Mark 10:46-52 and Words from Jalal ad-Din Muhammad ar-Rumi
October 27th, 2024
By Rev. Nicole M. Lamarche
Thank you again for showing up here today for yourself, for Spirit, for one another, for the world we all want. Just a reminder that next weekend is Daylight Savings. We get an extra hour when we fall back! I hope to be a live for a time when we stop doing this. I guess it really messes with our system! If you are so moved, I invite you now to take some deeper breaths,
giving yourself the gift of this time, letting go of whatever awaits you beyond our time together. I invite you to join me in a spirit of prayer as we are all held by these ancient words from Psalm 19: God may the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight our rock and our redeemer. Amen.
I have heard it or something like it now so many times that my sense is that many people feel this way. It has been said in different ways and even from different political perspectives and it goes something like this: what’s going on in the world of wars and walkouts, boycotts and book bans, immigration from drug cartels and dictators, from climate change supported by the fossil fuel industry to changes in our healthcare and our hospice care drive by private equity funds, what’s going on isn’t a matter of left or right, some ideas versus others, rather this moment is actually a battle between good and evil. Have you heard this?
And depending on how far down this rabbit warren of wondering and questioning one goes, the situation is explained cosmically, and the answer is to engage in so-called spiritual warfare. Spiritual warfare is a concept among neo-charismatic Christian churches and it’s about fighting against the work of evil forces, battling against evil spirits that are here on and in this realm of existence. Spiritual warfare is beating the demons and fallen angels that intervene in our lives in all kinds of ways here and now. And it claims to receive scriptural authority from texts like that found in Ephesians 6:12 where we read, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”
It seems a tad convenient to blame things on demons- a handy spiritual scapegoat that is impossible to confirm, allowing a disconnection from accountability. And also, there really do seem to be people that are so wounded, so afraid, so diminished, so distorted that for one reason or another, that they act in ways that can only be described as evil, causing
harm, casting a shadow. As it is said, wounded people, wound.
And maybe when too many wounded people, perhaps when too many unhealed humans get together or get too much power, maybe it does feel like a battle of some kind? A battle about where we want to go collectively, as human beings bound together on this perfect planet? It does kind of feel like a battle about whose stories get to be heart. About whose stories get to be honored. About whose wars, which side, which group gets to be seen as moral.
Who has been wounded the most? Who gets to be healed first? Who gets to be heard?
I confess that I have felt so much despair about what I see in Gaza and the fact that those hostages still aren’t home and that the hellfire missiles are made by Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Northrop Grumman and supported with our tax dollars. I feel despair about the fact that we are still arguing over whether women can be saved from pregnancies that are threatening. I feel despair that the earth’s temperatures climb as we prepare for another meeting about promises that won’t be kept. And the US isn’t even going to the COP this time.
Who gets to be heard?
This story the Gospel of Mark where we have a mean that isn’t being heard, standing on the sidelines seeking healing, in need of hope. And the people around him are telling him to be quiet. And he waits by the side of the road and asks for him. But even Jesus’ closest friends tell him to be quiet. But Bartimaeus doesn’t give up. He speaks louder and he speaks
louder, until he is heard. Until Jesus says to him “What do you want me to do for you?” Bartimaeus asks to see. As one scholar wrote, “Bartimaeus refuses to be defined by his circumstances or by the expectations of those who are able to see, who appear to be close to Jesus…He ensures that his call will be heard by Jesus. The persistence of Bartimaeus sets in motion a
wave of mercy, blessing and change.”
He knows what he wants. He knows what is needed. He is persistent. A way is made, a change comes because he refuses to stay silent. He demands the barriers to love be removed. What if healing in the wounded parts of ourselves comes when we are clear and honest about what the situation as it is?
About what is need. Sometimes this first step can be difficult. But what if that is part of healing?
Can you be bold in asking yourself and the Universe? Are you able share this with those you love? And what if healing in our world will come when enough people, when enough of us aren’t afraid to be loud and to keep getting louder on the sideline even when the world says to be be quiet? We will be like Bartimaeus yelling from the side and our view will be widened and more will be awakened and wounds will be healed. I know it! Maybe you remember that the Greek word for faith is pistis, meaning trust so when Jesus said to him, “Your faith has made you well,” I think maybe that he meant that his trust in the truth, in his own truth, in his own voice, in his belovedness, in his own power, in his persistence in demanding that he should be made whole, that’s what made him well! His refusal to give up.
And that can be true for us too.
So perhaps in this battle about where we want to go collectively, as human beings bound together and dependent upon life on this perfect planet, in this struggle about whose stories get to be heard, which group gets to be seen as moral, which wounds are healed and who gets to be heard. I wonder if whatever name we have for God, it is an energy finding openings
in all of our hearts, even the hearts that seem hardened. I want to encourage you, in whatever setting you find yourself, be persistent in trusting your truth and speaking out. Refuse to be silent. Say what is wanted and what is needed. Let us speak until we are heard, until we are healed, until the whole world is made well.
Communal Reflection
Beloved of God, what do you want love to do for you and for the world?
What barriers can you remove? Let us be persistent in trusting your truths, saying them however you can, shouting them from the side when we need to. Let us refuse to be silenced. Let us speak until we are heard, until we are healed, until all is made well. May it be so. Amen.