. I think people call you a bunny rabbit!”
The rabbit was much relieved to find his identity, and proceeded to return the favor to the snake. After feeling about the snake’s body for a few minutes, he asserted, “Well, you’re scaly, you’re slick, you’ve got little beady eyes, you squirm and slither all the time, and you’ve got a forked tongue. I think people would call you a lawyer!”
When we are blind to this world it limits our ability to understand it. Being blind is not, however, always a disadvantage as we see shall from our gospel story today.

Today I want you to pretend you are a beggar, spread out so it feels like your are sitting alone, along side of the road. Imagine what might you be hearing? Not to worry, you’re not going to bump into a snake or even a rabbit for that matter.

Close your eyes, not your minds now, just your eyes. I want you to just sit for a moment with you eyes closed, sitting here in the presence of God and one another and allowing yourself to listen. Keep your ears open for sounds. If you’re someone who can’t keep their eyes closed, put your hand over your eyes, make sure they stay closed, just sit and listen.

There are some people walking by, talking. It sounds like a crowd of some sort. You’ve been a beggar for a number of years so you are seasoned at it. What are the people saying in the crowd? Listen for clues.
You hear the voice of someone who speaks with authority. Yesterday someone had mentioned to you that Jesus of Nazareth was in the neighborhood. Keep those eyes closed!

You’re a beggar, you have no way to get to the healer, but you have heard a lot about him.

You had heard that Jesus was a practical man of mercy. (Mark 9:40-42) Someone was casting out demons in Jesus name and the disciples tried to stop him, but Jesus said, “Whoever is not against us is for us” in the kingdom of God. Think about togetherness.

At a later time Jesus said don’t cause one of the new followers to fall away, “Don’t be a stumbling block.” “If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off.” Remember how those words kind of echoed in your ears when you heard them.

You knew Jesus was also a compassionate man. He had told his disciples to let the little children come; Jesus said the kingdom of heaven belongs to them. Who’s in the kingdom anyway? Can we all be part of the kingdom? I want to be in the kingdom….

But you’re are a blind beggar, keep those eyes closed. This healer, this man of compassion is in town, but you can’t see. How are you going to find him? How are you going to get there so you can be healed?
There is a crowd walking by, you can hear that. You yell out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” People tell you to be quite, but that just gets you more anxious, more scared, more distraught. You want to be healed, but you can’t see, it’s not fair.
You cry out more loudly that ever, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” Wait, do you hear a response, off in the distance. “Call him here.” What’s going on?
Someone grabs you by the arm and says, get up, come with us.
Is this your big moment, your chance of a lifetime or is someone dragging you off the road, out of the way, out of sight. Where are you going? What’s happening, you can’t see?

Then someone says to you “Take heart; get up, (Jesus) he is calling you.” It’s almost time to have your eyes opened, but not quite yet.

Jesus starts talking to you; he says “What do you want me to do for you?” Your thinking, ok this is the moment I’ve been waiting for.

Think about it, what do you really want? If your eyes are opened you’re going to have to go to work. You’re going to have to become productive. You can’t beg any more.

Next thing you know people will want you to be a contributor to society, to your family, to the church. Are you ready for that kind of change? Your whole life will be reformed, remade, recast. What are you going to do Bartimaeus, son of Timaeus?

Do you really want to see God, see this Jesus who is able to heal and change lives? Your life is going to be different from this moment on.

Jesus had earlier told others, many who were looking for change that “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.”
What are you going to do Bartimaeus? Can you deny yourself, take up your cross and follow? Is that possible? Can you do it? Think about it…

Bartimaeus, you’re not worthy to become a disciple of Jesus Christ. Jesus asked James and John, “Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” Jesus is asking you, Bartimaeus, are you able to drink this bitter cup, your whole life will change. What’s that you say, Bartimaeus?

“My teacher, let me see again.”

“Go; your faith has made you well.” Open your eyes right now if you want to see Jesus. If you want to be changed, renewed, recast, reformed into God’s image.

Martin Luther’s first items on the 95 Theses –
1. When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, “Repent” [Matt. 4:17], he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.

Reforming of our lives is the very gift that God the father, the creator, the Spirit of all creation gives us as we open our eyes. We are being born again, being renewed and being remade as God gives us healing, hope and health.

As we open our eyes once again we see God the Son, Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus the healer, the very Lamb of God that was sacrificed on a cross for our sin calling us to renewal. Jesus, the one who rose from the dead and became our confidant, our emissary to the Father wants us to have a relationship with the Father, the God of life.

Open your eyes once again and see the Spirit of God at work in Word and Sacrament, in binding the church together in love, changing hearts and minds for the sake of the gospel and for the sake of God’s kingdom here on earth, and most of all for your sake.

“Go; your faith has made you well.”

Amen

Father in heaven! Hold not our sins up against us but hold us up against our sins, so that the thought of Thee when it wakens in our soul, and each time it wakens, should not remind us of what we have committed but of what Thou didst forgive, not of how we went astray but of how Thou didst save us!

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