Road Trip

October 25, 2009

Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost
Mark 10:46-52
The Reverend Stephen P. Bauman

Listen to this sermon.

Bartimaeus, son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, wanted to see. He called out to Jesus who was on his way to Jerusalem. The crowds told him to keep quiet, but Bartimaeus, son of Timaeus called out all the louder, “Jesus, have mercy on me!” Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” And Bartimaeus, son of Timaeus replied, “Let me see.”

Unlike every other healing story in Mark’s gospel, this one names the person who was healed. Over the years commentators have said this naming suggests that Bartimaeus, son of Timaeus was still known within the Christian community at the time of the gospel’s writing. Unlike most all the others who cross Jesus’ path seeking his help, Bartimaeus is remembered. The clue for the reason why is in the last sentence in his short story. “Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.” In other words, once Jesus caused him to “see”, Bartimaeus, son of Timaeus, became one of the first disciples. [1] And he followed Jesus on the way.

That’s how Mark describes the gospel – it’s “the way.” To have faith in Jesus and what he teaches is to follow him on “the way.” And Mark’s gospel is largely presented as a journey. Sort of a 1st century version of a road epic. Do you remember Jack Kerouac’s famous autobiographical novel, On the Road? Written in 1951 it has been regarded as one of the 100 best novels of the last century. Ever since, road stories have been ubiquitous in art, literature and popular culture fight up to MTV’s reality show, Real World Road Rules Challenge.

Jesus’ road story was less personally and culturally narcissistic and led to a very different set of outcomes than Kerouac’s, who ultimately died of complications from alcoholism, but it followed a pattern of moving out of his hometown into many adventures and a surprise ending. Bartimaeus, son of Timaeus gained his sight from Jesus and then followed him all the way to the end of his journey and beyond. Bartimaeus, son of Timaeus went the distance. As a result, he was written into the story of Jesus’ road trip.

In another time, in a very different land and under a different set of circumstances, Stephen, son of Melvin and Adeline, also desired to gain his sight. And at some point along the road after leaving home he also encountered Jesus who shined a bright light on Stephen’s life and world that burned away part of the cataracts blurring his vision and then invited him to follow the way.

Having gained a bit of clarity Stephen set out in fits and starts to do that. Years later it brought him into the company of Javier, son of Manuel and Martha, and a whole roomful of others like…. Wanting to gain at least 20/20 vision on their lives, they banded together to follow the way, believing Jesus might be the Great Illuminator.

Sometimes this band of travelers were enamored by what Jesus might give them – peace of mind, a problem-free existence, plenty of good stuff, a cherished role in God’s kingdom, or just plain happiness and good times. But then often they heard Jesus calling them to rejoin him on the way, sharing the road again on his journey to Jerusalem and beyond. And they wondered about this, wondered about the difference between wanting stuff and things on their terms and Jesus’ desire for them to follow the way.

Sometimes they wondered if they really wanted to fully “see” in the manner of Jesus. Did they really want to see their lives without benefit of snazzy filters and fake settings and scenery? And were a few cataracts all that bad anyway given the ubiquity of suffering and every sort of difficulty in the world? And where was Jesus headed, anyway? What was up with what went down in Jerusalem? Maybe some version of tunnel vision or uncorrectable myopia wouldn’t be so bad after all.

But then with the little sight they had already gained, they knew the truth would have its way and day whether or not they chose to see it. And so they continued the journey, discovering that joy erupted from taking long draughts from deep spiritual wellsprings that were strategically placed along the road. They struggled to learn that love was the essential driver of a life well-lived and forged the bonds of deep human community.

And they discovered that there was no circumstance they encountered that was beyond the range of God’s grace. They learned how to do the more difficult thing in service of love through the agency of faith and hope. They were surprised how this journey began to re-arrange their priorities and attitudes, how their love was becoming larger than their fear.

We might call this a story-in-progress. As of yet unfinished. No way of knowing how many stand-ins for Bartimaeus, son of Timaeus may yet join the journey or slip away on some detour. In the meantime, the story continues to be written – add your name or not as you will to the band of companions on this grand road trip. And for all our sakes, It’s important to gain some clarity about the destination.

In a book entitled, Dissident Discipleship: A Spirituality of Self-Surrender, Love of God, and Love of Neighbor, David Augsberger recounts the story of one of the American saints of the last century. [2]

Clarence Jordan, the founder of Koinonia Farm, [an] interracial commune outside Americus, Georgia, grew up in a prosperous family, received [a thorough education including a graduate degree in agriculture as well as a Ph.D. in Greek] and, known for his brilliance as a writer, was en route to becoming a professor.

Instead, he left [home and the academy and went on a road trip establishing] an interracial community in segregated Georgia [about the same time Jack Kerouac was accumulating experience and Melvin and Adeline gave birth to Stephen.] Opposition [to Jordan’s band of friends] was not unexpected, but it was led by his own people, the Southern Baptist Church that eventually excommunicated the whole Koinonia Community. The charges leveled against them read: “Said members…have persisted in holding services where both white and colored attend together.”

The excommunication was followed by vandalism, cross-burning, legal pressures, beatings, bombings, a comprehensive economic boycott, and shootings by snipers who aimed at any available target on the commune. Clarence turned to his brother, attorney Robert Jordan, for legal counsel and asked him to become legal representative of the Koinonia Community.

Robert, who later served as a Georgia state senator and a justice of the State Supreme Court declined. “Clarence, I can’t do that. You know my political aspirations. Why if I represented you, I might lose my job…everything I’ve got.”
[Clarence said,] “We might lose everything too, Bob.”
“It’s different for you.”
“Why is it different? I remember, it seems to me, that you and I joined the church the same Sunday as boys. I expect when we came forward the preacher asked me about the same question he did you. He asked me, ‘Do you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior?’” And I said, ‘Yes.’ What did you say?”
“Clarence, I follow Jesus up to a point.”
“Could that point by any chance be – the cross?”
“That’s right. I follow him to the cross, but not on the cross. I’m not getting myself crucified.”
“Then I don’t believe you’re a disciple. You’re an admirer of Jesus, but not a disciple of his. I think you ought to go back to the church you belong to and tell them you’re an admirer not a disciple.”
“Well now, Clarence, if everyone who felt like I do did that, we wouldn’t have a church, would we?”

I’ll let that true story just sit there without a lot of commentary, allowing you to ask your own questions and draw your own conclusions. For myself, I find it helps remove a little more of the fogginess blurring my eyesight. It helps me see myself and my situation a bit more clearly while gaining clarity on where Jesus is headed and the sort of love he practices and the awesomeness of our God who so willingly gave himself to us that we might at last become our truest selves.

Wouldn’t that be something!? Like blind Bartimaeus, son of Timaeus, each of us written into the story of Jesus’ road trip....

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[1] As suggested by Will Willimon.
[2] David Augsberger, Dissident Discipleship: A Spirituality of Self-Surrender, Love of God, and Love of Neighbor, Brazos Press, 2005.

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