Sermon for Proper 25B

What do Job and Bartimaeus have in common? In spite of their hopeless situations they have hope. It is a hope based on confidence that  God is near and has the power and willingness to make a difference.

Proper 25 B

Sermon given on

October 28, 2012

At St. Barnabas Episcopal Church

By Rev. Valerie Ann Hart

Mark10:46-52

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, and sight - they come up in the different readings and seem to cover the themes of the readings very well.

First is the collect for the day, which is a prayer that we give at the beginning of the service that summarizes the whole service. Today it said, “Increase in us the gifts of faith, hope and charity.” The gifts of faith and hope - well just what is faith? I think most Americans might think that faith is to believe that God exists. And there are lots of people who when asked say, “Yes, I believe that God exists.” That is some outside, abstract, out there kind of concept of God. Other might say that faith means not only that you believe that God exists, but that you also believe that God has revealed God’s self through scripture. That might be considered a part of faith, could be. But the Greek word that is used in the Gospel where it says that Bartimaeus had “faith” could be translated as “faith in”. It is faith in God - faith in Christ. As I looked it up in the Greek/English dictionaries, 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 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. That’s the kind of faith we are talking about with Bartimaeus.

And that was the faith that Job had. This reading today is the last little bit of Job. We read some of Job last week and the lectionary has summarized the whole book in a few readings. Just to give you the concepts, you may remember that Job was a righteous man who loved God and had really good relationship with God. He had the kind of faithful relationship with God that I am describing here. Satan, who in this particular book is like the prosecuting attorney comes to God and says, “Those people, they don’t believe in you.” And God says, “Well, look at Job, he is so faithful.” And Satan says, “Yeah, well 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. So God gave Satan permission to test Job.

Job was severely tested as no one else has ever been. All of his children suddenly died tragically on the same day. And the all of his wealth was taken away on that same day. Then God said to Satan, “See, he is still faithful to me, even though all that has been taken away.” And Satan said, “Yes, but he is still healthy.” So God gave Satan permission to make him sick. Then he had sores all over his body and he sat in sackcloth and ashes scarping his soars with a broken pot because they hurt so badly. Yet he still had faith in God.

Now Job had these four so called friends. With friends like this you don’t need any enemies. But these friends came to him and basically said, “God wouldn’t have done this to you if you hadn’t done something wrong.” Sort of a karma sort of thing. And Job said, “No, that’s not the God that I have faith in. And I did not do anything wrong.” We know as the reader that he has been righteous, but his friends said that he must have done something wrong. This wouldn’t have happened to you. “No, I am innocent,” repeats Job. And there is this dialogue that takes place.

Finally we have that profound statement of faith that we read at the beginning of our burial service, which I think 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 and I can explain what happened and will justify me. Someone who will say, “You are right. You didn’t do anything wrong. You didn’t deserve it.” He has a faith in a God that is present and able to help him. And that never leaves. What he wants from God is a whole other thing, but he has this faith.

And Bartimaeus 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 repeat over and over again. “Lord Jesus Christ, son of the living God, have mercy on me.” “Jesus Christ, Jesus, have mercy on me.” And he said this because he had faith in Jesus. He had faith not only that Jesus was special and a healer, but also he believed that Jesus had the power and the willingness to help - to make a difference.

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. And 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. 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 “to see” is used in the readings. The Psalm started with the refrain, taste and see that the Lord is good. Taste and see that the Lord is good. What kind of seeing is that? And we have Job who finally gets the opportunity to be face to face with God, which is 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 deserver this.” And he gets what he asks for. In the whirlwind, God appears to him. And we get to the reading for today where all of a sudden when Job no longer knows God by having heard about God but now “sees” God he is voiceless. He doesn’t have anything to say. God is so magnificent and so much more than he had imagined that 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 transforming. Taste and see. We don’t actually physically taste God; we don’t actually physically see God. We see the manifestations of God all around us but that kind of seeing, that kind of seeing that is transformative is an inner seeing, it is an awareness of God. It is a true experience of the presence of God. Taste and see and know that the Lord is good.

Then we get 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. Now most of us would assume that we knew what a blind beggar on the side of the road would want, right? But Jesus doesn’t assume anything. Jesus asks him, “What do you want?” What do you want? And Bartimaeus says, “I want to see again.” So Jesus says, “Your faith has healed you.” Bartimaeus trusted that Jesus could and would help. And he sees again with his eyes, but unlike some of the people who are healed and just walk away, Bartimaeus has more of an experience than that because 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, whichever you want to call him, has the power to help? That Christ is near enough to help? And I would ask you, suppose he was standing nearby, right there, physically, that you could see him, and he looked at you and he 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. Or perhaps you are struggling with grief or sorrow or depression. Or perhaps there is a relationship that is broken. Or perhaps there is someone you love who is sick, or hurting or afraid. If Jesus was standing right here and said to you, “What do you want?” how would you respond?

The truth is, he is right here. He is near. If we have the kind of faith of Job or Bartimaeus we would know that Christ is with us. That he is present with us all the time, everywhere. And we also know that Christ told us over and over again to just ask, to pray, pray unceasingly. Tell me what you want. Don’t hesitate. And he also told us that we are to heal, that we are to pray for one another. To lay on hands and heal one another. It is part of the tradition of the church. It is strong in scripture. And so today we will give you the chance to ask Christ for what you want. He is right here.

We have started up again the order of St. Luke’s, which is a group of people who have a concern for healing prayer. We have reenergized it here at St. Barnabas. We’ve had several wonderful meetings with 6 or 7 people each time. We have been studying the healing stories of Jesus and praying for one another. And you may have noticed that sometimes one of us is in the back corner during the Eucharist to offer laying on of hands and healing. What we want to do today is provide an opportunity for everyone who chooses to come forward like we do on our Wednesday healing service. To come forward and one of us will be here to offer prayer. It is said that some people have a gift for healing. When you hear that it doesn’t mean that that person heals it is only God that can heal, it is Christ that heals, but sometimes having a person lay on hands, put into words your prayer and offer it to God can be a powerful opportunity for healing.

Of course we never know exactly what that healing is going to look like. Bartimaeus got to see with his eyes, Job got to see with his heart. Today we would like to offer the opportunity for healing to you. So instead of our usual prayers of the people we are going to use the litany of healing that we use at our Wednesday healing service, and then after that I want to invite any of you who would like to come forward to come the altar rail for healing prayers, and anyone who is called to help is welcome to lay hands on people as well. It is what we were told by Christ to do and it can be powerful. And if you don’t want to come forward, that’s fine. Sit in your pew and pray and be with God and in God’s presence.

So let us stand and share in the litany of healing.