The Way of Exclusion

The following is adapted and updated from a sermon preached at Bright Star UMC on October 28, 2018, and based on Mark 10:46–52.

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I wonder if you can picture it. Jesus has been traveling with his disciples around the countryside teaching, performing miracles, and challenging the religious authorities of his day. In the last 2 chapters of Mark, there has been not one but two feeding miracles, multiple accounts of healing, and more than one conversation with Pharisees and other authorities questioning Jesus about his beliefs and understanding of Scripture. As the stories about Jesus spread, more and more people were following him and coming to him for help and healing. These people heard the stories about Jesus and came to him with hope.

And yet, those closest to him were having trouble recognizing all that he was trying to teach them. The disciples have been blind to all that Jesus is trying to show them. They have failed to hear what Jesus is telling them about what is to come. They don't understand why he would need to go to Jerusalem. They don’t get what he means when he speaks of the coming resurrection that will follow. They don’t really understand the consequences of following Jesus. They argue over who is the greatest amongst them. They want to sit on the right and the left hand in the kingdom to come.

Over and over, they fail to see the kingdom that Jesus is showing them right now. They are only able to see in terms of the world they have known. And in the world they have lived in, there are winners and there are losers, those on top and those on the bottom, the Romans and the conquered. They have been on the bottom for so long; with the Messiah here, they figure they finally get to be on top. The disciples, the bulk of the crowds following Jesus, and even the religious and civil authorities are mainly paying attention because they cannot see the truth of the kingdom that Jesus is promising them all.


Instead, it seems clear that at least to a certain degree, they are following Jesus because they do not see. Jesus is preaching change and healing, which from the point of view of the disciples and crowds can only be good. After all, when you are on the bottom, “different” sure sounds good. But as we have seen, they are still thinking in term of those who have put them down to begin with. If change is coming, it must mean we get to be on top.

That is what makes the healing of Bartimaeus so important. Bartimaeus, blind and forced into a life of begging, sees what the disciples and others have failed to see. He hears the stories about Jesus and is filled with hope, not out of some desire to be on top again but for a chance at healing. This is important for several reasons. First, as a blind man, he is something of an outcast, existing on the fringes of society. No trade exists for him to provide for himself. He does not appear to have any family supporting him. He is subject to taunting and mistreatment from those that pass by him on the road everyday. He is unable to be an active part of the community.

Additionally, his lack of physical sight means he is unable even to see who it is that is coming. He has not seen Jesus traveling the countryside and teaching and healing. He only knows the stories he has heard. Like us, he could not physically see Jesus. But he was able to “see” the spirit of God in the stories that he heard. He knew that Jesus had healed others, so he had hope that his sight could be restored.

Yet, unlike the disciples, this blind man is not seeking to be on top. He does not ask for riches or greatness. He doesn’t even ask to be removed from the dirt in which he is sitting. He simply asks for sight. In the simplicity of his request, he has seen more clearly than the disciples who have followed Jesus for some time were able to do. The role of the Messiah is restoration and community, not putting one group on top of another.

Now, I could just stop here or maybe even spend a bit more time wrestling with this idea of blindness. And while this inability of the disciples and others to see what Jesus was teaching them is important, it is not the only theme present in the last few chapters of Mark. One other important theme over the last few weeks of lectionary readings has been the push to define who is in and who is out.

As chapter 10 opens, we read about a group of Pharisees questioning Jesus whether it is lawful for a man to divorce his wife. The text tells us they were trying to test him. They wanted to try to catch Jesus and get him either to admit to being on their side or to portray him as an enemy. In their world, there were not many options open to divorced women. Most women had little status aside from their relationship to their husband or their oldest male relative. So instead of answering directly, Jesus turns the question around and asks them what Moses said. When they say that Moses allowed for a man to divorce his wife Jesus points out that this was not God’s desire but rather this was a concession to the hardheartedness of men. After walking away from the Pharisees, Jesus doubles down on his condemnation of men stating that divorcing their wives and marrying another is for the man to commit adultery, a charge normally brought against women. In the gospel of Matthew, he goes even further, suggesting that men should instead pluck out their own eyes if they feel tempted by the sight of someone else.

This interaction with the Pharisees and the disciples is immediately followed by a short bit about parents bringing their little children to be touched and blessed by Jesus. But the disciples speak sternly to them, no doubt suggesting they keep their children quiet and orderly and away from the teacher. As with wives, children had no real standing of their own only having worth relative to their parents. So the disciples try to keep them away from Jesus. But Jesus ignores convention yet again by telling them to allow the children to come to him. Not stopping there, he goes on to raise up the faith of children as the ideal for all.

Mark 10 closes with the story of Bartimaeus. The story begins with Bartimaeus shouting out for mercy when he learns that it is Jesus passing nearby with the crowds. The text tells us that many ordered him to be quiet. It is not clear if this was again the disciples trying to control access to Jesus or if it was other members of the crowd, but ultimately that doesn't really matter. Remember, Bartimaeus is a blind man and a beggar. Then as now, this placed him on the margins of society. He probably owned not much more than the cloak he was sitting on, and he was surely filthy from sitting along the side of the road. Why would Jesus pay attention to him? Just hush!

Those around Jesus, those who had gathered to follow him, were still thinking in terms of who gets to be in and who gets to be out. So maybe this is still related to their own inability to see after all.

But Jesus hears. He hears this man ask for mercy, for the ability to see once again. Then Bartimaeus is immediately healed. Jesus breaks down both the barrier of his blindness as well as the barrier that others had tried to place around him. Not only is his sight restored, but he can once again become a part of the community.

There is no loser in the story. Bartimaeus regained his sight, but no one was diminished by his gain.

Over and over, Jesus breaks down the barriers to inclusion that others have erected. He raised up those on the fringes, those considered lowly and without status in their culture, and made them an equal part of the kingdom that he was ushering in. If men wanted to divorce, it was not the fault of their wives. The faith of children is a model for us all. The blind beggar is a recipient of God’s mercy who is restored to the community.

With the Resurrection, the disciples finally begin to understand what Jesus meant. Once they see the truth in what Jesus was teaching them - the suffering that would come as well as the Resurrection after three days - they are also able to begin to understand the nature of God’s kingdom, a kingdom with room for all - not just adult men, not just the Jewish people, not just those already included in a particular community. A kingdom for all - no longer Jew or Greek, no longer slave or free, no longer male or female. All.

And what of us? Do we have eyes to see and ears to hear? Are there places in our lives where we try to keep away those that would come to Christ? Are there places in our communities where we still try to define who is in and who is out? 

In the not so distant history of the Church (and of my own United Methodist Church), we have disagreed, sometimes violently, over the place of those brought to the Americas in slavery in the kingdom of God. We have used biblical arguments to justify their enslavement, to satisfy ourselves that we were morally right in our treatment, and failing to recognize our shared humanity. We fought long against ordaining women to ministry and treating them as equals to their male peers. Even today, there are places that refuse to accept women in ordained ministry.

And today, there are those that deny the full inclusion of LGBTQ+ persons within the church. This applies to membership and especially to ministry. As with past times of exclusion, many of the same arguments and appeals to scripture are made. Why do we continue to try to define who is in and who is out? Why do we still stand in the way of those that would know Christ? Just as surely as always, Christ is seeking to break down the barriers we keep building.

And this is just within the walls of the Church. This doesn't even get into the suffering in the world around us caused by the divisions we create and then slap God's name on to cover our own biases and hate - hatred based on the amount of melanin in a person's skin and where they grew up, hatred based on how people understand their relationship to God that happens to be different from what someone else does. Doesn't the same answer from Jesus apply here?

Like all of Jesus’ followers since the very beginning, we sometimes have a difficult time understanding the radical love that Jesus taught us. We still have a difficult time believing that Jesus is calling all into relationship - yes, even “those people” over there - people who may look different from you, people who may love differently from you, people who may believe differently than you. We have a difficult time realizing that in Jesus’ eyes there is no us and them, there are only God’s children - no matter the gender, no matter the color, no matter how they worship God.

And that is a good thing, too. I don't know about you, but I’m not sure I would be in the “in” crowd if we relied on human understandings of who gets to be in and who gets to be out. I know that I have fallen short of certain things in life. I know that I do not always measure up to the ideals we are constantly bombarded with. Which of us would be included if it were up to the definitions that humans make?

Thankfully, Jesus calls to us anyway. This is the good news of the story - it’s not up to our criteria, our definitions. We are all invited. Jesus reaches out to us all.

As I reflected on this passage, I was reminded of a picture I have seen floating around Facebook recently. The image shows some people climbing over a wall and includes an amusing but somewhat pointed little story.

  

(Image description: A picture of people climbing over a wall with white text over it which reads, "Saint Peter and the Angel Gabriel had a problem. Peter was sorting people at the Pearly Gates letting some in and keeping others out, but Gabriel was finding more people in heaven than Peter was letting in. They were befuddled. Gabriel told Peter to keep working and he'd get to the bottom of this. A few hours later he came back and told Peter not to worry; he'd figured it out. "It's Jesus. He's pulling people in over the wall."" (from The God Article on Facebook)

Jesus is pulling people in over the wall. I don't know about you, but that is some of the best news I have heard in a while. Thanks be to God.