The lectionary reading this morning, Reformation Sunday, comes from the Gospel according to Mark chapter 10 verses 46-52.  It’s a short little story about Jesus healing a blind beggar named Bartimaeus.  But in order to understand it fully you have to hear it in its immediate context.

Zaccheus was easy to hate. The poor hated him because he was rich, and the rich hated him because he was tacky. At least that’s what they told themselves, to justify being so scornful. Everybody needs somebody to hate.

I have a terrible prejudice. Some of you are gasping in horror, already. Others of you, who perhaps know me better, are saying: “only one? I can count at LEAST three...”

Wow. Look at all these people, Jeff. This is a little embarrassing, and I hate to be the one to tell you: you’re not supposed to be here. Didn’t you hear the NPR story that organized religion is dead, and even worse, unCool? Didn’t you get the memo that God is on hospice care? Don’t you know by now that Christianity is totally irrelevant to our daily lives? Get out of here!

It used to be that fall was my favorite season. The cool air, the burst of energy, the new pencils, the new clothes, the new EVERYTHING. Boots suited me better than flipflops. Summer was altogether too much of a good thing that I didn’t seem to be able to enjoy.

The scripture reading this morning comes from the Gospel of Luke chapter 17, verses 20 and 21. Translation of Biblical texts isn’t easy, but if you’re just the right kind of nerd it can be a lot of fun. I am that nerd and this morning since our scripture reading is so short, I thought I’d read it to you twice – once from the New Revised Standard Version and then from the Jeff Mansfield version. Translation is always a creative act and, perhaps, it will help us to better understand one of Jesus’ mysterious sayings about the Kingdom of God. Let us now hear the Word of God:

If you’re thinking that the scripture I just read sounds an awful lot like what I preached a couple of weeks ago, you’re exactly right. Before you start thinking I’ve run out of new material, you should know that it’s the second half of the sermon we heard from Jesus two weeks ago, the one in which Jesus called himself the bread of life.