Get Closer to Jesus

The message given in the Sunday morning services in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish February 12, 2023.  The Bible verses used are Mark 10:46-52.

            How close do you feel to Jesus?  How eager are you to feel close to Jesus?

            In asking those questions, I don’t want you to think I’m assuming what the answers are.  I’m sure the answers will be different for each of us.  But I do want you to think about those questions.  How close do you feel to Jesus?  And how eager are you to feel close to Jesus?

            What makes these tricky questions to answer is that feeling close to Jesus is not necessarily related to things we do.  It can be, but it does not automatically follow.  We can read the Bible and do devotions every day and still not feel close to Jesus.  We can pray every day and take part in Bible studies and still not feel close to Jesus.  We can donate to good causes and give our time and talent to the church or to other ministries and still not feel close to Jesus.  

Don’t get me wrong–those are all good things to do.  And they may, sometimes, help us feel close to Jesus.  But it’s not automatic.  Because what we’re talking about here is feelings.  We’re talking about emotions.  And we’re talking about desire.  Those are matters of the heart.  Yes, it’s true, as James wrote, that faith without works is dead, but it’s also true that works without faith are dead, too.  After all, the letter to the Hebrews tells us that it is impossible to please God without faith, no matter what we do.

What that shows is that feeling close to Jesus has a lot to do with our attitude, with how desperately we want to feel close to Jesus.  I think that’s shown by our Bible reading for today, the story of Bartimaeus.  Bartimaeus was a man who did not feel close to Jesus at all.  But boy, did he want to.  And when he got the chance to get close to Jesus, he did everything in his power to take advantage of that chance.

Let’s look at the story.  Bartimaeus is a blind man.  And understand, blindness was a lot more serious thing back then than it is now.  There were no government programs to help blind people.  There was no welfare or food stamps or anything like that.  About the only thing a blind person could do at that time was beg, hoping people would give him enough to keep him alive.  

And so, that’s what Bartimaeus did.  I’m sure he was not happy about it.  After all, beggars were considered the lowest people around.  But he had no alternative.  So, day after day, he would sit by the side of the road.  I don’t know if he was in the same spot every day, or if he moved around, but every day, there he was.  Begging.  Hoping to get enough to get through the day, so that he could get up tomorrow and try to get enough to get through tomorrow.  It was not much of a life, but it was all the life that was available to him.

That’s what he was doing on this day.  Sitting by the side of the road.  Begging.  And all at once, Jesus comes by.

We don’t know if Bartimaeus knew that Jesus was going to come by that day.  We also don’t know if Jesus knew Bartimaeus would be there.  Either or both of those things are possible.  The way the story is presented to us, though, it sounds like this is just a chance encounter.

So there’s Bartimaeus.  Sitting by the road.  Begging.  And he hears some people coming toward him.  We’re told that Jesus and his disciples, “together with a large crowd”, came by, so most likely Bartimaeus could hear them from quite a ways off.  

Just that probably gave Bartimaeus some hope.  After all, a large crowd meant there was a chance that some of them would take pity on him.  Some of them might give him something.  Maybe a lot of them will.  Maybe he’ll even get enough for a few days, you never know.

We don’t know if anyone gave him anything.  But at some point, he hears that Jesus is part of this crowd.  

He’s obviously heard of Jesus.  We don’t know what he’s heard or how much he knows about Jesus.  Does he know that Jesus is the divine Son of God?  Does he know anything of Jesus’ teaching?  Does he know what Jesus said the two greatest commandments were, that we love God and love our neighbors?   Does he know that salvation and eternal life can be found through faith in Jesus as the Savior?

We don’t know.  He may or may not have known any or all of these things.  We assume that Bartimaeus has heard about Jesus’ power to heal people.  And so, as soon as he hears that Jesus is there, he starts shouting.  “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

Now again, there’s a huge crowd there.  And anytime there’s a huge crowd, there’s a lot of background noise.  People are talking with each other.  Some of them are probably talking to the disciples.  Maybe some of them are even talking to Jesus.  

We don’t know if Jesus even heard Bartimaeus when he started shouting.  Some people did, though.  And they told him to be quiet.  More than that, we’re told they rebuked him.  They were probably telling him, shut up.  Don’t bother Jesus.  He does not have time to talk to you.  Who do you think you are, anyway?  Jesus has places to go and people to see.  You’re just a worthless blind beggar.  Just keep your mouth shut and stay out of the way.

But Bartimaeus ignored them.  He shouted all the louder.  “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

Think of how loud he would’ve had to be, to make himself heard over the crowd.  He was probably shouting at the top of his voice.  And despite all these people trying to shut him up, Jesus hears him.  And Jesus says, “Call him.”

They tell Bartimaeus.  And Bartimaeus is going to get to Jesus just as fast as he can.  And so, he jumps to his feet and immediately runs to Jesus.

That would be remarkable enough.  But we’re told one other thing Bartimaeus did.  We’re told he threw his cloak aside.

We sometimes miss that.  But remember, Bartimaeus was a beggar.  He had nothing.  This cloak may have been the only possession he had.  It was almost certainly the most important one.  This was the garment that protected him on the cold desert nights.  It shielded him from the heat of the sun.  This cloak was something Bartimaeus needed.  But it was bulky, and it might have slowed him down.  And so, when Jesus called, he threw it aside.  Bartimaeus was not going to let anything keep him from getting close to Jesus.  That cloak might be important, but getting close to Jesus was more important.

And you know the rest of the story.  Bartimaeus comes to Jesus, tells Jesus he wants to see, and Jesus heals him.  And Jesus tells Bartimaeus, “Your faith has made you well.”

Bartimaeus did have faith.  Bartimaeus knew there was only one way he could change his life.  And that was if he got close to Jesus.  And when he got the chance to get close to Jesus, nothing was going to stop him.  His blindness was not going to stop him.  The criticism of the crowd was not going to stop him.  Even the most valuable thing he had, his cloak, was not going to stop him.  There was nothing in Bartimaeus’ life, and there never would be anything in Bartimaeus’ life, that would be as important as getting close to Jesus Christ.

So, we come back to the questions we asked at the start of this message.  How close do you feel to Jesus?  And how eager are you to feel close to Jesus?

You and I are probably not in the same situation Bartimaeus was in.  We are not the lowers of the low in society.  We’re not at the top, probably, but we’re not at the bottom, either.  We’re probably not living bad lives, but we know our lives could be better.  And, just like with Bartimaeus, the only way we can change our lives is if we get close to Jesus.

Again, maybe you already feel close to Jesus.  Maybe you don’t need to do anything to feel closer to Jesus.  But if you do, what is it that’s stopping you?  What is it that’s stopping me?  What is it that’s keeping you and me from getting closer to Jesus Christ?

Those are not easy questions to answer.  And one of the reasons they’re not easy to answer is that it can be hard for us to be honest with ourselves about these things.  Because if we admit that there’s something that’s keeping us from getting closer to Christ, what we’re really saying is that there’s something that’s more important to us than getting closer to Christ.  And a lot of times, we really don’t want to admit that.  

It’s not just that we don’t want to admit it to others.  We don’t want to admit it to ourselves.  Because if we admit to ourselves that there’s something that’s more important to us than getting closer to Jesus Christ, then we have to make a decision.  We have to decide whether we’re going to let that situation continue.  We have to decide whether we’re going to continue to let there be things in our lives that are more important than getting closer to Jesus Christ, or if we’re going to throw those things aside, and let nothing be more important than getting closer to Jesus.

We know what the choice should be.  It’s the choice Bartimaeus made.  Bartimaeus threw away the most valuable thing in his life, his cloak, in order to get close to Jesus.  Bartimaeus chose to let there be nothing more important in his life than getting close to Jesus.

So let’s think about these questions.  How close are we to Jesus?  How eager are we to get close to Jesus?  What’s stopping us from getting closer to Jesus?  Let’s think about those questions, and let’s answer them.  And let’s decide that we’re going to let nothing be more important than getting closer to Jesus.