Jesus asks Bartimaeus, “What do you want me to do for you?” And the blind man says, “My teacher, let me see again.”

One of my most favorite people in the world was my Aunt Doris. She was my aunt out of love, not out of family relationship, and I had known her all of my life that I can remember. We had moved in next door to she and her husband in Cranford, New Jersey, when I was a toddler, and our families became the fastest of friends. Although Aunt Doris’s beloved husband, Stan, had died, she had continued to live a rich and full life, enjoying friends and family to the utmost. Eventually, she was diagnosed with a terminal illness and in fact, died three years ago this month. I want to tell you some things that happened in the last couple of days before she died as the veil, the curtain, between this life and the next life became wonderfully and incredibly transparent.

The family was keeping vigil around her bedside. At one point she said to them, “Stan is here, you know.” Then she said, “I wish you could all go with us.” Another time, as one of the family prepared to sit down close to her bedside, she said, “Don’t sit there – Stan is sitting there!” And yet another time, when her son-in-law came into the room, she said, “Gary, what are you doing in heaven?” And Gary replied, “Um... I stopped by to see how you were doing.”

Isn’t that something? What an incredible privilege to be given as God opens our eyes to the world that lies beyond this one! And then here’s another story about seeing, one I remember the minister of a Congregational church telling. She tells of a visit she had with an elderly parishioner, a woman who had just learned she would die soon. They had met to talk about this woman’s funeral and about the ending of her life. Yet a few days later, the woman called to eagerly let her minister know that she had seen the painted buntings – the colorful birds that migrate to Florida in the autumn of each year. The minister said: “When she told me about the birds and her delight in them, she was letting me know who she is: She is a woman capable of delight in small things. She knows joy despite life-long burden and sorrow. She knows how to see the big in the little – she knows how to look deeply enough to see...”

Jesus asks Bartimaeus, “What do you want me to do for you?” And the blind man says, “My teacher, let me see again.”

What is there to be learned from the stories of Bartimaeus, my Aunt Doris, and the parishioner at the Congregational church? What is there to be learned from the stories of regained sight, like Bartimaeus, or enlarged sight, like that of Aunt Doris, or highly focused sight, like the woman with the terminal illness? I think what is to be learned depends in large part on how we would answer Jesus.

If Jesus asked us, “What do you want me to do for you?” I’m sure we could think of a few things to say... In fact, you and I might just be tempted to reach into our hip pocket and pull out that laundry list of “Things Jesus Can Do For Me” that we’ve been lugging around for some time just hoping and praying for an opportunity like this one. It probably wouldn’t occur to those of us who have perfectly good vision to ever ask, “My teacher, let me see again.” But then again, maybe the problem is that, unlike Bartimaeus, we don’t realize just how blind we really are.

So maybe where we need to start is with another question about sight and seeing and vision – the question “What are we looking for?” How we answer that question is going to determine how we answer the other question. It seems to me that if we focus so narrowly on our own laundry list of “Things Jesus Can Do For Us”, then we’re in danger of wanting Jesus only to use Jesus for what we want, and that truly is a kind of blindness. Being the self-centered human beings that we are, we may only be interested in having Jesus the Magician at our disposal – the One who can mop all our all messes and fix all our problems. Our blindness may be that we want Jesus in our employ and at our disposal to give us what we need or want.

Bartimaeus, on the other hand, starts out by simply looking for God, and knowing that God will be found in Jesus, the Son of David. Bartimaeus is looking for God and has faith that Jesus will hear him calling. That’s how Bartimaeus would answer the question, “What are you looking for?” In fact, Bartimaeus could have written the second verse of Hymn 490 – the verse that goes “I want to see the brightness of God, I want to look at Jesus. Clear sun of righteousness shine on my path, and show me the way to the Father. In him there is no darkness at all, the night and the day are both alike.” You see, Bartimaeus knows what we all ought to know – that a relationship with God through Jesus Christ is the gift – the gift that opens our eyes, the gift that makes us well, the gift that heals us.

“My teacher, let me see again.” That’s actually a prayer we ought to pray every single day, and probably often throughout the day. When out of our relationship with God in Jesus Christ we pray for clarity of vision, for our eyes to be opened and for our blindness to be lifted, all kinds of seeing are possible. We may be given a glimpse of heaven, like Aunt Doris, or see the hand of God at work in creation, like the parishioner at the Congregational church. For others of us, the blinders may be lifted so that we suddenly see with grateful hearts and fresh insight the ways in which our sight has been restored in the past, through a relationship with a parishioner, for example, or through a group we’ve participated in, or in the simple offering of forgiveness to one who has hurt us.

Some of us may suddenly see the way forward so clearly it’s as if the answer was in front of us all the time and we just didn’t know it. We may be given the gift of perceptive understanding in terms of a fellow Christian we don’t much like. We may get a glimpse of the future God is calling us to. We may suddenly see our way clear through a problem that has caused us great difficulty or great pain.

What are the ways your sight has been restored through your relationship with Jesus Christ? Or is your prayer request today: “Let me see again?” Whichever it is and whatever else you do today, be sure to call out to Jesus in prayer. Can you suddenly see clearly or do you need to pray for clear vision? Offer it up in prayer today.

Poor blind Bartimaeus turns out to be a model disciple, and we would do well to follow his example. Remember the enthusiasm of Bartimaeus. Make that enthusiasm yours. Bartimaeus called Jesus until Jesus answered. Remember the passion and persistence of Bartimaeus. Make that passion and persistence part of your life as a Christian. The minute Bartimaeus heard the disciples says, “Take heart; get up, he is calling you,” he threw off his cloak and jumped up and ran to Jesus. Remember how eager Bartimaeus was to follow Jesus on the Way. Make that eagerness part of your commitment to Christian life here at St. Andrew’s.

So be like Bartimaeus. Call out to Jesus. Pray for passion and persistence. Pray for enthusiasm. Pray for eager commitment. And please, pray for clarity of vision – for yourself and for us all.

Amen.