Visit us at: 30 Good Minutes.org

         

"Let Me See Again"
In the 18th Chapter of Luke's Gospel, beginning at verse 35, it reads:

"As he approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard a crowd going by, he asked what was happening. They told him, 'Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.' Then he shouted, 'Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.' Those who were in front sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he shouted even more loudly. 'Son of David, have mercy on me.' Jesus stood still and ordered the man to be brought to him and when he came near, he asked him, 'What do you want me to do for you?' He said, 'Lord, let me see again.' Jesus said to him, 'Receive your sight. Your faith has saved you.' Immediately he regained his sight and followed him and glorifying God."

The man on the Road to Jericho is a man whose cry is our cry. His plea is our plea; and his prayer is our prayer. Just as he asked for help from the Lord, many of us are asking for divine help to have restored to us that which we once had and no longer have. Just as he asked, many of us are asking to have given back to us the ability to do what we once were able to do and now are no longer able to do.

This man wanted to go back to doing what he had once been able to do, and so he asked the Lord to restore that gift to him. Many of us want the same thing. We want to return to a place where we once had a faith and want to once again have an outlook that enables us to be fully what God intended for us to be when he created us. We don't know what happened to this man in this text to take away his sight or to cause him to lose his sight. All we know is that he wants to see again; and so he asks: "Lord, let me see again!" Someone watching this program right now knows how this man felt.

Things have happened to us across the years. Experiences have taken away our "vision." Bad experiences have caused us to lose our ability to trust other people. Toxic relationships have caused us to lose our ability to love and to trust. We no longer see things like we used to see them. We no longer see people like we used to see people. We no longer see hope as a possibility. We miss what it was we once had. And so we ask what this man asked: "Lord, let me see again."

We have changed. We have become hardened. We have grown older and wiser. We say with bravado, "Been there. Done that!" and we keep up a facade of "having it all together." But in the words of Dr. Joseph Ratliff of Houston, Texas, we are simply trying to "fake it until we can make it" because we do not like who we are nor do we like what we have become.

We give the impression of being OK, but we are not OK because deep within us, there is, in the words of Max Lucado, "the song of the Whippoorwill" that will not be silenced. It is a longing for another way. It is a longing for a better lifestyle. It is a longing for a return to hope and a return to a vision that we no longer have.

A fish out of water cannot be satisfied by being dressed up in an Armani suit, driving a Mercedes 600, getting invitations to Fortune 500 parties or having its name listed in Who's Who ! The fish is dying out of water and the fish knows that it is dying. All of the extras for which the world clamors will not satisfy that fish. It will die if left out of the water, and that is exactly where many of us are.

We are like fish out of water when we are cut off from the design and the desire that God had for our lives when God created us. We do not know all of the time what has happened to make us "fall short of the mark." All we know is that we are not where we want to be. We are not where God wants us to be. We are not where we were designed to be. We are suffocating like that fish and all the trappings of success will not satisfy us. We want to be whole again, so we cry out like this man in our text cried out, "Lord! Let me see again!"

The Evangelist Mark tells us that this man was the son of Timaeus. He was known as Bartimaeus. An examination of his story will shed light on our stories and give us some clues as to how we might accomplish the restoration (or transformation) that we so desperately need. Look at the principles outlined in his story:

First Bartimaeus had faith. He knew that he needed divine help to restore that which had been taken away from him, and he had faith that the Lord could do for him what no other "doctor" could possibly do. He had faith in the divine. He calls Jesus in this text by his messianic, or Christological, name. In other words, he calls him by his divine name twice!

First he calls him "Son of David." Then when brought face to face with the Christ, he calls him "Lord!" He had faith in him. He had faith that the Lord could give back to him that which he had given up, or that which he had lost, or that which he no longer had; and so he cried out in faith for the Lord to help him. He cried out in faith for Jesus to have mercy upon him.

That is the first principle we must apply. We, too, must have faith. If we ask in faith, this story teaches us that our prayers will be heard also. Jesus himself said that if we ask in His name, it would be done. And he also said, "Ask...and it shall be given unto you." But we must ask in faith.

First, Bartimaeus had faith, but that was not all. Next? He had determination! The story teaches us that the crowd in front of Jesus tried to silence Bartimaeus. But Bartimaeus was determined. The crowd did not want him to disturb the Lord, but he was determined.

In other words, the crowd put roadblocks in his way to keep him from getting from divinity what he needed in his humanity. He was determined, however. He would not let anything or anyone keep him from getting what the Lord had and what he knew he needed to get from the Lord. He was determined.

That, too, is an important principle. We, also, must be determined because we, also, often run into roadblocks. As Bartimaeus was determined, however, so, too must we be determined. The text says that he cried all the more loudly. We, too, must be determined to regain the wholeness that was ours at creation, and we have to ask also even more fervently.

We have to be determined. We must have the determination to regain the wholeness that God desires for us, and to be all that God designed us to be. We must be determined! We cannot let roadblocks (or the crowds) keep us from the divine inheritance that is ours! We must be determined!

Bartimaeus had faith. He had faith in the Lord. He had faith that the Lord could and would restore his sight. He had faith and he had determination. He was determined! He would not let anything or anyone keep him from "hooking" up with the source of his dealing and wholeness. He cried, the text says, even more loudly! In addition to faith and determination, however, Bartimaeus had something else. Ultimately, he was honest. When Jesus said to him, "What do you want me to do for you?" Bartimaeus was honest. He did not try to blame somebody else.

Please notice. He did not do like a lot of us do. He was honest. He did not try to explain what had happened to him. He was honest. He did not go into denial or jump into making alibis. He simply was honest. He had lost his sight and he wanted to see again. He honestly confessed that he needed the Lord to restore to him that which he no longer had.

This third principle is a key principle which we must learn and practice! We must have faith, yes: Faith in ourselves and faith in the Lord who made us. We must be determined,yes. We must not let roadblocks deter us or keep us from getting that which God has prepared for us and designed for us. We must have faith and we must be determined. But we also have to be honest. If we are to regain a holistic look on life, if we are to regain a vision for humanity that sees all of God's children as persons to be loved, then we, too, must be honest and "name" what it is we need by confessing where it is we are.

So often we are where we are because of things we have done or things that have been done to us. We don't need to try to explain it away, rationalize it or "fix it up" when the Lord asks us what he asked Bartimaeus, "What do you want me to do for you?" What we need is honesty.

We need to be honest with the Lord and tell Him exactly what we need. This text teaches us that that kind of human honesty is rewarded by divine grace! Jesus said unto Bartimaeus that day the same thing that he will say unto us this day. Jesus said, "Your faith has saved you. Your faith has made you whole. Your faith has made you well!"

One hymn writer looking at this passage phrased it this way:

"At the cross, at the cross where I first saw the light,
and the burdens of my heart rolled away;
It was there by faith I received my sight!
And now I am happy all the day!"

The text says Bartimaeus went on his way glorifying God. Our faith— It was there by faith I received my sight —will restore unto us that which God intends for us to have if we are honest with God and honest with ourselves.

Interview with Jeremiah Wright
Interviewed by Lydia Talbot

Lydia Talbot: Dr. Wright, the cry for mercy, the plea by the man on the road to Jericho, in many respects, as you say, is our cry, our plea. Have you ever felt like that man?

Jeremiah Wright: Oh, yes, many times.

Talbot: When?

Wright: Well, at times you lose vision or you get frustrated like the prophet Elijah says, "It's too much, take it away." At times when you're overwhelmed by things that take away from ministry and your attempts to do ministry. When one of our young minister's mother just dies suddenly, you lose hope, you lose the faith. All of a sudden you find yourself feeling jaded. A young person comes up with an idea for ministry and you've been hurt or jaded so much that you can't see like you used to be able to see. That's in my own ministry, my own life. Those things have happened where someone will come with a new idea, and across the years, I find myself saying, "I don't think that's going to work." Then I realize you don't see with the vision that you once had. Lord, let me see again! Let me see as young people, with hope and with the kind of excitement about ministry and life.

Something like Columbine hits or you give up on race relations and you say, "God does not intend that to be this way." Let me see again! Or this Smith guy starts killing Jews and Blacks, and you give up and say, "Wait a minute, God, I'm having trouble seeing like I once saw." Dr. King's beloved community was once something that we all hoped for and dreamed for and it seems so far away, so distant, like Langston Hughes saying, "My dream is gone. It was a long time ago." And you realize the dream is still there.

Talbot: So the restoration of the hope, this restoration has happened for you.

Wright: Oh, yes.

Talbot: When you were a little boy growing up in Philadelphia, did you ever think that one day you would be at the University of Chicago Divinity School, Union Theological Seminary, with degrees in black sacred music and a host of wonderful, wonderful, things?

Wright: Not as a little boy. No.

Talbot: What was the call for ministry about for you?

Wright: As a teenager I thought I would have a vocation in the church. In fact, I thought I would be teaching seminary. I never thought I would be pastoring a church. In fact, I gave up on the so-called institutional church. Remember back in the sixties how we were against organized religion? I wanted to teach seminary but when I came to the University of Chicago Divinity School, which is a school designed to prepare persons to teach seminary, I was working part-time as an associate pastor of a church and saw the need, the real need and the real calling and claim upon my life in terms of ministry. This was where I was needed most because young people here, as I found out across the country, had no clue in terms of our story. Our story as African-Americans in terms of black sacred music, the spirituals, our rich history, our legacy, our heritage. They did not know our ministers. Most people did not know Harriet Tubman was a minister. They knew her as the Black Moses, but they did not know she was an African Methodist Episcopal Zion minister. So when I started talking to the kids and trying to educate the kids, it was like a still small voice inside saying, "Yes, but this is what you're supposed to be doing all the time."

Talbot: You have mentioned the words youth and kids numerous times in the last few minutes. I feel this must be a passion for you.

Wright: Oh, it is.

Talbot: Our most precious legacy is the future of our children. How do you get them into the tent and keep them there at Trinity United Church of Christ?

Wright: Well, we have twenty different youth ministries. It's like a potpourri. All kids can't sing, so we have a dance ministry. All kids can't dance, there is a martial arts ministry. There's a rights of passage ministry. There is a cultural institute where they learn their history as African-American children. There is a wide variety of ministries and each child can find something that he or she likes and enjoys. Then the Christian Education program, the teaching ministry of the church, and dedicated sponsors are what keep them in. They make them excited. It is something they come to own and something they come to look forward to and love themselves.

Talbot: You told me earlier you only have them for an hour or so a week. What are your greatest concerns about our young people?

Wright: The impact of negative fourth-estate realities in their lives: the media, hip-hop, gangster rap. Not all hip-hop. There is some very positive hip-hop and rap music, but gangster rap that denigrates women, that uses the kind of profanity that it uses. Those kinds of images that they spend so much time with on a day-to-day basis. My fear is that the message of the church will be muffled by it.

Talbot: And your hope?

Wright: My hope is that persons of faith will not give up hope or continue to work with young lives because if we touch one life, that one life will have many other lives that it will touch positively.

Talbot: And thank you, Jeremiah Wright, for doing that in your ministry and making a difference.

Home | Schedule |This Week | Sermons| Topics | Short Video | About | Print | Links | Contact Us | Donation