“From Speech To Vision”

“From Speech To Vision”

Text: Mark 10:46-52

© October 29, 2006 by C. Edward Bowen

Back in the 1600s, most churches didn’t have hymn books in the pews. They were too expensive. Instead, most churches had only one hymnal. And so when it came time to sing during the service, a worship leader would “line out” the hymn. That meant that the worship leader would stand up in front and read or sing the first line of the song to the congregation, and the people would sing that line back. Then the worship leader would read the second line of the song, and the people would sing that second line, and so on, back and forth.

Well, it seems that on a particular Sunday morning back in the 1600s an Episcopal church in New England gathered for worship, and when it came time to sing, an elderly deacon with failing eyesight stood up to line out the first hymn. But between the bad lighting in the sanctuary and his own poor eyesight, the deacon wasn’t able to make out the words to the song. So he looked up at the people and said, “My eyes, they are blind.” But the people, figuring that those words were the first line of the hymn, sang back, “My eyes, they are blind.” The deacon sputtered, “No, I cannot see!” And in unison, the people sang back, “No, I cannot see.” The deacon, of course, was getting exasperated with what was going on and said, “You are all bewitched!” But when the congregation repeated those words as well, he knew the situation was hopeless, and he just gave up and sat down without daring to say another word.[1]

There were certainly times when Bartimaeus too must have felt exasperated. Sitting day after day by the side of the dusty road, his blind eyes unable to tell who passed by in front of him, having to rely on people’s pity and charity to survive from one day to the next. But even though life was by no means easy for Bartimaeus, he never gave up hope.

Helen Keller, the woman who was not only blind but also deaf, once said that there is something far worse than being blind – and that is to be able to see, but to have no vision.[2] Although Bartimaeus was blind, he definitely had vision. He had the vision to understand that the way that things were for him and for the world were not the way they always had to be.

And so that’s why he shouted out to Jesus. That’s why he shouted out to Jesus and called him “Son of David.” David, of course, was the greatest and most famous king in Israel’s history. And so by calling Jesus “Son of David,” Bartimaeus was calling Jesus a descendant of David, a rightful heir to David’s throne. By calling Jesus “Son of David,” Bartimaeus was calling Jesus a king, and he was begging Jesus to make his kingdom a reality here on earth – a kingdom that Bartimaeus believed would involve bringing an end to blindness and disease, that would involve bringing an end to poverty and hunger, that would involve bringing an end to war and oppression. It was a kingdom that Bartimaeus believed would involve bringing an end to all the injustices that exist in the world. Even though he was blind, that was the vision that Bartimaeus had – that Jesus would establish his heavenly kingdom here on earth. And because Bartimaeus had the faith and the courage to speak up about his vision, God acted in his life and he received his sight.

But you know what? Each week when we pray the Lord’s Prayer, aren’t we making the same basic request that Bartimaeus did, when we pray, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”? In other words, we’re saying, “God, let your kingdom come and be established here on earth. Overthrow the current powers-that-be that are pursuing their own agendas, that cause people to languish and suffer, and set up your kingdom in their place and make this world the way that you, O God, want it to be.”

You see, that’s why, when Bartimaeus shouted out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me,” the crowds around him told him to be quiet. They weren’t silencing him because they didn’t want Jesus to heal him. No, they tried to silence him because he was calling Jesus “Son of David,” because he was calling Jesus a king. And so they tried to silence him because they knew that if the emperor, Caesar, or if anyone in his government got wind that someone was calling for an end to Caesar’s rule in order to replace Caesar’s rule with someone else’s rule – even if they were calling to replace Caesar’s rule with God’s rule – then that person, and anyone associated with him, would be as good as dead.

After all, those first Christians weren’t persecuted, arrested, and killed for their religious views. Most governments couldn’t care less about how you pray, or how often you pray, or even what you believe when it comes to God. No, those first Christians weren’t persecuted, arrested, and killed by the Romans because of their religious views, but because of their political views. They were persecuted, arrested, and killed because they refused to pledge allegiance to Caesar – they refused to say that Caesar was their Lord, because they believed that Jesus was their only true Lord.[3]

And so those first Christians dared to speak about the vision they had of what the world would be like if Caesar wasn’t in charge, but God was. They dared to speak about the vision they had of what the world would be like if God’s kingdom came, and God’s ways ruled here on earth. But, of course, Caesar didn’t like having his kingdom and his ways challenged, and so many times Caesar had those first Christians persecuted, arrested, and killed for daring to speak about a vision that was different from the vision that he wanted people to have.

Unfortunately, some things don’t change. For instance, out in California right now, an Episcopal church is in a huge scuffle with the federal government and the Internal Revenue Service. You see, according to the law, in order for a church to maintain its status as a non-profit, tax-exempt organization, a church cannot endorse particular political parties or candidates nor can a church hand out literature for a politician. In other words, if I were to stand up here on a Sunday morning and say, “You know, I think you all should go out and vote for Rick Santorum for senator,” or “I think you should all elect Ed Rendell as governor,” we could potentially lose our tax-exempt status, which would probably mean an end to the church.

But even though the All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena obeyed the law and didn’t endorse any particular candidates, the Internal Revenue Service is still going after them. At issue is a sermon that was preached there shortly before the 2004 presidential election. And in that sermon, the minister’s message was mainly about peace. After all, Jesus is referred to as the Prince of Peace, when Jesus was born the angels sang about peace on earth, and according to the Gospel of John, the first word that the risen Jesus spoke to his disciples was “peace.” It’s not stretching things to say that peace is a central message of the Bible, that peace is a central message of the Christian faith.

But the IRS is saying, “How dare you preach about peace in the week before an election? How dare you preach about peace when our nation is at war? If you preach about peace right before an election, you might end up influencing how people are going to vote, and we’re not going to stand for that. So we’re going to take away your tax-exempt status – we’re going to put you out of business.”[4]

Do you appreciate how chilling that is? If the IRS prevails and if the courts end up ruling that churches can’t talk about peace anymore because it’s too political, what’s next? Are churches going to be barred from talking about marriage? Because with gay marriages and debates about who can and can’t get married, marriage is becoming a political issue. So does that mean that churches are going to have to stop talking about marriage?

Or the Bible speaks a lot about how immigrants are supposed to be treated. Is that subject going to be off limits for churches because it’s too political? Or the Bible speaks a lot about how the poor and the hungry are to be treated. Is that subject going to be off limits because it’s too political? Where would it end?

Fortunately that church in California is vigorously defending itself against the IRS. But it goes to show that when Christians dare to speak out about the vision they have for the world, a vision where God’s kingdom and God’s ways rule here on earth, you have to expect that the powers-that-be aren’t going to sit idly by. No, they’re going to do what they can to silence those voices and blot out that vision.

As some of you are aware, today is known as Reformation Sunday. The reason for that is because back in October of 1517, the Roman Catholic priest named Martin Luther walked up to the church in his town and nailed a list 95 complaints onto the church’s front door. And among the things that Luther was concerned about was the practice of selling indulgences. You see, at that time the pope in Rome was trying to raise a ton of money to finish construction of St. Peter’s Basilica. And when he saw that not enough money was coming in to fund the work, he came up with an idea – he would sell indulgences.

According to Catholic theology in that day, when people died, they didn’t go straight to heaven. No, first they had to go to purgatory, where, in essence, their sins would be burned away so that they then could be made pure enough to enter heaven. And the thinking was that many people would have to spend tens or even hundreds of years in purgatory before they would be admitted into heaven. So the pope told people that for a sizable donation, he would use his authority as pope to release family members from purgatory and allow them into heaven. And so many people were guilted into buying indulgences – because if you didn’t, it looked like you were too cheap to spend the money to get your dearly departed loved ones into heaven.

And so Martin Luther basically came along and said, “Come on! What’s going on? If the pope really had the ability to move people straight from purgatory into heaven, why wouldn’t he do that for free? Why are you pulling this scam on the people and taking advantage of them like that?”

You see, Martin Luther looked at the church of his day, and he was saddened to see that it just didn’t measure up to what he thought God wanted the church to be. And so Luther began to speak about the vision that he had for the church, a vision where God’s kingdom and God’s ways would truly rule.

But the powers-that-be – the pope and the bishops, the ones who benefited from the way that things were – didn’t exactly appreciate Luther’s vision. And when Luther refused to take his words back, the pope signed a death warrant, authorizing any Catholic who could find Luther to kill him. As a result, Luther had to spend the rest of his days in a region of Germany where the local princes agreed with his views and promised to protect him. But because Martin Luther and others had the faith and the courage to speak up, the Christian church was forever changed, changed for the better.

The next hymn that we’re going to sing this morning, “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” may be familiar to some but not to others. But in black churches across the country, “Lift Every Voice and Sing” is probably one of the most-well-known and most-well-loved hymns they know. It was originally written by an African American poet named James Weldon Johnson to be used as part of a celebration of Abraham Lincoln’s birthday in February of 1900.

But in 1900, life wasn’t generally good for black people in the United States. Yes, slavery had been officially ended, but racism was still alive and well with the Ku Klux Klan, rampant discrimination, and an ever growing number of lynchings of black people. But in writing this hymn, “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” James Weldon Johnson was inviting the country to catch a vision of what the nation would be like if God’s kingdom and God’s ways ruled here on earth. He was inviting the country to catch a vision of what the nation would be like if we allowed ourselves to be guided by God’s ways of justice, love, fairness, and liberty for all. Johnson realized that it wouldn’t be any easy journey to achieve that vision, but he believed that if the people didn’t give up on God, God would see them through. And because black leaders like James Weldon Johnson and others had the faith and the courage to speak up, our nation eventually was changed, changed for the better.

What is the vision that God has for our world today? What would our world look like if God’s kingdom and God’s ways ruled more fully than they currently do? What would our world look like if God’s kingdom truly came, if God’s will was truly done, on earth as it is in heaven? Dare to believe that vision. Dare to speak that vision. Because just like Bartimaeus discovered, if we believe, if we have faith, there is no limit to what God is able to do.