One of my pet peeves are squeaky wheels. I cringe whenever I pick the wrong cart at a store and end up with one that has a squeaky front wheel. It drives me up the wall. One of the things that I have discovered is that if you practically run pushing the cart the wheel vibrates too much for it to squeak . . . but people look and respond to you as if you are crazy.
Another place that I don’t appreciate squeaking is with my cars. Now I’m not much of an auto mechanic, but I do know that when something in the car is squeaking it probably needs attention. Yet again, I have learned that if you turn the radio on loud enough you can pretty much drown out any squeak in a car. Others in the car might not appreciate it but the squeaking is gone.
Nineteenth century humorist Josh Billings said, “The wheel that squeaks the loudest is the one that gets the grease.” It is the one that gets attention . . . or at least one would think. Writer Marilyn vos Savant sees it a little differently. She writes: “The squeaky wheel may get the most oil, but it’s also the first to be replaced.” Writer Carl Sandburg says it like this, “The squeaky wheel gets the grease but the quacking duck gets shot.”
In our scripture reading this morning we are dealing with a squeaky wheel. A blind man by the name of Bartimaeus was sitting by the roadside going about his usual business of begging when he heard that the approaching crowd was being led by Jesus. Obviously Bartimaeus had heard about Jesus . . . especially Jesus’ ability to heal. Knowing this he began to shout out. Bartimaeus wanted to be healed of his blindness and Jesus was just the guy to do it for him. So he shouted, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
It is the squeaky wheel approach. Bartimaeus wanted the grease, but instead he got reprimanded . . . he was told to shut up. This only made him more adamant in his shouting, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
Of course this caught the attention of Jesus who asks for the man to come to him. Quickly the people switch from telling Bartimaeus to shut up to telling him to cheer up . . . Jesus wants to see him. Which Bartimaeus wastes no time complying. From there we see that he discovers his healing . . . has his sight restored . . . and, is affirmed for his faith.
In this case, the squeaky wheel got the grease. Bartimaeus was a squeaky wheel. He had a problem. A problem he himself could not solve. He also saw the solution to his problem. He raised a ruckus in the hope that the solution to the problem would hear him . . . he squeaked and squeaked until he got the grease.
Have you ever thought about what would have happened to Bartimaeus had he followed the demands of those around him . . . had he shut up? There would have been no healing. The blindness would have remained. And Bartimaeus would have been condemned to his existence of being on the outside always hoping to get in . . . condemned to his blindness and struggling to beg for enough to make it through another day.
I do not imagine that I am the only one who does not appreciate squeaky wheels. Odds are most of us don’t appreciate the noise and disruption that squeaky wheels puts in our lives. They are frustrating . . . irritating . . . just a royal pain; and, yet, they are all around us. There are situations, issues, problems, crisis . . . all crying for our attention . . . seeking solutions . . . wanting to be heard . . . wanting to be acknowledged. And what do we do? We push the cart faster, turn the radio up, or just tell them to be quiet, to shut up.
Well, how well is that working?
From where we all sit I think that we would be in agreement that it isn’t working too well. The squeaking is still there. It seems that we can’t escape it. It is all around us. You name it . . . pick your squeak. Pandemic? Global warming? Economy? Politics? Religion? War . . . peace? Racial inequality? Prejudice? Poverty? Justice? Name your squeak . . . there are plenty to choose from. So many, in fact, that we cannot push the cart fast enough or turn up the radio loud enough or shush them quick enough to ever escape them. They are always there . . . squeaking and squeaking.
Over the years as a pastor helping people with their spiritual journeys I have often spent a lot of time with them discussing the many ways in which God speaks to us. One way that people don’t realize is that God speaks to us through dreams. I am not sure why this is always a surprise when we see it in our Bibles . . . Jacob and Joseph are two good examples. But God does speak to us through our dreams. Usually the best way to discuss this is when people are having disturbing reoccurring dreams . . . nightmares. They want help in getting rid of those nightmares. I tell them to deal with them . . . deal with the issue in the dream. The sooner they deal with it, the sooner the nightmares will end. And . . . it works!
Through our dreams God often uses the squeaky wheel approach. Over and over again the dream keeps happening until we deal with whatever the issue or problem is . . . and, it won’t go away until we do. When God speaks it cannot be ignored.
God also speaks to us through other squeaky wheels . . . and they will never go away until they are dealt with. So, what are we to do? What are we to do when it comes to the squeaky wheels in life?
I guess we begin where Jesus began. He slowed down. He acknowledged the squeaky wheel. He asked what was wanted . . . what was needed? And then he responded in kind. Jesus greased the wheel . . . he healed Bartimaeus of his blindness. When it comes to the squeaky wheels in life . . . our lives . . . we must follow Jesus’ example.
We need to slow down . . . to turn down the radio . . . to stop all the shushing. We need to acknowledge . . . acknowledge where the squeaking is coming from and from whom is it coming . . . to acknowledge the other. Then we need to ask and listen . . . to enter into discussion. To work together to solve the issue or problem or concern. We need to believe . . . to have faith . . . that together the squeaking can be stopped. Whatever we do, we cannot ignore the squeaking any longer. We must deal with it or it will never go away.
Greasing the wheel gets rid of the squeaking but it also comes with some reward. Remember earlier when I asked you whether or not you ever considered what would happen to Bartimaeus if he had quit squeaking and demanding Jesus’ attention? Well, he didn’t quit and he got what he sought. But Jesus did not walk away empty handed. He got another follower . . . another to go out and share the “good news” . . . another to encourage others to come and find their place at the table. The writer tells us what Bartimaeus did: “Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.” No longer the problem, Bartimaeus became part of the solution.
In all honesty, we are never going to get rid of all the squeaky wheels in the world or life. We are always going to have squeaky wheels, but we can begin where we are. We can grease what we can . . . deal with what we can . . . and, we can make a difference even if it is in the life of one person. We can acknowledge others, listen to them, work them, and create a better world. And, we can believe that we can do this. Therein may lie the difference . . . faith and a little grease can go a long way in bringing us closer to the Kingdom of God.
Jesus shows us the way . . . he stopped, acknowledge, listened, and did something. Tim Gunn writes: “We need to treat each other with consideration. In my world, the squeaky wheel does not get the grease.” If we won’t, who will? Jesus tells us we can make a difference . . . tells us to “go . . . your faith has healed you.” Believe. Amen.
