Episode 1484: Let Me See

[00:00:00] Scott Maderer: Thanks for joining me on episode 1, 484 of the Inspired Stewardship Podcast.

[00:00:07] Shayna Rattler: I'm Shayna Rattler. I challenge you to invest in yourself, invest in others, develop your influence, and impact the world by using your time, your talent and your treasures to live out your calling. Having the ability to have and respond well to a God shift in your life is key.

[00:00:25] And one way to be inspired to do that is to listen to this, the Inspired Stewardship Podcast with my friend, Scott

[00:00:34] Maderer.

[00:00:40] Scott Maderer: But the truth is, if we're following Jesus, we're not the ones guiding the path. We're not the ones making the decisions. We've given that up. When we decided to follow Jesus, we've given that up. And we truly need to learn from this story that we too are blind, but we [00:01:00] too can learn to see. Welcome and thank you for joining us on the Inspired Stewardship Podcast.

[00:01:08] If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent, and your treasures for your true calling. In the Inspired Stewardship Podcast, you will learn to invest in yourself. Invest in others and develop your influence so that you can impact the world.

[00:01:36] In today's spiritual foundation episode, I talk about Mark chapter 10, verses 46 through 52. I share how we are often blind to our own and others' real needs, and also share how we aren't the ones guiding the path when we follow Jesus. Mark chapter 10 verses 46 through 52 says, They came to Jericho, [00:02:00] and he and his disciples, a large crowd, were leaving Jericho.

[00:02:03] Bartimaeus, son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me! Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, Son of David, have mercy on me! Jesus stood still and said to call him here and they called the blind man saying to him take heart get up he is calling you so throwing off his cloak he sprang up and came to Jesus then Jesus said to him what do you want me to do for you and the blind man said to him my teacher let me see again and Jesus said to him go your faith has made you well immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way You know, this is one of those passages that can be used and talked about a lot of different ways.

[00:02:56] I've seen people talk about how things like a disability or a [00:03:00] sign of sin and faith is what heals us. And I don't really think that's the message. In fact, there's other passages where Jesus makes it very clear that the sin is not the cause of some sort of disability. And I want to get that out front.

[00:03:16] right away because I think we've misused and used those sorts of things accusationally. Plus, the truth is we all have different things that we are blind to, whether it's a physical blindness like in this story or whether it's a metaphorical blindness. If you think about the story, it begins with they told him to be quiet.

[00:03:36] They told him keep over there, keep on the edges, keep away, not to interrupt, but he continues to shout. And then Jesus responds. He asks him, What is it you want? At first glance, that may not sound all that amazing, because after all, the guy's shouting for attention, so Jesus knows what he wants. But the truth is, I think oftentimes [00:04:00] the loudest voices, the people that are shouting the loudest, that are yelling and screaming about how they don't like something, often don't really know what they want.

[00:04:09] They just know that they're not happy. We're not getting our way. We've been forced into some change, or something that we believe, or some position that now we don't want, and we don't want to change, it hurts, it's uncomfortable, we don't like it, and so we yell and scream as loudly as possible. And I think if we were asked in those situations, what do you want, or what don't you want, or what's making you unhappy, we wouldn't know, even if it was Jesus asking us.

[00:04:40] But you notice, Jesus doesn't ask him what's wrong. He doesn't ask him what is making him unhappy. He asks, what would make it right? What do you want me to do for you? And the answer was, let me see again. Not solve all my problems, not make it where I'm no longer living [00:05:00] on the margins, not make bad things or bad people go away, but let me see again.

[00:05:06] And then he turns and follows him. In other words, once he sees Jesus, that Jesus's will becomes his will, and he begins to search out the path that Jesus would want him to walk. Think about it. Let me see again. Let ME see again, so that I can be about the business of opening eyes to who Jesus is, and what Jesus has to offer the world, even when the world is clinging to its blindness.

[00:05:39] Let me see again so I can find Jesus in the moment, in the decision, in the choices. The last few weeks we've been walking through the 10th chapter of Mark and now here we are at the end and this final kind of penultimate story, the blind man receives his sight. But if you think about it, we've [00:06:00] probably missed a lot along the way.

[00:06:04] If we were in that crowd and the blind man is screaming out, would we be one of the ones that shouted him down and told him be quiet that day? Would we have been so focused on following Jesus and doing what's right and spending time with him that we literally turned our backs and said silence to somebody who needed Jesus more than we did?

[00:06:31] Or would we have seen him as Jesus saw him? Not as a problem to be solved, not as an issue to be debated, not as something wrong, not as someone who had sinned or someone who was harmed, but as rather a man with agency and the ability to decide and choose for themselves what is it they need, what would help them.

[00:06:54] And the answer here is, let me see. And I think sometimes that should be our cry. I [00:07:00] think even when we think we are seeing, we're actually blind. Maybe that should be our prayer, our hope. Maybe that should be a moment of spiritual discipline. Taking a walk around your neighborhood, your house, your church, your town, your community, and looking for what do you see, what draws your attention, what shouts out at you as you pass by.

[00:07:24] But do it not as you normally do it, but do it as Jesus calls us to do. So even that which is familiar, maybe you can see it in a new way. Look at the building. You know where everything is. You know where the restrooms are. You know where the doors are. You know what opens and what doesn't and what time everything happens.

[00:07:44] But is it welcoming and accessible to all? Is there an invitation to it that calls not just to those that have always been there and know it like the back of their hand, but to those that walk in for the first time? [00:08:00] Is there something there that speaks to the story of the place, the faith of the place, the community of the place?

[00:08:09] And does it reflect the face of Jesus as well? The truth is, are we among those who tell the outsider, the stranger, the marginalized to be quiet, don't disturb the status quo, or maybe even change who you are and do something different because you're wrong, you're bad, you're a sinner, you're a failure, or do we become part of that crowd that turned to him and said, take heart, Jesus is calling you.

[00:08:43] Take heart. This is for you, too. This hope is for you. This grace is for you. It's not just for us. There is no us and them. It is for everyone. We have blindness that needs to be healed just as surely [00:09:00] as the blind man did. We need to hear the voice of Jesus calling us and asking us, What do we need? We are part of those who Jesus has come to but we often hoard that message either knowingly or unknowingly or by pushing forward hate and judgment and fear and anger and Keeping the rules and all of those other things and we push others out and say it's us and it's them This is our message.

[00:09:30] Jesus came for us. He spoke to us We need to claim that place of honor. It's our right. It's ours. And the fact that we have privilege and we have place, we defend it. Just like the passage from last week about James and John wanting an honored place, we defend it because we feel like it's being taken from us.

[00:09:53] When you've had privilege, fairness suddenly feels like someone's taking something from you when [00:10:00] you're, when that's not what's happening at all. But the truth is, if we're following Jesus, we're not the ones guiding the path. We're not the ones making the decisions. We've given that up. When we decided to follow Jesus, we've given that up.

[00:10:17] And we truly need to learn from this story that we too are blind, but we too can learn to see. Thanks for listening.

[00:10:32] Thanks so much for listening to the Inspired Stewardship podcast. As a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen, but act on what you've heard and find a way to live your calling. If you enjoyed this episode, do me a favor. Go over to Facebook. com slash Inspired Stewardship.

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