Do Not Keep Them Silent!

In the late fall of 2001, a young man in the midst of his junior year at Oklahoma Baptist University saw a beautiful young lady across the cafeteria. Hair was the color of the rainbow and she wore a Super Cabbie shirt with a long-sleeve shirt underneath. In her hand she held a freshly poured glass of Dr. Pepper and made her way back to her friends. The young man shouted, “Hey, I'm going to date you one day!” Sadly, she did not hear him and his friends shook their heads and said, “Come on, man. Be quiet. You're going to embarrass yourself.”

A few weeks later, the young lady sat down at the table of the young man. Taken back at his luck, he smiled and introduced himself. She, though, was not there to see him and began to talk with his roommate. As she got up to leave, the young man again muttered, not as bravely as before, “Yea, I'm going to date you one day.” A month passed and the young man found himself at the local bowling alley with his roommate and there, to his surprise, was this same young lady. Sadly, again, she was not there to see him but was there with another guy. This time the young man did not mutter or speak aloud. Instead, in his mind he thought, “One day, we're going to date.”

Again, a month passed and the young man found himself at a little get together with some friends and there on the couch sat the young lady. A couple of hours passed and while others in the kitchen talking about non-serious matters, the young man sat down at the opposite end of the couch from the young lady and asked, “So, you married?” “No,” she said plainly. “Engaged?” he asked. Again very plainly she answered, “No.” The young man looked at the television and simply replied, “Cool.” Two weeks later they went out on their first official date. Six months later they were engaged. A year and a half later they were married. And that's how I met Lacy.

Jesus came to Jericho, the place where it seems a lot of cool stuff happens. As Jesus and his disciples were leaving the city, along with a huge crowd that followed, a blind man, Bartimaeus, was sitting on the roadside begging. When he heard it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David! Have mercy on me!”

Many began to rebuke him. “Be quiet!” They said. But he continued to shout, “Jesus, Son of David! Have mercy on me!” and they continued to rebuke him, “Shut up! Can't you see he's busy?” “Yes, stop yelling. He doesn't have time for you!” “That is not how you get the attention of the Messiah.” “Bartimaeus, if you wish to see Jesus you need to wait in line or give your number to Peter and he will set up an appointment.”

But Bartimaeus continued to shout, “Jesus, Son of David! Have mercy on me!” Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” So they called the blind man, “Cheer up! On your feet! He's calling you!”

Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus. “What do you want me to do for you?” asked Jesus. “I want to see.”

“Go. Your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.

They say silence is golden. At least Frankie Vallie and the Four Seasons do. Here though we see that silence is not golden; loudness is. We've all been taught and try to teach the moral ethic that if you want something you do not shout, you ask politely. If you would like to get Jesus' attention the proper moral ethical way is, “Excuse me, Jesus. Sorry to interrupt you but I would like for you to have mercy on me.” But Bartimaeus does not follow this ethic and is not overly polite about getting the attention of Jesus.

You can almost see him sitting up against the wall, his cardboard sign beside him with a tin cup in hand. He hears the commotion of a large crowd and figures something big is happening. He asks a passerby, “What's going on today?” “Oh, you haven't heard? That's Jesus. He's getting ready to leave town.” Suddenly he lets out a shout, “Jesus! Son of David! Have mercy on me!” This shout, louder than a mother yelling at her son who cut down the neighbor's cherry tree, carries across the crowd and to the ears of Jesus.

Fortunately though there are some people who have been raised right and they rebuke Bartimaeus. “Shh. Do not yell. That's rude.” But he doesn't listen to them and continues to shout loudly, “Hey, Jesus! Have mercy on me!” The shout reaches Jesus and he tells him to come over and he asks what he would like of him. Bartimaeus doesn't ask for the world but just a simple request to see. Jesus responds to his request and says, “Your faith has healed you.” and Bartimaeus could see once again.

In so many ways we are like the crowd, those of us whom have been raised in the church. We know the proper church edict. We know to wear ties on Sundays. We know all the good ol' hymns and good prayers. We know how to behave during the service. We know not to shout and not to interrupt the preacher. We know that it is impolite to snore while in “deep prayer.” Those of us whom have been raised in church know how to behave right. We wouldn't dare to interrupt Jesus while he was speaking. We would shout at him and we would quickly silence those who did. And we would miss the miracle.

If they townspeople had been successful in silencing Bartimaeus, they would have missed the miracle. They would have missed the lame made well. They would have denied Bartimaeus this new life and he would not have become a follower of Christ. They would have been stumbling blocks to an eternal life for Bartimaeus. They would have missed the miracle.

How often have missed the miracle because we purposely or inadvertently stopped someone from encountering Jesus? How often have been like the crowd and stopped those who walk inside the church from becoming members of Christ's community because they were different: because they were the wrong the color or from the wrong side of the tracks? Or because who they loved or because of what they wore? How often have we been the crowd and rebuked those shouting for Jesus' mercy?

Tough questions to think on, are they not? It is hard for us to look back and see how we've done it but our history is full of instances in which we've blocked someone from receiving the mercy of Christ. In fact the balcony that hovers over us reminds of the time when we considered certain people two-thirds of a human and seen as property instead of children of God. When the time came for them to cry out for mercy and to be seen as equals many churches, especially in the south, argued for state's rights and segregation, saying, “The bible is clear about this.”

On a smaller scale we silence those who are searching God's grace. There once was a husband and wife who worked at their local Boys and Girls club. They volunteered their time to help minister to many of the young men and women who came into the club. For six months they spent a lot time with a young man whose father was an alcoholic and going through detox. A couple of years later this man and woman decided to redo the tile in their kitchen. They called the tile company who said they had a local man who could do the work immediately. Then they gave them his name.

It was the young man's father. Having known the man's history and his relationship with the son, the couple decided to let the man do the job; however, the husband decided to watch the man like a hawk. He had the company send over a written estimate so he couldn't get swindled and for three days the husband would check on the man's work to make sure he wasn't cheating them.

At the end of the three days the husband walked by and casually said, “When you're done, come by my study and I'll write you a check.”

“Oh,” the man said, “I need to talk to you about the money. I'll talk to you when I'm done.”

The husband stormed upstairs to the study and angrily reported to his wife, “I knew it. I knew he was going to try and cheat us out of some money. Well, I have a signed contract, and I am not going to pay him one dime more than we agreed.” The husband continued to rant for another few minutes and bragged, “I'm going to leave the door open so you can see how I handle this guy. I will not pay him more than we agreed to.”

At 5 pm the tile layer walked into the husband's study, sat down directly across from him and started to hand him the bill and said, “A couple of years ago I was drinking too much. I am an alcoholic and was at a very low point in my life. I almost lost my family because of my drinking. I mistreated my wife and my children, especially my oldest son. But you and your wife spent a lot of time with him at a critical moment in his life when he could have gone either way. Shortly after that time I went to AA, and I've been sober ever since. Because of you and your wife, I still have a relationship with my son. I've never been able to thank you, but I'm thanking you now.” He handed him the bill for $350 with “Paid in full” written across it (Mike Yaconelli, Dangerous Wonder pg 144-145).

In a time when silencing people is popular and promoted as the right thing to do; let us be a people who hear the cries of Bartimaeus and say, “Jesus is calling for you. Cheer up! Get up and go to him.”