The Guiding Question

Psalm 34: 1-14; Mark 10: 46-52, by Rev. Carson Overstreet
Van Wyck Presbyterian Church
October 25, 2015
Reformation Sunday


I will bless the Lord at all times;
his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
My soul makes its boast in the Lord;
let the humble hear and be glad.
O magnify the Lord with me,
and let us exalt his name together.

I sought the Lord, and he answered me,
and delivered me from all my fears.
Look to him, and be radiant;
so your faces shall never be ashamed.
This poor soul cried, and was heard by the Lord,
and was saved from every trouble.
The angel of the Lord encamps
around those who fear him, and delivers them.
O taste and see that the Lord is good;
happy are those who take refuge in him.
O fear the Lord, you his holy ones,
for those who fear him have no want.
The young lions suffer want and hunger,
but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.

Come, O children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
Which of you desires life,
and covets many days to enjoy good?
Keep your tongue from evil,
and your lips from speaking deceit.
Depart from evil, and do good;
seek peace, and pursue it. - Psalm 34: 1-14

They came to Jericho. As [Jesus] and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’ Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me!’ Jesus stood still and said, ‘Call him here.’ And they called the blind man, saying to him, ‘Take heart; get up, he is calling you.’ So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. Then Jesus said to him, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ The blind man said to him, ‘My teacher, let me see again.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Go; your faith has made you well.’ Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way. - Mark 10: 46-52


He was searching. The text says he was sitting on the side of the road. His story is short. He had a family. At one time in his life he could see. Maybe he had used all of his resources in hopes to regain his sight. Whatever had happened, he was left pandering for hope from anyone who might help. As soon as Bartimaeus heard that Jesus was on the scene, he desperately tried to get Jesus’ attention. His eagerness caused Jesus to stand still. And then the question came: “What do you want me to do for you?” (Mark 10:51). Knowing Jesus embodied the power of God, Bartimaeus asked to see again. His sight was restored as Jesus proclaimed that Bartimaeus’ faith – his trust in God – made him well. And then he followed Jesus as a disciple on the way.

The text today reminds me of another man who would probably say that he was blind at one time in his life. His name was Martin Luther. He was a native of Germany born in 1483. He had a family but his childhood was filled with memories of harsh and even severe discipline. It had such an effect upon him that Luther had a haunting desire to know the goodness of God. You see Luther had a difficult time seeing God as anything but a judge of the heart. As he walked through life, all roads led to either salvation or damnation.

Luther’s quest to find the peace of God’s salvation guided his decisions to become a monk and a priest. He spent much of his time and spiritual resources striving to be obedient to God. He labored over his studies and prayers. The more he studied and prayed the more he saw his own sinful darkness. And through all of his efforts Luther could not find a satisfactory answer to his question; if God holds us accountable for sin, how are we to truly see the love and grace of God?

The abbot whom Luther confided in knew Luther’s deep spiritual struggle. One day the abbot had a new plan for Luther’s searching. He asked Luther to teach the Scriptures at the University of Wittenberg in Germany. Luther accepted the opportunity. As Luther began the preparations for his teaching, the Word of God opened up to him in new ways. His study of Romans changed his life. Luther pulled apart the words of Romans 1:17, “For [in the gospel] the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith, as it is written, “The one who is righteous will live by faith.”

Have you ever had an experience where the Word of God really spoke to you? As Luther studied those words from Romans, maybe he heard Christ asking the same question Bartimaeus was asked: ‘What do you want me to do for you?” It was as if the Spirit of God stood still as Luther begged to spiritually see the love and grace of God in the text and in his life. The Word of God moved Luther to know that the forgiveness we receive through God’s righteousness is given by God as a free gift of grace. Faith and forgiveness through Jesus Christ are God’s work and there is nothing you and I can do to earn it. We are saved by grace through faith. In our brokenness Christ is enough because God loves us. That was freeing for Luther.*

During Luther’s time the only church that existed was the Catholic Church. His theological discovery from Paul’s letter of Romans was in conflict with the sixteenth century church’s teaching on forgiveness or penitence. In those days, one had to earn forgiveness through the sale of indulgences, or coins to purchase forgiveness from the priest.

Luther used his new spiritual sight to create a wider discussion about this and wrote the famous 95 theses, or guiding questions, for his colleagues in faith. Luther hoped forgiveness would be interpreted in a new way – solely through the Word of God in light of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He nailed his 95 theses to the door of the church in Wittenberg on October 31, 1517 and those questions caused a spiritual stirring. Luther’s spiritual struggles and new spiritual sight culminated into what we call the “Protestant Reformation.” We remember Luther’s story each year on the last Sunday in October as Reformation Sunday. It was a day that slowly began the shift of the church breaking away into a number of Protestant denominations. Reformations have continued to pulse through history and into the present day. Today Pope Francis is leading a new reformation in the Catholic Church for Christians to see the marginalized through ministries of compassion as Christ did.

Martin Luther’s new spiritual sight upheld “the Word of God as the starting point and the final authority”* instead of any priest or spiritual leader of the church. Jesus Christ, the incarnate Word of God, is the One who searches our hearts and minds. Jesus Christ is the One who embraces our joys and struggles with compassion. Jesus Christ is the One who offers us new life through the cross and empty tomb. Jesus Christ is the One who restores our spiritual sight when we cannot see beyond our brokenness. Jesus Christ empowers us to see and walk towards the goodness of God, the way of our Teacher and Savior, and the power of the Holy Spirit.

Just as Bartimaeus and Martin Luther experienced times of blindness, we encounter spiritual blindness too. We experience seasons of difficulty where there is an obstacle that we cannot move past. It is a situation that creates difficulty truly seeing the love and grace of God. Family relationships are strained and there seems to be no clear path ahead to reach towards forgiving hurts. The nature of our work changes significantly with our employer and we no longer find a sense of joy or purpose in the daily grind. The diagnosis comes with uncertainty that overwhelms our faith that once felt so secure.

We encounter spiritual blindness in the stories of the larger church and world too. Pew polls say that the overall church is declining which creates fear for the church’s future. The media daily confronts us with the reality of growing racial tensions and school shootings that push us to consider what it means to be our brother’s keeper. The political arena asks if there is anyone with a sincere spirit of integrity that might lead the people.

And through all of our searching to truly see the love and grace of God, we find ourselves sitting along the path of life. We become dismayed and we can’t see past our sinful darkness. And then we hear Mark's good news that Jesus is still on the scene. Trust that through the difficulty that you are experiencing in your life that Christ is here. Trust that through the troubles our world continues to face that Christ is present. Jesus Christ comes to us in the midst of our searching. If we might be still enough to listen to the Word then we just may hear the guiding question. The Word speaks into our lives asking, “What do you want me to do for you?”

Will we confess our spiritual blindness and ask to see God’s possibility? Will we humble ourselves and trust God is working in the silence and difficult places to reshape our understanding of faith and God, of ourselves and the world?
In a recent article this past week in Relevant Magazine, pastor Tom Hughes says:

Questions alone do not have the power to deepen our relationship with God. However, they are often the way in which God invites us to discover some things about God or ourselves. God will then use those questions to move us into a deeper relationship with God. A prayerfully curious and humble faith that is willing to live into the answers one day at a time will over time become a deep faith that sustains us even in the most trying of times. *

May we listen to the guiding question Jesus Christ is asking. It is not a trivial question. It begs for our deep reflection. In the spirit of the Reformation, may we engage the ongoing struggle towards new spiritual sight through Jesus Christ. The Incarnate Word is searching our hearts so that we might see the love and grace of God working through the obstacles of life. Each time we gain new spiritual sight it is a gift of being reformed and reshaped by the goodness of God, the Word of Christ, and the power of Holy Spirit. As our eyes are opened, may we have the courage to follow Christ with a growing obedience and a deepening trust in this Way we call faith.

We trust this to God and God alone. Amen.

Sources:

Justo Gonzalez, “The Story of Christianity Volume 2: The Reformation to the Present Day” (New York: Harper One, 1985), pp. 14-32.

Tom Hughes, “Four Questions That Will Deepen Your Understanding of God,” Relevant Magazine, October 19, 2015 http://www.relevantmagazine.com/god/practical-faith/4-questions-will-deepen-your-understanding-god