Home Page
The Rector's Welcome
Worship
Sermons
Music & the Organ
Newsletter
Schedule & Events
History
Programs & Ministries
Tour the Building
Links
Map & Directions
Monthly Calendar
Home Page
The Rector's Welcome
Worship
Sermons
Music & the Organ
Newsletter
Schedule & Events
History
Programs & Ministries
Tour the Building
Links
Map & Directions
Monthly Calendar
Home Page
The Rector's Welcome
Worship
Sermons
Music & the Organ
Newsletter
Schedule & Events
History
Programs & Ministries
Tour the Building
Links
Map & Directions
Monthly Calendar
Fr. J. D. Ousley
29 October 2006Mk. 10.46-52“Denial and Mercy”
In the Name of God: Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier. Amen.
The journalist Bob Woodward's book, State of Denial has been making headlines. The headlines have appeared in part because Woodward was viewed in the past as a journalist who leaned toward the Republican side. His new book, by contrast, is apparently sharply critical of the current administration.
I say "apparently" because I haven't read the book. But I have read the title of the book — and it's an excellent one, "State of Denial!" All politicians want to look good, and therefore all politicians are prone to deny that any program they are responsible for has gone wrong.
So, too, the reason political speeches are generally uninteresting is that the speakers never admit their mistakes. Politicians never regret their past actions. They deny any and all accusations that have been laid against them. The only spice in these speeches comes from charges the politicians might decide to level against their opponents!
Leaders think they have to look perfect in order to be popular. Unfortunately, that's the nature of politics.
And unfortunately denial is the nature of the rest of life, too. You don't hear a famous chef apologizing for a lousy dessert! You don't read about movie producers offering to return the money of people who went to see one of the producers' films that was un-watchable!
Now there's a word that regularly appears in Scripture and Christian worship that is utterly alien to these people. Not in their vocabulary. The word is "mercy."
This concept is found in all the lessons we heard today. In the Gospel, a blind beggar cries out, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" Jesus by virtue of his divine calling is believed to be a bearer of God's mercy.
God's mercy mentioned in the Psalm we heard sung by the choir: "But I put my trust in your mercy; my heart is joyful because of your saving help."
And the concept appears repeatedly in our worship services: for example, in the brief hymn known as the, Kyrie Eleison — which is Greek for "Lord, have mercy."
The word also appears in the Latin hymn, the Agnus Dei, which is based on a similar phrase from Scripture to the one uttered by the beggar, Bartimaeus: "Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us."
That last line, though, suggests a reason why the term, "mercy" doesn't come up in conversations at Starbucks. God's mercy isn't actively sought because it's not seen as relevant.
People don't worry about asking God for mercy because they don't think they've done anything wrong. Nor do they believe that God is out to punish them for the acts that they might regret.
No, the concept of "mercy" isn't found in the modern politician's play-book — or for that matter in anyone else's vocabulary.
And yet, isn't the concept useful precisely because denial is so prevalent? For those of us who are deluded by a refusal to admit to our shortcomings, that means most of us at least some of the time — for us, mercy is a welcome antidote.
And mercy is welcome because it isn't only to be associated with sin and divine wrath and judgment. Recall the ending of the Gospel story of Bartimaeus. The beggar is healed by Christ, as we expect. But having cured Bartimaeus of his blindness, Christ illuminates the relationship between healing and mercy. Jesus says to the beggar, "Your faith has made you well."
This seems to me a very fruitful way to look at the concept of mercy. We recognize the frailties of our faith, and so we ask God in his compassion to help us to find more faith and stronger faith and deeper faith. To ask for God's mercy, then, is to ask for spiritual wholeness.
And while we might not always feel the need of God's forgiveness for our sins, we may be all too aware of our need for wholeness.
For we know the personal gifts that we currently lack. We know the personal traits that keep us from doing what we want to do.
And we also appreciate an analogy many readers have found in the Bible story of Bartimaeus. Note that the sign that Bartimaeus' faith made him well was the restoration of his sight.
Bartimaeus called Jesus, "Son of David" — which here is a kind of code word for "Messiah." Even though Bartimaeus is physically blind, he senses the unique spiritual call of Chris, a call that those who can see don't recognize.
His cry for mercy, then, isn't only a cry for pardon. It is a cry for vision. It is a cry for a vision of who Christ is: God's chosen one.
And the example of Bartimaeus also suggests a vision of who we are. For any accurate account of ourselves must overcome spiritual blindness. We must learn to see what we don't want to see about ourselves — what we deny about who we are.
In this regard, a Benedictine monk, Michael Casey, has made some interesting observations. Casey notes that Christianity traditionally teaches that Aabandoning false selves ... is the most effective means of finding God ..." In other words, our faith in God is deepened when we are able to see ourselves as we really are. Casey says that, "For a faithful Christian, self-knowledge leads almost inevitably to knowledge or experience of God ..."
Self-knowledge leads to knowledge of God. The religious quest requires not denial but truth. To know God, we need to know ourselves.
And because we tend to deny that there are unattractive aspects to ourselves, we need to expand our vision outside of our personal egos. Finding the truth, in other words, also requires love.
As Michael Casey observes, "Christianity is about loving God with a certain fullness of spirit. It is about loving our neighbor as much as we love ourselves. First, we must love ourselves, and that usually means that we have already received from others the message that we are lovable."
Notice how far we have come from the idea that mercy is needed to deliver us from the wrath of a vengeful God. Instead, God in his mercy delivers us from the pain we cause ourselves. God delivers us from our ignorance.
God loves us and thereby demonstrates to us that we are lovable, and that we can love others.
No wonder then, that we encounter so many references in Scripture and in our worship to "mercy." God's gracious compassion is the key to everything. Without it, we are literally lost. But with it, we escape the bonds of denial, and we find the freedom of truth.
No wonder, too, that so many people love that old hymn by the former slave trader John Henry Newton.
It's a hymn that the beggar Bartimaeus could have sung with all his heart, when he received God's healing mercy. And it's a hymn for all of us who seek the grace of God.
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me,
I once was lost, but now am found, 'twas blind, but now I see.
And now unto that same God Father, Son, and Holy Spirit be ascribed as is most justly due all might, majesty, power, dominion and praise, now and forever, Amen.