The Suitcase (Pent 22B)

 

Text: Mark 10: 46-52

A regular church-goer once told their pastor that going to church was like being a travelling sales rep. A travelling sales rep packs a suitcase on Sunday, filling it with clean socks and underwear, ironed and folded shirts, toiletries, a book, and anything else they might need for their week on the road away from home. At the end of a long and tiring week the sales rep returns home, to empty the suitcase of its dirty, worn, and crumpled clothing, and throw out empty toothpaste tubes and whatever other garbage has been collected. The whole process is repeated on their next trip.

The church-goer explained to the pastor that on a Sunday a person comes to church to empty their suitcase, dumping their week before God: all the stains, dirt, wrinkles,  the could-have- should-have- would-haves, the things left done and undone. During worship, the empty suitcase is refilled with words of forgiveness, Gospel, hope, peace, joy, scriptures to ponder, challenges to build kindom, encouragement from the Christian community, and love. Leaving church clean and filled, the church-goer goes to faithfully live a week of following Jesus' example, to share and grow God’s kindom.

 

The travelling sales rep came to mind when reflecting on the story of Bartimaeus. The rep comes to church on Sunday and by opening the suitcase says, "Son of David, have mercy on me."

Jesus asks, "What do you want from me?"

The sales rep replies, "Teacher, let me see again."

Immediately sight is regained and the travelling sales rep follows Jesus on the way. 

 

This morning at the Lutheran Church of the Resurrection, in Halifax, NS, the congregation is celebrating confirmation.  Two young men are affirming their faith.

It is exciting that this year, because of the sermon being shared across the country, that the whole church is invited to the celebration; the whole church participates in the affirmation of faith by remembering the promises we each made at confirmation or when joining the church.

This is important because confirmations are not about one person or one congregation. Confirmations remind us of the importance of continued discipleship and telling the story of Jesus.

The affirmation of faith service is not a one time deal. There is a first time -Confirmation- to make the promises for oneself with God, but, there is a need to return again and again to affirm faith and relationship with God. It is like the traveler bringing their suitcase home, and like Bartimaeus saying, “Teacher, let me see again.”

Every day living makes it so easy to forget who we are and whose we are. Promises tarnish, they get left on the proverbial shelf accumulating dust, they are buried under other priorities, and they are forgotten as they are pushed to the back of the closet of life.

We forget that we promise:

to live among God’s faithful people, to hear the word of God and share in the Lord’s super,

 to proclaim the good news of God in Christ though word and deed,

 to serve all people, following the example of Jesus,

and to strive for justice and peace in all the earth.

And at every confirmation and affirmation of faith, the people of God make a promise too: to support and pray for those who confirm their life in Christ.  

The crowd, around Jesus that day, included righteous and faithful people: God-fearers, disciples, and covenant-keepers. There were those who believed in the coming of God’s reign, those who were hoping for the Messiah, and those who prayed regularly. And yet, when face-to-face with a man calling out, “Son of David, have mercy on me,” they chose to react from dense vision-less hearts, from a place of preoccupied priorities, from tarnished attitudes, and hopes opaquely covered in grime. The crowd ordered Bartimaeus to be quiet. Talk about hiding the Gospel and putting a damper on God’s coming kindom.

I wonder how often in focusing on my plan to follow Jesus, in my plan as to how to go about living a godly life, that I grope and stumble, never hearing those calling to God or seeking God?  Do we as faithful people get stuck in the mud of life, closing doors to God’s vision, turning out lights of mission, and in words and deeds -both known and unknown- ask others to be quiet when they are seeking or calling out to God?  How inobservant have we been – to the plight of poor, those struggling with mental health, offering inadequate responses to people we deem ‘other,’ and quieting the marginalized? How willingly inobservant will be continue to be?

In the story it is the perseverance of Bartimaeus -and perhaps the volume of his voice-that penetrates through some of the mud, washes the eyes and hearts of those in the crowd so that they show hospitality.  It’s as if they all of a sudden wake up and noticing Bartimaeus, connect with him, embrace him, “take heart, get up, Jesus is calling you.” This sentence of encouraging hope and Gospel-filled Word is invitation and highlights a moment of clarity. Would that all our moments, words, and actions be so clear.

That day the crowd learned from Bartimaeus, his words, needed to be on their lips too:

“Teacher, let me see again.” Bartimaeus’ response speaks to the fleeting moment of clarity by the crowd, and about how it is that clarity can become a state of being.  Oh that the crowd, that the church, that those who confirm and affirm their faith will truly see – people, God, the coming of God’s kindom.

 

“Teacher, let me see again.”

Let me see you in the community of faith, hear your Word as it is proclaimed, experience your grace in the communion meal, see compassion and forgiveness at work in the world, feel hopeful, witness your peace, sense justice, give and receive your love, and touch your kindom.

“Teacher, let me see again.”

That this is not an individual pursuit, where the promises are for me alone to receive, to keep, or to make. Open my heart – the heart of the young men being confirmed today- all of us as we too affirm our faith and pray for our siblings in faith; that together we see, hear, and touch those who are seeking and calling to Jesus. On our lips place the Word: “take heart, get up, Jesus is calling you.” Let us not get so caught up in life that we get wrapped in disregard, ignorance,  inattention, or indifference for our neighbours.

“Teacher, let me see again.”

Let me witness the coming of your kindom, again and again, hope upon hope: for the healing of the world.

 

Let us pray,

Son of David, have mercy on us.

Give us new birth, cleanse us from sin, and raise us to eternal life.

Stir up in our people the gift of your Holy Spirit: the spirit of wisdom nd understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirt of knowledge and the fear of the Lord, the spirit of joy in your presence.

Teacher, let us see again. Amen.