Proper 25 B
Transcribed from a sermon given
On October 28, 2012
At St. Barnabas Episcopal Church
By The Rev. Valerie Ann Hart
As I looked at the readings for today I was struck by three words. The first is faith, the second is hope and the third is see or to see. Faith, hope, sight - they come up in the different readings and seem to cover things very well.
We begin the collect for the day, which is a prayer we give at the beginning of the service that summarizes the whole service. Today it included, “Increase in us the gifts of faith, hope and charity.”
The gifts faith and hope.
Just what is faith? Most Americans might think that faith is to believe that God exists. There are lots of people who are asked about God and say, “Yes, I believe that God exists.” But it is some abstract, sense of God. Others might say that faith means not only that God exists, but that God has revealed Godself through scripture. Yes, that might be considered a part of faith. But the faith meant by the Greek word that is used in the story in the Gospel, where it says that Bartimaeus had faith, is faith in, faith inGod, faith inChrist. According to the Greek English dictionary that particular usage of the word faith means more than just believing in the existence of God or believing in something that God has supposedly said. It involves a relationship. It means that there is a belief that God has the power, and is is also near enough, to provide what we need, to make a difference. It is an idea that God’s presence is right here and God can make a difference and has the power to make a difference. That’s the kind of faith we are talking about with Bartimaeus.
And hat is the faith that Job had. This reading today is the last little bit of Job. We read some of Job last week. The lectionary summarizes the whole book with just a couple of readings, so I’ll give you some context. You may remember that Job was a righteous man who loved and had a really good relationship with God. He had the kind of faithful relationship with God that I am describing here.
Then Satan, who in this particular book is like the prosecuting attorney, comes to God and says, “those people don’t believe in you.”
God says “Look at Job, he is so faithful.”
Then Satan says “Yeah, he’s rich and has lots of kids. Of course he is going to praise you. But if things changed in his life he would turn away in a moment.”
So God gave Satan permission to test Job and Job was severely tested as no one else I think has ever been. All of his children suddenly died tragically on the same day. Then all of his wealth was taken away that same day.
God says to Satan, “See, he is still faithful to me even though all that has been taken away.”
Satan then says “Yes, but he is still healthy.”
So God gave Satan permission to make him sick. He then had sores all over his body and sat in sackcloth and ashes, scrapping his soars with a broken pot because there was so much pain. And he still had faith in God.
Now Job had these four quote friends. With friends like this you don’t need enemies. These friends came to him and they basically said, “God wouldn’t have done this to you if you hadn’t done something wrong.” Like a simplistic idea of Karma.
Job replies “No, that’s not the God that I have faith in. And I did not do anything wrong.”
Now we know as the reader that he has been righteous, but his friends say he must have done something wrong.
Job continues to assert that, no, I am innocent. There is a long dialogue that takes place. Finally we have that profound statement of faith that we read at the beginning of our burial service, which many of you know perhaps from the Messiah.
Job says, “I know that my redeemer lives.” When he says that he is saying that I know that there is someone out there, some aspect, some divine being that I can talk to who will justify me and say that I’m right I didn’t do anything wrong, I don’t deserve this. He has faith in a God that is present and able to help him. That never leaves. He has that faith.
Bartimeaus has that same kind of faith. When he hears that Jesus of Nazareth is coming by he cries out. “Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me.”
He was the first one to recite the Jesus prayer which is probably the prayer that has been said more than any other prayer. In the orthodox tradition the Jesus prayer is a very common thing to be repeated over and over again.
“Lord Jesus Christ, son of the living God, have mercy on me.”
He said this because he had faith in Jesus. He had faith not only that Jesus was special and a healer, but he believed that Jesus had the power and the willingness to help and make a difference.
So what happened for Job and Bartimaeus was that their faith gave them hope in a hopeless situation. Job’s situation was hopeless. He had lost everything and his body was deteriorating. It was a hopeless situation but he never gave up hope. Bartimaeus was a blind beggar on the side of the street. You don’t get much more hopeless than that and yet he never gave up hope. And when Jesus came he called out to him and asked for mercy, because it is faith, faith that God is near and has the power and ability to help that gives us that wonderful gift of hope.
The third word that struck me was how the word see is used in the readings. In the psalm it says, “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” What kind of seeing is that? We have Job who finally gets the opportunity to be face to face with God, that’s what he has been asking, he has been asking to be able to be face to face with God so he can give his part of the case, so he can testify “I don’t deserve this.” And he gets it. In the whirlwind God appears to him. All of a sudden Job no longer knows God by having heard about God but now sees God. Job is voiceless. He doesn’t have anything to say. God is so magnificent and so much more than he had imagined. When he sees God he is silenced. What kind of seeing is that. He talks about hearing and seeing with eyes but we all know that seeing God is much more than seeing something physically with our eyes. It is a seeing that is transformative.
“Taste and see.” We don’t actually physically taste God. We don’t actually see God. We see the manifestations of God all around us but that kind of seeing that is transformative is an inner seeing. An awareness of God. The true experience of the presence of God. “Taste and see and know that the Lord is good.”
Let’s go back to Bartimaeus, the blind beggar on the side of the road calling out for Christ’s mercy. Jesus calls him over. He doesn’t just heal him. He doesn’t assume anything. Instead he asks him “What do you want.”
Bartimaeus says “I want to see again.”
Then Jesus says “Your faith has healed you.” Bartimaeus trusted that Jesus could and would help. He is healed and he sees again with his eyes. But unlike some of the people who are healed and just walk away, Bartimaeus had more of an experience than just physical healing; he becomes a follower, a disciple of Christ, and follows after.
So I would ask you about your own faith. Do you believe that God or Jesus, whatever you want to call him, has the power to help? That Christ is near enough to help?
And I would ask you if Jesus was standing right here. Physically standing right here, and you could see him, and he looked at you and said, “What do you want?” How would you respond?
What do you want? Perhaps you want some healing, perhaps you have a physical malady that is causing you pain or suffering or confusion. Perhaps you are struggling with grief or sorrow or depression. Perhaps there is a relationship that is broken. Or perhaps there is someone you love who is sick, hurt afraid.
If Jesus was standing right here and said to you “What do you want?” how would you respond.
And the truth is, he is right here. He is near. If we have the kind of faith of Job or Bartimaeus we know that Christ is with us, present with us, all the time, everywhere. We also know that Christ told us over and over again just ask, pray, pray unceasingly. Tell me what you want. Don’t hesitate.
Right now, today, don’t hesitate to tell Christ what it is that you want.
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