Reading Stories, Living Stories
Stories are hard to work with when you are an expository preacher. You feel you have to explain the story. You have to put it into context. You have to make sense of it. You have to make an application of it to people's every day lives. You have to make it more than a story. It has to become a life-lesson, deep, profound. It has to be mined for information that may never have been part of the story, but sure sounds like it should.

So, I noticed a number of sermon titles for this week's Gospel from Mark. It is the timeless story of blind Bartimaeus. It is basic, straight-forward story, not a surprise from Mark. There's not a great deal of meat here. It is a great story. Here are some of the titles I found.

"Be Quiet, Bartimaeus!"
"Blind Bart"
"How Eager Are You?"
"Interruptions on the Way"
"Jesus Stopped!"
"Let Me See Again!"
"The Value of Being Blind,"
"Where Are Our Blindspots?"

Note: Over the years I have noticed that sermon titles are probably unnecessary. They are probably more for the advantage of the pastor than any one else in the church. Leaving that aside though, let's move on.

I am sure that these all make for good sermons. They have good points to make. They are probably inspiring and may in many cases send the people out the door feeling good or challenged or ready to do something, if only give God thanks for their own sight.

But like all stories, they start with the simple facts- just the facts. A man who was blind can now see. That's it. The power of God at work in Jesus Christ. Nothing more- and absolutely nothing less. That's the story at its heart.

Quite a story isn't it? In and of itself what else is there to say- Jesus has THE power of God, the Creator in the word he speaks.

But of course stories reflect back to us. We look at them and see something about ourselves and our human conditions, even stories about "simple" events like the healing of Bartimaeus. Hence all the sermon titles and sermon directions that occur Sunday after Sunday in churches all around the world. Is that stretching things? Sometimes, I am sure it is. Is it reading things into the story that aren't there? Probably that happens all the time. After all the world we live in has so many things that are so different from the biblical world.

Yet we are still human and still in need of stories- stories that open our eyes to ourselves and others around us. Here from Brian Stoffregan:

We should see ourselves both as the blind man -- in need of the divine miracle so that we can be saved and follow Jesus on the way; and as members of the crowd who need to see the blind man in a new and different way. Rather than seeking to keep the poor and disabled and needy away from Jesus, We need to share the news about Jesus with such people who are on the "side of the way" -- the outsiders. Do we believe that Jesus calls them to his side? If so, we need to share the news. Do we believe that Jesus has called us to his side? It means leaving everything behind and following Jesus -- which from Jericho means an uphill road to the cross in Jerusalem.
Brian Stoffregen