23rd Sunday after Pentecost

For the last several weeks,
We have been traveling through Mark’s Gospel:
And learning lot about discipleship.

The stories we’ve been hearing have been about what it means to be called, and
to follow Jesus.

And we heard some stories about people that you would THINK would be ideal
candidates for good discipleship.
In order to understand today’s story:
We have to review the stories from the last few weeks.

Remember that story a few weeks ago?
A young man comes to Jesus.
He’s eager to learn.
HE’s wealthy.
He knew the law: he followed all of the ten commandments.

This guy was eager, well-read, and well-resourced:
(We would want this guy to join our church!)

But Jesus calls him to give up everything:
To recognize that eternal life does not come from having it all:

But rather about giving yourself fully over to Jesus:
Letting Jesus determine everything about how life is lived.
The man walked away in deep, deep sadness:
Because he just couldn’t give up the things that separated him from God.

When at first he appeared to be the perfect candidate for discipleship:
It turned out, he wasn’t.

Then least week, we heard about James and John:
The sons of Zebedee.
They too appeared to be the perfect candidates for discipleship.
After all, they already HAD given up everything to follow Jesus.
They were spending all of their time with him.

And yet:
When they reveal their desire for fame and glory:
It’s clear that they haven’t really heard what Jesus was teaching.
They sort of thought that they were hedging their bets:
By giving up everything to later get that power and glory.

Two followers of Jesus:
Who appear to be the perfect candidates for discipleship:
Turn out to fall quite short of the task.

And then Mark:

The Gospel writer:
Takes us to this story today.
Right before Jesus enters Jerusalem to suffer and die on the cross,
He encounters this blind man.
Not only a blind man:
But a beggar.

You’ve seen beggars:
Panhandlers on the street.
This guy is hardly one that anyone would consider an ideal disciple.

He’s on the outside:
Quite literally:
On the side of the road:
Outside of the city.

And here’s a really important point:
In Jesus’ time:
This blind beggar, was not only an outsider:
It also would’ve been assumed that he::
Or his family: were great sinners.

People assumed that’s where blindness came from:
As a punishment for sin.

So all in all, this man is the lowest of the low.

At first glance, no one would expect this man to be a model for discipleship:
But that’s exactly what he is.

In the story,
He recognizes that Jesus is the son of David,
And calls out to him.
He doesn’t call out for anything in particular:
Just for mercy.
A pretty solid disciple.

He doesn’t come to Jesus until Jesus calls him.
So he recognizes the authority of Jesus’ call.
Another characteristic of a true disciple.

And in coming to Jesus:
He leaves behind his cloak:
His only possession:
Something that represented him doing what that rich young man could not.

He gives up ALL he has to come to Jesus:
And this isn’t just an issue of “he’ll come back for the cloak after he’s healed.”
Because at this moment in the story:
Jesus is on the notoriously dangerous road from Jericho to Jerusalem:

The same road referenced in that story of the Good Samaritan:
Where the road was full of murderers and thieves.

This blind beggar is not ever going to see that cloak again.

And when he finally gets to Jesus,
He doesn’t not ask for power or wealth.
He doesn’t ask to have the glory seat in eternity.
He asks to have his sight back:
So that he might be able to follow Jesus further.
An unlikely model disciple.

The point seems to be that when we think that we’re the disciples:
we should be awfully careful.
Because things aren’t always as they first seem.

Real disciples beg for mercy:
Like this blind beggar.
Disciples are prepared to repent of our failures:
And put following Jesus as truly the highest good.

And we should also expect examples of discipleship to come in the most
unexpected places:
Among those on the outside:
Among the truly lowest of the low:

And among those least likely in our minds to be disciples.

But there’s one more twist to this unexpected reality.
(Mark likes to put little subtle ‘twists’ into his gospel)

Mark portrays this blind beggar as the model disciple:
Although unexpected.
He’s more of a disciple than those who are actually CALLED Jesus’ disciples (like
those brothers of Zebedee, or all the wacky times that Peter just doesn’t get it.)

Even this model disciple falls short in the end.
We know this:
Because at the end:
At the cross:
Every one of these disciples abandons Jesus.
(Except for some women, of course.)

And remember how the blind beggar called Jesus “The son of David?”
That was a marker of conquering, earthly power.
The direct opposite of what Jesus called himself, which was “son of man.”
Even Blind Bartimaeus thought that Jesus should be more glamourous, glorious
and powerful than the lowly “suffering savior” on the cross.

The cross challenges and destroys all our expectations:
Even the expectations of the best disciples.

Jesus calls us to give up everything to follow him:
To follow him all the way to the cross.
And here’s the thing:
No matter how good or bad we are:
We will fail at it.

We will have to:
As the baptismal covenant reminds us:
“repent an return to Christ.”
Even if we’re model disciples.

But don’t worry:
There’s great hope:
Indeed, GOOD news.

There’s good news for the disciples who followed Jesus (like James and John)
There’s good news for the blind beggar,
And there’s even good news for the rich young man.

There’s good news for ALL of us:
That even when we fail at discipleship:
We are always able to repent and return.
Begging for mercy:
We will receive it.
Amen.