Proper 25b 2024; 27 Oct.
Mark 10:46-52; Jack Hardaway
CRY OUT BE HEARD
Cry out.
Be heard.
That is the Gospel. The good news.
Two brief turns of phrase.
Call. Response.
Pulling Joseph out of the pit, betrayed by his brothers.
The Lord hearing the cries of his people Israel in bondage in Egypt.
In the psalms, psalm 40, “he stooped and heard my cry, he lifted me out of the desolate pit.”
Blind Bartimaeus, son of Timaeus, sitting by the roadside, cries out, and is heard, he has the proverbial and iconic “come to Jesus” talk and moment, and is healed, he regains what was lost, he now sees, and follows Jesus on the way. Lifted from the pit.
Cry out.
Be Heard.
That is the faith. The hope.
God hears.
There are always those who try to silence the cry.
Dismiss, explain, discredit, ignore.
To be honest we all do that.
We can only handle so much, and then we need to get out, cover our ears, and eyes.
We blind ourselves to survive.
The cry is beyond our capacity.
And we lash out if we can’t get some peace and quiet.
How do we silence those who cry out?
Have you been silenced?
Told to be quiet, to hide your anguish, swallow your pain, packed up and moved out of the way?
Who do we silence?
Who are the suffering, the betrayed and the broken that we turn a deaf ear and a blind eye?
God hears.
The way of Jesus, of following Jesus, is the way of hearing the cry, and of crying out, refusing to be silent about the pain in the world.
God opens our eyes to see and our ears to hear more than we think we can carry.
God loosens our tongue to cry out.
Never settle. Never be satisfied.
Jesus cried out too.
The cry of forsakenness on the cross.
“My God, my God why have you forsaken me?”
Quoting psalm 22, a psalm of crying out.
Prayer in the Old and New Testament isn’t usually a peaceful easy feeling, no Zen detachment from the world.
It is always a cry out to God to be God, to hurry up and be who God is, and for God’s world to be God’s world, just and righteous as created with the original divine intention, full of goodness and purpose.
God be God.
God make your world work right.
Hurry.
That is biblical faith.
More like a plainspoken rocky romance than singing camp fire songs.
The life of faith and prayer is a life of confronting both God and humanity with the pain, betrayal and forsakenness of crazy town. Facing our own complicity, facing our own deep and dire need.
God I know you are good. I just don’t see it.
God your world is good. It just doesn’t act like it.
The cry goes up.
And it is heard.
And we jump up, we regain sight, and walk the way, following Jesus to the cross.
Cry out.
Be heard.
Be changed.
Change the world.