Faith in following and faith in asking

In the silence of the stars, in the quiet of the hills and in the heaving of the sea, you speak O Lord. In the words of the prophets and the message of the Apostles, you speak O Lord. Now we pray, speak in this place, in the calming of our minds and the longing of our hearts, by the words of my lips and the meditations of our hearts. Speak, O Lord, for you servants listen. Amen.

I would imagine that at one time Bartimeaus, the blind beggar who sat by the roadside, have eyes that could see. His life would have been full of light, and one can also assume that it was full of hope at the time.

However, something unfortunate must have happened to him – and he ended up being unable to see – and as he has been deprived of the usage of his eyesight – all his options in life collapsed, and he ended up as a beggar, sitting and begging by the roadside, hoping upon hope that somebody passing by would take pity on him, always hoping that somebody would fill up his bowl with food, or that some one will give him a few coins in order for him to purchase the little things in life that everybody needs.

In those ancient days of the first century there was very little sympathy one could expect for the misfortune, for those who are blind and those who are handicapped in any manner. I can say with absolute certainty that Bartimaeus was living a very hard life. In some circles in Israel in those days, there were people who assumed that misfortunes was cause by one’s own fault, and that blindness or handicapped of any nature is always a punishment from God, either for something that they have themselves done or for something that their parents may have done.

In some circles the fact that a person was blind simply meant that the person was a drain on precious resources, in other words, a social liability – best to be ignored – best to be left by the roadside begging. How little things have changed in that respect throughout the centuries!

As Bartimaeus was blind and could not see, he was, in the eyes of many people, not even a human being at all. He became to them only an object, an object to be pitied, or cursed, or to even to be completely ignored.

How many of us present here today, I wonder feel as Bartimeaus must have felted? How many of us present here today feels cut off from the land of the living – being prevented by one reason or another from taking part fully in the life that goes on all around us. How many of us are unable to exercise the options that everybody else seems to be in possession of, feeling hurt and alone, and wondering, wondering if perhaps in some way we do deserve what we are going through right now.

How many of us feel trapped in the life that we are having?

- in the job that we have?
- in the relationships we have?
- in the financial struggles we are having?

How many of us have the feeling that we are not able to break free, to change things, or unable to do anything at all, except dream of how it used to be, or dream of how things should have been?

How many of us, being in this kind of position, do anything about it? How many of us reaches out to other people or to God for help?

How many of us reach out to our friends and neighbours and confide to them of our own feelings, our own needs? How many of us here actually ask our family members for help when help is needed? How many of us even think of reaching out to God and ask Him for His help?

Sometimes we suffer really hard; sometimes we suffer for a very long time, not because the situation we found ourselves in cannot be overcome, but only because we are afraid to ask for help. Often we do not ask for help as we do not want to become a burden to others, or perhaps we do not want to seem weak to other people, or even admit our own weaknesses to our own selves.

I have heard of a woman who will not pray to God for herself, just because she thinks he has much more important things to do than to listen to her.

I have heard of a man who will not tell his own wife as to how much he is hurting inside himself, just because he does not think that she will be interested in his plight, as she already has so many of her own problems to bear.

I know of several people in Hong Kong who will not ask other people for help with their own substance abuse problems, just because they cannot admit to themselves that their problems have become much bigger than they themselves are.

I also know of children who are having a very difficult time dealing with life. They will not ask their parents or their teachers for help, just because they are afraid that they by asking for help, they will either get into trouble, or, even worse, be ignored, if they do ask for help from the adults.

There are times in our lives when we all needed help. There are times in our lifetime when if we are to survive at all, if we are to continue living, if we are go keep on growing, we must turn to other people and to God and ask Him for help in getting what we need.

Doctor Fred Collier, a retired medical doctor tells this story about himself when he was a youth.

He was a medical student in the Army Specialized Training Corps in 1945 when the Second World War came to a close. He was from a poor family that did not have the kind of money that he needed in order to complete medical school on his own. So when he was discharged out of the army, he had absolutely no idea as to how he will ever finish his schooling, if indeed he will ever finish it at all.

One day he happened to pick up a copy of a magazine while he was sitting inside a barber’s shop. One of the articles in the magazine talked about the kindness and compassion of Eleanor Roosevelt, whose husband, the late President Franklin Roosevelt had passed away only a few months ago.

That particular article in the magazine planted the seed of an idea into Fred’s mind. He went off to the local library and with the help of the librarian found Mrs. Roosevelt’s home address. He got home, sat down and wrote a letter to her, telling her about his problems. He wrote it and rewrote the letter until he had the letter written exactly the way that he wanted it.

When he put the letter in an envelope and deposits it into the mailbox, even his young wife wondered whether the effort was worth the time and the postage stamp that Fred spent on the letter.

Much to Fred’s surprise, Mrs. Roosevelt sent him a letter agreeing to a meeting with him. At the end of the meeting, she gave him her promise to help him. In the months and years of his study, Fred regularly received checks from Mrs. Roosevelt. Fred in turn, kept her informed of his progress and sent her copies of all of his term papers. Her secretary later on said that Mrs. Roosevelt always read Fred’s letters and reports with great interest.

Later on, Mrs. Roosevelt even paid the couple a visit in their sparsely furnished flat. The landlord of the flat nearly had a heart attack when he recognized their famous visitor.

When Fred finally finishes Medical School from Yale University, he told Mrs. Roosevelt that he did not know as to how he would ever be able to repay her. She told him that repayment was not necessary, nor does she want any repayment. Then she told him that she will be adequately repaid, if when one day, after he becomes financially secured, he will help out someone who is truly deserving of help, as he was.

Doctor Fred Collier reached out for help and he received it. So did the blind Bartimaeus. They both reached out for help from someone whom they knew could help them in their respective situations. They reached out to someone they hoped and prayed would help.

It is a very difficult thing to do, this act of asking for help. A very difficult thing, a very humbling thing, but there are times in our lives when each and every one of us will need help from someone. There are times when we must turn to other people and to God for help or else we will perish.

The good news is that there is absolutely no situation in life that is so bad that someone cannot help us with it, that someone cannot help us to overcome such a situation. Or at least to bear it with a hope and strength that will transforms it, and us as a result completely.

And even if it is a situation where we cannot go to someone else for that help that we so desperately needed, there is no situation where we cannot go to God for help and still find the help that we needed so badly.

God does not always answer our prayers in the way or manner that we had in mind, but God will always answer our prayers in a way that is appropriate to the situation. God will always give to us what we need, and God will always give us the strength to bear what we must bear and to bear it so well that our world will changes because of it.

This is the lesson of the Garden of Gethsemane and of every dark night of the soul. It is also the lesson of the cross and of the tomb and of all the sufferings that God may ask us to bear.

It is what lies behind all transformation that matters. What lies behind Easter, what lies behind new life, eternal life, and an abundant and rich life.

Jesus told us that seek and you shall find. Knock and the door shall be opened to you. Ask and you shall receive. These are all promises of our Lord, Jesus Christ; promises that He kept time and time again in His walk upon this earth with us. Those are promises that he keeps from heaven as he intercedes for us before the throne of God.

Many Bible commentators who commented on today’s Scripture readings from the Gospel of mark commented on how the blind Bartimeaus could see more than many people who have good eyes can see with their sight.

When I was preparing for today’s sermon, I was struck by this. I am struck by this because I know just how easy it is for anyone to be blind to Christ. I know just how easy that we can ignore His presence when I am struggling with some problems or caught up in some situation or other that is hurting me and also hurting someone else. I know the faith that it takes in order to ask God for help; the courage that it takes in order to go to someone and confess your need to them; and the vision that it will require in order to admit your blindness and to beg them for help when deep inside you, there is a voice telling to keep quite about your problems.

But what really strikes me even more about the blind Bartimeaus is not that he not only saw Jesus as the one who could help him and had the faith to ask Jesus for that help. It was that after Jesus helped him and told him to go on his own way, that he had the faith to follow Jesus.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, God can and definitely help you with your problems, as He helped me all those years with my problems, no matter how big or how small your problem is, He is never too busy to help. From my own experiences I know that His word will give you the wisdom and the insight that you will need when you feel lost.

Our Lord, Jesus Christ will always reach out and touch you when you call upon Him for His help, and that He will always give you your rest when you seek it from Him. The Holy Spirit will give you the strength that you needed when you waited upon the Holy Sprit and will guide you and lead you when you turn to the Spirit for help and guidance.

God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit will do all this freely for you, without demanding that you do anything special in return or that you need to be someone special, for every one of you are special in God’s sight.

God will help every one of us, just as Eleanor Roosevelt helped Dr. Fred Collier. God will help us in many and various ways – sometimes through other people, sometimes directly within your hearts, and always helping us without any expectation of return or repayment of any kind.

After He help those who have had the faith to turn to Him for help, Jesus almost always tell them, as He said to Bartimeaus, “go – your faith has made you well.”

What a wonderful thing it is, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, if and when we have the faith to ask, we, like Bartimeaus, also have the faith to follow Jesus and to learn to do for other people what has been done for us.

Never be afraid to ask for help. Do not be afraid to turn to your friends and your neighbours and share your needs; and most important of all, do not be afraid to turn to God, who alone can help you when nobody else can.

Do not be afraid to ask, and after asking – in perfect freedom – pass on what you have received, and follow the one who gives the entire all He has for you.

Praise be to God for the salvation He grants us through Jesus Christ our Lord, brother, our friend, and our servant. Amen.