When the World Calls for Silence Mark 10:46-52; Jeremiah 31:7-9; Hebrews 7:23-28

Grace, mercy and peace be with you, from God, our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, who made the good confession for us.

We’re going to talk about standing up and speaking out when the world demands that we be silent. 

When we cry out in faith, God always hears and understands, even when the world doesn’t understand , or doesn’t want to hear.

In our Gospel, we hear the story of a man who refused to be silent, but instead, cried out to Christ all the louder.  

Just before the events of our Gospel, Jesus, as He had done before, told his disciples that, in Jerusalem, he would be crucified. That was something the disciples didn’t want to hear, understandably so.

They didn’t want to hear it because they didn’t understand it – that Jesus would die for the sins of the world, and rise again.  

Jesus told them several times, that He was going to die and then rise; He told them because they needed to hear it from Him, so that looking back, they would remember He had indeed promised them that He would die and rise for the world. He promised; He gave them His word, and His word came true.

On the way to bring His word to fulfillment in Jerusalem on Holy Week, Jesus and His disciples traveled through the town of Jericho.

This was the same Jericho made famous during the conquest of the Promised Land: Joshua and the battle of Jericho, when the walls came tumbling down. We’ll come back to the battle of Jericho later.

As they were leaving Jericho, a blind man who was begging, named Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, cried out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”  

A couple of observations about this: first, it’s interesting that Bartimaeus is identified by who his father was, as they did in those days. 

The exact identification indicates that there was follow-up by the apostles to learn his father’s name and so to know exactly who Bartimaeus was. 

Many of the accounts of Jesus’ miraculous healings were told for years afterwards. Some were written down in the Gospels, where we have them today.

We know Luke did research in writing his Gospel, and Mark, where this account is recorded, likely did too. 

Mark was a disciple or student of Peter, so certainly Peter, who was an eye-witness to all these things Jesus said and did, conveyed them to Mark, along with many of the details. 

The apostles and writers of Scripture took great care to learn the details surrounding Jesus’s miracles, and the events in His ministry, in order to accurately pass them down to future generations, so that we could have confidence in them. 

It’s also entirely possible that Bartimaeus became a one of the early Christians, and a part of the Christian fellowship that began after Pentecost.

Bartimaeus showed his faith in Jesus by how he identified him. He cried out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Son of David was a title for the Messiah. Bartimaeus believed that Jesus was the Messiah sent to save the world.

Mark tells us that initially, some of the people there rebuked Bartimaeus, scolding him and telling him to be silent.  

Bartimaeus wasn’t intimidated because he believed. Mark says, but he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”    

Nor was Jesus intimidated or influenced by the crowd. Mark says, 49 And Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart. Get up; he is calling you.” 50 And throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. 51 And Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” 

And the blind man said to him, “Rabbi, let me recover my sight.”  52 And Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way. 

What a wonderful story of persistent faith, and miraculous healing. 

As we keep believing in and holding on to Jesus, He will bless us, according to His love and wisdom, His good and gracious will; giving to us what’s best for us, when it’s best for us.

Believing this, that God has done great things for us, we boldly and joyfully proclaim His power and love. When the world tells us to shut up about Jesus, like Bartimaeus, we love and proclaim Him all the more. 

This is what God wants us to do, proclaim the love of His Son. 

Jeremiah, the co-called weeping prophet, who was treated so badly for faithfully proclaiming God’s Word, tells us, For thus says the Lord: “Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob, and raise shouts for the chief of the nations; proclaim, give praise, and say, ‘O Lord, save your people.’

The Lord did save His people. Jeremiah prophesied, With weeping they shall come, and with pleas for mercy I will lead them back, I will make them walk by brooks of water, in a straight path in which they shall not stumble, for I am a father to Israel. 

God led His people back to Him along the paths of righteousness, as Psalm 23 says, He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name's sake.

With the Lord leading us in the ways of godly love and righteousness, we, by the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit and the power of the Gospel, speak out for good and godly ways.

When the world demands that we be silent about Christ and His ways and His salvation, because no one wants to hear it, we reply, “But God wants us to say it, because the world needs to hear it.” 

And there are some who do hear and believe, and are so happy that someone had the love and courage to tell them about Christ and His saving grace for the world.

Now, as we said we would do, let’s take a look at the battle of Jericho, and what this teaches us about when to be silent and when to speak up. 

In the Promised Land, the Israelites were confronted with the mighty city-state of Jericho. They couldn’t just go around Jericho and into the Promised Land because then the Jericho army could attack them from in back and overtake them.

So God gave Joshua instructions to march around the formidable, seemingly unbreachable, walls of Jericho, with 7 priests blowing trumpets, followed by the ark of the covenant, with an armed guard before and after them.

For 6 days, 1 time each day, they paraded around the city, with trumpets sounding, but no one said a word, no war cries, everyone was silent. 

On the 7th day, the 7 priests, followed by the ark of the covenant, with trumpets blasting, marched 6 times around the city, with the army before and behind them; but again the army was silent, no one said a word.

By that time, the city of Jericho probably thought it was all show, that there was no real threat to them. 

The 7th time around, as the trumpets sounded, the army shouted, and God caused the walls of the city to come tumbling down; they rushed in and overtook the city.

Joshua and the Israelites believed and obeyed God; they did as He said, and He gave them the victory; they were silent when He told to be silent, and they shouted when He told them to shout.

As we believe and obey God by spreading His Word, there’s a time for us to be silent, and a time to speak up.

When people are offended and refuse to hear God’s Word, there’s nothing to be gained by trying to force it on them. Then, as Jesus told the disciples, “Shake the dust off your feet.”; just let it be, move on. Maybe it’ll be different another time.

But, when those who don’t want to hear about Christ, demand that we never speak God’s Word to anyone, except in private, or at Church, or at home, but never, ever in public, not even to those who want to hear, that’s another matter. 

Then, like Bartimaeus, we speak even more boldly and confidently; not confident in ourselves, but confident in the Word we share, confident in our God, and His love and power to change minds and save souls.

Praise God for the life that waits for us in Paradise, when we all will love to share and be happy to hear God’s Word; everyone excited speak and hear shouts of joy and praise before the throne of God.

Until then, let us boldly, but respectfully, share and proclaim the truth and love of Christ to all who will hear. 

And as we do, the peace of God, which passes understanding, will guard our hearts and minds, in Christ Jesus, to whom we cry out in faith. Amen.