Read the Lectionary Texts

I was once over at a distant hospital looking for one of our members who was a patient in the Intensive Care Unit. We don’t have many people go to that hospital so I’m not real familiar with where everything is. I explored the labyrinth of hallways, reading the signs, and finally found one that said CCU Waiting Room. Sometimes the terms CCU and ICU are used interchangeably, so I walked into the waiting room and went to the reception desk. Behind it was a little lady – ancient of days – totally absorbed reading a hot romance novel.

I said, “Excuse me.” Nothing.

“ExCUSE me?” Still nothing.

“EXCUSE ME, MA’AM?”

And she just about jumped out of her skin.

I apologized for startling her and asked if that particular patient was in the unit. She perused her list and said no, she didn’t have anyone by that name. So I said, “Is there by any chance a separate ICU?”

She said, “Yes.”

I said, “Well, could you tell me where I’ll find it?”

“On the second floor,” she answered.

“And how can I get there?” I inquired.

She said, “Well you could use the elevator.”

And just as she spoke those words, a look came across her face that seemed to say, “That was a really stupid thing to say!” But despite her best attempt to reel those words back into her mouth, she couldn’t and her face turned several shades of red.

I wonder if the disciples James and John felt the same way. You see, in the verses just preceding the ones just read for us, James and John are walking along with Jesus when they ask the Lord to do something for them. “When your kingdom comes,” they say, “give us the two top jobs. We’ll be the top dogs of heaven, one of us sitting at your right, one of us at your left!”

And right away they realize that what they’ve said is really stupid, if for no other reason than the other disciples pounce all over them for asking for such selfish things. And then Jesus piles on by saying it’s not up to him who gets what job in heaven, and besides, they shouldn’t be like those people in the world who want to lord it over everybody. If you’re going to follow me, you have to be a servant, not the Speaker of the House, Jesus says.

Oh, I bet James and John wish they could get those words back.

Then follows the story about Bartimaeus, the blind man. He is sitting there on the side of the Jericho road, begging. When he hears that Jesus and his band of disciples are coming, he begins to shout, “Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me!” The others in the crowd tell Bartimaeus to hush up. But he cries out all the more, “Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me!”

And Jesus hears the cry, and stops. He goes over to Bartimaeus and asks, “What do you want me to do for you?

“I want to see,” says Bartimaeus.

Now, mind you, James and John had just asked Jesus to do something wonderful for them, and all they got was embarrassment. Now some guy Jesus doesn’t even know is asking Jesus to do something for him. How will Jesus respond?

Jesus says to Bartimaeus, “Go, your faith has made you well.”

Hmmm….

“What do you want me to do for you?”

That’s a powerful question sitting right at the center of our faith in God.

And how we answer that question reveals an awful lot about who we are and what we believe.

 “What do you want me to do for you?”

How would you answer that question if Jesus came walking up and down the aisle today?

Rick Warren begins his best-selling book “The Purpose Driven Life” with the simple statement, “It’s not all about you.”

Life is not all about me – or you. Faith is not all about you – or me. Worship is not all about us although we like to think it is. In fact, I like the story of the person who came out of church one day and told the pastor, “I didn’t get anything out of the service today.” The pastor said, “Well that’d be too bad if the service was all about you.”

But it’s not. It’s not all about us.

And when Jesus asks the question, “What can I do for you?” our answers so often reveal our self-centered tendencies to make life and faith all about us.

“Get us a good job in heaven,” James and John say. That’s what they want Jesus to do for them.

But Bartimaeus answers differently.

Notice, first of all, how the blind man addresses Jesus. “Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me!”

Referring to Jesus as the son of David means that Bartimaeus truly believes Jesus is the Messiah, come to save the world. And calling for Jesus to have mercy is such a powerful plea. The Catholic Encyclopedia has a wonderful description of mercy. It says, “Mercy is the compassionate care for others whereby one takes on the burden of another as one’s own. It is an active quality of the virtue of charity, motivated by love.”

The Jewish understanding of the Messiah’s arrival to save us was accompanied by the belief that God’s mercy would be extended to the world, and the signs of that mercy were that the dead shall rise, the lame shall walk, and the blind shall…what?

SEE!

“What do you want me to do for you?”

“I want to see.”

You see, receiving sight will mean that the Messiah indeed has come, that mercy is at work in the world, and God’s kingdom is breaking forth for all people. Bartimaeus is asking for something that will benefit both himself and others, and bring glory to God!

Do you see the difference between James and John, and blind Bartimaeus? The two disciples cannot see beyond themselves and their own wants and needs. It’s all about them. But the blind man is in it for the WORLD, knowing that the gift of sight he will receive from Jesus will also be a gift of mercy to everyone.

“What do you want me to do for you?”

What do you want from the Lord? Do you want something that fills up your own life with goodness and blessing? An insurance policy against disaster? Getting your way in a relationship, or an inside track on a job? Maybe what you want is assurance that you’ll go to heaven when you die.

Do you want from God something that will fill your own cup, or something that fills everyone’s cup, and blesses both you and others, and brings glory to God?

That question is asked of all who would follow Jesus. “What do you want out of this?”

And this question is asked of the Church.

When construction started on our new sanctuary and the workers were preparing to take down the original Narthex building great care was taken to remove the cornerstone brick. And along with the cornerstone brick, a Time Capsule was extracted from its place within the Narthex wall.

Now Carl Burke – our church’s Founding Pastor – told me an interesting story about this Time Capsule. The new church building had risen up from the ground and the interior work was beginning. Then, one day, Carl received notice that the interior walls of the Narthex were going to go up that day and if the church wanted to place a Time Capsule, they’d better do it in the next 20-minutes or so! So Carl and a few of the church members scrambled around, trying first of all to find something that could be used as a Time Capsule. All they could come up with on such short notice was a length of PVC drain pipe – with plumbing caps on each end! How elegant! There is no end to the creativity of the people of our church!

Do you know what they placed inside that Time Capsule? Perhaps the contents will help us see how our founding members answered Jesus’ question, “What do you want me to do for you?”

Inside the Time Capsule was a brochure. This is what the brochure said:

“With focus on Christian unity and community service, our statement of faith reads: ‘We believe in God, the Father, and His Son Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Spirit. We seek to know the will of God and to walk in His ways known and to be made known to us; to proclaim the Gospel to all people, to work and pray for the progress of knowledge, the promotion of justice, the reign of peace, and human understanding. And we look with faith for the triumph of righteousness and the life everlasting.’”

The brochure goes on to say,

“We believe that service is one of our most vital responsibilities. Our goal is to identify those needs within our Village, nation and the world where we can help with our love, our time and our treasure…We welcome into our membership all who affirm faith in Jesus Christ, and who desire to serve God’s people through our church…All who believe in Christ are welcome to share with us…We welcome the entire community to join us…We invite everyone regardless of religious background to participate in our worship services…”

That’s how our Founders answered Jesus’ question, “What do you want me to do for you?”

And look at us! Look at how the Lord has blessed that hope! God has done amazing things through our church!

But what if our Founders had responded to Christ’s question differently? What if they replied in the manner of James and John with an answer like,

“What we want you to do for us, Jesus, is to give us a safe, comfortable church where we can take care of ourselves and not worry about the people ‘out there.’ Lord, let someone else do that, we’ve done our share! Give us worship services that we enjoy, and sermons that we agree with, and music that we like, and financial success. Lord, don’t ever ask us to change, or to take risks, or to give sacrificially of our time, talent and treasure. God, give us good seats in the kingdom of heaven, and let our church be all about blessing us”?

Had our Founders answered in such a way, most of us would probably not be here today, most of the good we do would not be done, few of the people we help would be helped, few of the kids we educate would have scholarships, few of the people we feed through the Friendship Kitchen would be fed.

But, that’s not how the Founders answered. They did not ask God to make them a chapel.

They asked the Lord to make us a church.

And that’s a much better answer to the question, “What do you want me to do…?”

Thanks be to God!