i TO SEE BETTER
Mark 10:46-52

September 8, 1985, 6:30 p.m.

John M.. Buchanan
Fourth Presbyterian Church, Chicago

What happened on June 25, 1876 in the Valley of the Little Big Horn depénds: on
who is telling the story. A Wall Street Journal. feature. two weeks ago about
General George Custer and the famous battle caught my attention. Custer, it
seems, is enjoying renewed interest -~ in his career, personality and, of course,
his behavior on June 25. At the same time, however, the native American version
of the story, while always differing profoundly, is now being heard and gaining new
currency. Sitting Bull was there, as well, native Americans remind us. He was
not the agressor, and it has been suggested that he too should have 2 monument.
The facts, of course, are the facts. But the meaning of the incident -~— what
people saw who were there, if you will, and what people see today when they visit
the site, examine the artifacts, depends very much on who those people are.

Tt was a revelation to me to learn that. two distinguished scholars can look at

the same event and see something entirely different. . I had assumed that objective
data produced objective conclusions... Notso, Something called the “historian's
historicity" comes into play; a point of view, a position, a set of assumptions,

a perspective from which the historian sees what he.or she sees,: The history of

the North American continent does look different. from-the perspective of. the native |
people who. had. been living on the land before the Europeans: arrived, My high school —
text. books. talked about a rather heroic sequence of discovering, exploring, con-
quering, civilizing, settling. Much later I. came to understand that the same events
can be, and at times, are, more accurately described as invasion, aggression, rob-
bery, exploitation, genocide. Whether it is a reservation or a concentration camp
depends entirely on from which side of the fence you are seeing the world.:

Two individuals often see the same object differently, I might see an all-out
assault on: the value structure of Western Civilization; In a rock concert, my
son sees something else, When Jesse Jackson and Jerry Falwell look at South
Africa they are not seeing the same thing.

There was a delightful sequence in the Steven Spielberg movie, E.T....-in which
the children, having hidden E.T. in the closet are discussing what to-do next.

The older. brother says, "Elliot, we've got to tell Mom."

"We can't, Michael. She'll want to do the right thing. You
know what that means don't you?" Elliot pointed at E.T.
He'll end up as dog food."

You're not going to tell, are you, Gertie? Not even. Mom?"

"Why not?" Gertie asks.

“Because grown-ups can't see him. Only kids see him."

You will recall that the reviews and journals made much of the overt religious
symbolism in that movie, and even its similarity to the life of Christ. I was
more impressed with what I took to be the point -- an idea that at least suggests
Jesus' statement that people who wish to see the Kingdom have to become like
children, or at least correct their vision so that they can see like children see,

The text this evening is the account of Jesus restoring sight to a man who was blind
Sometimes we're not sure what to make of stories like this one, and are inclined

to be distracted from the meaning of the story by the discussion of whether or

not it- really happened the way the Bible tells it. No one took pictures. Few of
the people who were present when it happened were alive when-Mark wrote it up
several decades later. What -we know is that the story was part of what the earli-
est Christian Church wanted to remember about. Jesus, And beyond esoteric excursion:
‘into New Testament scholarship you and I are privileged to see the very great mir-—
acle of healing that happens every time sight is restored; instanteously or as a
result: of -intricate, careful surgery in the hospital. In addition, there are

just enough unpredictable cures throughout medical science to make even the most

« degged empiricist nervous on occasion.

The point here and elsewhere, is that Jesus helps people to see, He is the New
Testament, shouts the light of the world. He givés sight to tha blind, clarity
to the confused, light to those who live in darkness, and depth of vision --
‘comprehension ~- to those who before have been seeing only the surface of things.

The context of this incident in Mark's Gospel, frankly, is the blindness of the
disciples. On the way to-Jerusalem, they still don't see what he is about. James ~
and John ask for a favor. He asks what they want. They say "power, prestige,
privilege..." "let us sit at your right and left hand when you get to be king."
‘Here they are on the way to humiliation, self-emptying, crucifixion, still not
seeing the point.

The blind man, Bartimaeus, was poor, a beggar, an outcast with no one to care.
for him. He too clamored for Jesus’ attention. The crowd told him to be quiet,
‘but he persisted. Jesus heard him and asked,.as he had asked James and John,
what he wanted. "My sight" the man replied. And he opened his eyes and saw
Jesus. -He saw -~ he understood -- he followed,

But, first, there is a prior miracle happening in this text, one which we are
inclined to miss. Jesus saw the man. Jesus demonstrated what it is to see
clearly. Out of a noisy crowd of people Jesus saw the one man whose culture

had made him invisible. He didn't count for anything. He was a beggar, an out-
cast, at least part of the peaple believed his blindness was punishment for his
sins. The first miracle here is that Jesus saw him. That clarity of sight is
not always a pleasant gift, by the way. It is still easy not to notice the
Outcast, the unwanted, Several decades after Michael Harrington wrote about our
ability to live without seeing the poverty in our culture, we are still at it.
How easy it is not to see those who make us uncomfortable, to live among the
glittering lights and opulent commerce of an American city and simply not see
those who will sleep under the benches or on the steps and in the corners of this
church every night. "Am I my brother's keeper?" William Sloan Coffin asked
recently, and answered "No. In Christ, I am my brother's brother." In the midst
of serious proposals to balance budgets and eliminate deficits by reducing aid

~3-

to people in our system who don't make it, who -- like Bartimaeus -- are part

of the invisible outcasts in the busy, prosperous crowd -~ the chronically un-
employed, the elderly, the handicapped, the hungry -- someone has to have the
courage to insist that we see clearly: that. we see the men and women and children
involved. It is not a cheerful responsibility, but it is, I submit, a. primary
responsibility of the Church of Jesus Christ. - *

To see better...there is a sense in which there are always at least two ways to
see -— superficially and profoundly: the surface glance, the passing view, and
the deeper seeing a thing for what it really is. . That's what art does, by the
way: helps us to see the truth, the reality hidden.in ordinary things. The

late Howard Lowry, President of the College of Wooster, one time defined a liberal
education as "the ability to see things as they are, not.as they half are."
((College Talk, P124). That is always a miracle, a special gift. Suddenly, the
grace and joyful goodness of a spouse, a lover, a friend, is clear. and unmistak-
able and unbearably beautiful. Suddenly,, watching them sleep -- or play -- or
perform -- or laugh -- the miracle of your children -- flesh of your. flesh, their
brains and bodies and emotions and hopes -- stand out in newly vivid color and
you see them clearly, and it is always a God-given miracle. Lowry cited Leo
Tolstoy's complaint that we lose the capacity to notice -- to attend to the im-
portant things in life until the near thought of death brings us to the. sense of
them. "A pity", wrote Lowry. "It. means missing. so much now —- this side of. the.
hospital corridor. So much of ardor, so much of joy, so much of beholding." (P128)

"Behold!. Look!" -- The command is in the Bible hundreds of times. The Biblical
writers want us to see everything -- the magnificent entirety of creation, from
crawling insects to violent thunderstorms, and. the equally astonishing versatility
and magnificence of humanity, from the righteous rage of the prophet to the singular
passion of the King to the tender love of the virgin. .W..H. Auden wrote.a peculiar —
hymn once with a line that goes: "Follow him: through. the land. of unlikeness:. you
will see rare beagtsand have unique adventures."

The Bible suggests that the most profound religious experience is not so much
seeing the extraordinary as it is seeing clearly with the simplicity of a child;
not so much being transported out of the world -- as the gift of sight to see the
essence, the reality of the things and people of the world.

How blessed, how good -- for people who have grown tired of one another, husbands
and wives whose ardor has waned and for whom the years have depleted any sense of
joyful surprise -- to be able simply to see one another with fresh, uncluttered
innocence and honesty. How good to be able to stand back and see our friends as
they are -~ charmingly and irritatingly different from us ~- and offering their
uniqueness, their wonderful gifts of kindness, companionship, love.

And how very good, on occasion, to know this Jesus simply with the uncluttered
clarity of a blind person who can suddenly see. Bartimaeus opened his eyes and
saw Jesus. How good to set aside, for a moment, our struggles with doubt, our
fervent wrestling with probabilities and possibilities and to see, for one
beautiful instant, the Lord so full of love that he notices a blind beggar lost
in the crowd. How good if we could learn from Bartimaeus the lack of embarrass-
ment, the innocent urgency to cry out "Lord have mercy -- my sight, my sight!"

How good to learn from this miracle to confess our blindness and simply, quietly,
to ask Jesus Christ to help us see -- the world, one another and supremely --

him -~ our Savior.

-4- . ;

Malcolm Muggeridge, former editor’ of Punch, was a skeptic about Christianity
much of his: life. While working ona BBC documentary on Mother Teresa of
Calcutta, he began to feel the pull of the Gospel. The result was his conver-.

sion and a lively faith with compelling power, Aiteracy and wit. His description

ofthe experience is remarkable:

"Suddenly, almost with a click, like a film coming into sync,
everything has meaning, everything is real: and the meaning, the
“reality shine out in every shape and sound and movement, in’ each”
“and every manifestation of life, so that I-want to cry out with
“the blind man to whom Jesus restored his sight: One thing: I know,
“that, whereas I’ was blind, now I see. How, I ask, could I have ~
missed it before? How could I have not understood that the
Silence, grey light across the water, the cry of the seagull and
“the sweep of their: wings, everything on which my eyes rest is’
_telling me: of God?" :

Gesus, The Man Who Lives, P25)

Jesus restored sight to a blind man one time. “The miracle has been repeated time
and time again in the lives of ordinary people with the strength to ask to see
better, ~ Without impediment, without condition, the gift of sight has been given.
May it be so for us this evening as we gather at his table, ;

~ During: a six week sojourn in a Trappist Monastery in 1979, Jesuit theologian Henri
Nouwen composed a prayer every day. On March 11 he wrote a prayer which struck
me when I read it this summer, as I began to think about our being together this
evening at Christ's table, and as I began to ponder the text which will forever

' be a text with which we began this ministry together:

Let us borrow Henri Nouwen's words -- make his prayer yours.
“Let us pray:

“O Lord, grant me a pure heart so that I’ can see you and hear you in
the splendor of the holy liturgy. How often do I sing the Psalms but
_. remain deaf! How often do I see the bread and wine yet remain blind.

"I really: ‘want to see,..take me by the hand and lead me. Purify my —
heart and ‘show me your. light. I do not have to go far. You ‘have

_ given me the words to hear you and the bread and wine ‘to taste. you.
Come, then, @ Lord, I open-my senses to your presence, Let me
recognize you where you are. Amen."