Do You Want to See?

Reverend Debbie Cato
Mark 10:46-52    
Fairfield Community Church
October 27, 2024 

Let us pray:  Almighty, eternal, and merciful God. Your Word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path.  Open our minds so we may truly understand your Word.  Help us to conform our life, so that in all our ways we may be pleasing to you, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

Do You Want to See?

 

 Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem – his final mission.  He and his disciples, along with a large crowd, come to the town of Jericho.  We don’t know if they stayed in the town for a bit or if they just passed through.  We don’t know what they did while they were in Jericho. What we are told is that on their way out of Jericho, they pass by Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, sitting on the side of the road.  Perhaps you can picture a ragged homeless man wrapped in blankets to keep him warm, sitting on a corner with a sign asking for help.  Can you picture that?

The group may have kept on walking, passing him by except Bartimaeus calls out to Jesus. People told Bartimaeus that it was Jesus passing by and so he took advantage of that and called out to Jesus.  ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’ 

The people around him told him to be quiet!  After all, it was Jesus of Nazareth!  You can’t just yell at him!

But Bartimaeus did not let the opinions of the crowd deter him.  Instead, he yelled louder!  ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’

Jesus stopped in his tracks and looked to see who was yelling at him.  He told his disciples, or maybe the large crowd following him (we don’t know for sure) to call the man over.   They don’t exactly go over to him and get, ‘Take heart;’ they call.  ‘Get up, Jesus is calling you.’

Take heart my friends, Jesus is calling each of you too.  He’s calling each one of us saying, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’  What do you need?  I hear you calling out to me and I’m ready to listen.  What do you need?

For Bartimaeus, it was his sight.  ‘My teacher,’ Bartimaeus says, ‘let me see again.’  We don’t know if Bartimaeus had been blind since birth or if an illness or an injury caused his loss of sight.  It doesn’t really matter.  Jesus doesn’t care.  Jesus said to him, ‘Go; your faith has made you well.’ Jesus does not touch the man.  He does not spit and put mud in his eyes like  another blind man he healed.  Jesus merely spoke – ‘Go; your faith has made you well’ and immediately, Bartimaeus regained his sight. 

When the blind beggar first called out to Jesus, he said, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’  Then he repeated himself – louder this time:  ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’  Although he could not see Jesus, he understood who he was – he believed who Jesus was.  Bartimaeus shows us what faith is. It’s not about reciting the correct confession or subscribing to certain dogmas. It isn’t even knowing scripture. It’s knowing who Jesus is. It is Bartimaeus’s unrelenting conviction that Jesus can and will rescue him from his need. We see this faith in what Bartimaeus does.

So far, no one else in Mark has been able to perceive so much about Jesus from so little data.  Bartimaeus understands who Jesus is. The title that Bartimaeus uses, Son of David, appears only here in the Gospel of Mark.

Elsewhere in Mark, Jesus adds nuances to his connection to David and his differentiation from David to imply his superiority over Israel’s greatest king. For Bartimaeus, the title indicates that Jesus is God’s designated agent, and it introduces the notion of Jesus as a royal figure, an image that becomes very important when Jesus enters Jerusalem, goes on trial, and dies as a king. Bartimaeus, despite his blindness and all its connotations of spiritual ignorance, “sees” the royal dimensions of Jesus’ identity. Bartimaeus recognizes that Jesus is able and willing to show mercy and heal him.[1]

Jesus did a lot of healing during his ministry. He especially healed the blind.  Some scholars say 7 blind people were healed by Jesus and some say 8.  There are two instances – both in Matthew, where an unknown number of blind people were given sight by Jesus.  And, we cannot ignore the Book of Acts where Jesus blinded Paul and then restored his sight.  

It is fascinating that a number of men besides Jesus, performed healing miracles in the Bible – both in the Old and New Testament scriptures. But only Jesus healed the blind.  This is significant.    Jesus’ quoted scripture from Isaiah and 1 Kings to show that healing the blind was one of the signs that was prophesied of the Messiah.[2] Perhaps only Jesus healed the blind because only he can turn darkness into light.  Because only Jesus can help people see what they have previously been blind to.

We are all blind to something.    When we are blind to something we don’t know we are blind!  We don’t know we are missing something!  We don’t know what we don’t understand! You know the saying, ‘ignorance is bliss.’  But recognizing our blindness – that’s transformative.  That changes us.  It grows our faith.     

Bartimaeus knew he was blind.  He initiated contact with Jesus.  Jesus did not even notice him until he shouted out – twice.  But when Bartimaeus reached out to Jesus, Jesus responded.  He restored his sight.

What are you blind to?  Perhaps you are blind to the depth of loss and trauma experienced by the Ukrainian people, the people in Gaza and Israel and other parts of the world that are ravaged by war.  People that have lost someone they deeply love.  We have never lived in a war zone so how can we really know?  How can we really understand?  But we can be aware of it, we can see it and at a minimum pray about it. We can work toward peace in our own communities.  Jesus will open our eyes if we ask.

Maybe you are blind to the depth of racism and prejudice in this country.  We are all white people.  We live in a very white community.  It doesn’t directly touch us; it doesn’t impact our lives. But how will things ever change if we don’t see what’s going on? If we don’t actively do something to make a change? Ignorance is bliss, but is that really how God wants us to live?

Perhaps you are blind to the real causes and challenges of homelessness.  We are a community that generally owns their homes.  We are not impacted by the escalating cost of housing.  We are not families where both adults work full-time and still don’t earn enough money to pay the rent, buy groceries, and pay the bills.  We are not senior citizens whose landlord doubled our rent and we can’t afford it on our fixed income. Ignorance is bliss.  It’s easier not to see these things.  But, what does Jesus’ teach about the poor?      

Perhaps you are blind to the way your words hurt those you love or impact your relationships.  It’s easy to be blind to our own weaknesses.  To not see how our words and behaviors negatively impact other people.  Ignorance is bliss but is that really how Jesus’ taught us to treat others?

I’ve only named a few things, big things as examples.  But I could go on and on.  Whether we want to admit it or not, we are each blind to a whole bunch of stuff.  Sometimes it’s because it’s something we don’t experience ourselves and so we form opinions and judgements based on our minimal knowledge or perceptions.  Sometimes it’s because it is happening far away, and it doesn’t impact our day-to-day lives.  Sometimes it’s because we unconsciously or even consciously choosing to be blind.  We don’t want to know because if we did, we might have to change our way of thinking or change the way we live or dare I say, change the way we vote.  We might have to do something if Jesus’ removes our blindness!  

Jesus is calling each and everyone of us.   ‘Take heart; get up, Jesus is calling you,’ he says.  ‘What do you want me to do for you?’  Do you want me to show you what you are missing?   Do you want me to open your eyes to something you don’t understand, something you don’t see?  Do you want me to restore your sight? Do you want to see or not?  Amen.

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[1] https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-30-2/commentary-on-mark-1046-52-2. Matt Skinner. October 25, 2009. 
[2] Jesusalive.com.  Steve Shirley.

The Good and the Bad

Reverend Debbie Cato
Job 1 - 2:10    
Fairfield Community Church
October 6, 2024 

Let us pray:  God of wisdom, though we are mere mortals, you are mindful of us. You know the voices inside and out that distract us. You know the words we need to hear. By the power of your Holy Spirit, help us to receive your holy, life-giving Word.  Amen.

  

The Good and the Bad

 

Today we are in the Book of Job.  The second sentence of the book tells us that Job was a man blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil.  Job’s character is important throughout the whole book.  Job’s character is on trial.

 We are told that Job had a big family - seven sons and three daughters. His family was well respected, and they had many friends. He owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred donkeys.  Job also had a large number of servants. We are told all this so we understand how successful and wealthy Job was.  Job was very fortunate.  The Scripture tells us that Job was the “greatest man among all the people of the East.”  Well respected, and a good man of God. Those are some credentials!

Job is another Old Testament book that you should really read if you haven’t.  I often go back and read it when I am personally going through a rough time and I don’t know where God is in all of it. 

The book can be broken down into parts.  Today, we read about the heavenly wager that gets Job into his mess. It is interesting and challenging to read that God made a wager with Satin to prove how righteous and upright Job was. I’m not even going to try to tackle that issue!  But I do want to explain something so I’m going to be a teacher for a moment! 

I want to talk about the Satan in this passage for a moment.  The meaning of the text is easily obscured. Let me try to put the whole “Satan” thing in perspective: “the Satan” in Job works in much the same way as the angel of the Lord who appears to Balaam’s donkey, blocking his way “as his adversary” (Numbers 22:22). “The Satan” is usually an angel, who serves as an adversary or “prosecuting attorney” on God’s behalf.[1]

What is often overlooked, but we shouldn’t ignore, is that the Satan functions as the adversary on God’s behalf. After this introductory section of the book, the Satan never makes another appearance, he is not mentioned, questioned or in any way identified. It is God who is questioned, God who is represented, and God who is significant. In other words, it is God who is in control.[2]

If we had kept reading, we would learn that three of Job’s friends hear about all the troubles that he was experiencing, and they come to sympathize with him and comfort him. But instead of comforting Job, they begin looking for what he has done wrong, that “God is punishing him in this way.”  What has Job done to bring all this calamity down on himself?  It must be his fault.

This my friends, is a good example of how not to talk to someone going through a crisis.  Instead of sitting with Job, just being present and listening, they cause a lot of stress and aggravation. 

 In chapter 23, we get a sample of Job’s “bitter complaint” to (or is it against?) God. Chapter 38 gives us some of God’s pointed responses to Job’s complaints.  And finally, in chapter 42, we witness Job’s restoration to health, wealth, family, and above all, a right relationship with God.  It’s worth the read.

So, let’s get back to our passage today.  Nobody is really like Job – “blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned from evil.”  At least nobody in any of the congregations I’ve served.  Sorry folks!  I’m also including myself.[3]

 This is story is a bit of a set-up.  We all know certain people, certain families and we say, they are such a good Christian family.  We might even call them saints.  We hold them at high esteem and can’t imagine them ever having an evil thought or doing something that isn’t right. We think we are the only ones with a messy life.

But I have to tell you.  In my years of ministry, I have had members who have been very faithful, very righteous come to me for pastoral care because of something in their life or something in their character, that is not right before God.  Something that is a mess. We all have things we have buried, things about us and our lives, that we hide from others to make a certain impression. We all have some sort of scandalous thing in our past that never (at least we hope) comes out.  We forget we don’t know other people’s full stories.  And honestly, we don’t want to! We want to believe that they are solid Christian people.  But we all have flaws!  We all have cracks in our character.  I’m sorry to say that none of us are perfectly blameless and upright in the eyes of God. Nobody is really like Job.  So, we must be told this story for a specific reason. ^[4]  The Book of Job is in the Bible for a reason.  What is it?  Why the story about Job?

If we are honest, we will admit that our churches, our congregations, are a perfect mirror of our culture – often, dare I say, counter-cultural to what our faith teaches.  We are always being told what to think and how to feel.  Each day we are bombarded with advertisements for products and services of every kind.  Our kids made a mess – here is the perfect towel for mopping up any spill.  I can’t sleep because I’m so worried about my friend, but here is a pill that will help you sleep.  There’s a ready answer for everything and a right solution to every situation.  You can either buy something to fix your problems, read a book that will have all the answers, or you can listen to advice from someone who wants to control the way you think and act.  Everyone wants to give advise.

On Mother’s Day, we salute the mothers and pay no attention to the women who were unable to have children and are hurting.   On Father’s Day we celebrate fathers but ignore those whose fathers were abusive.  On Thanksgiving we praise the abundance of the land, the bountiful harvest, plenty of food on the table, but we don’t mention those that have nothing to eat, those who are isolated and alone, or the waste that’s happening to God’s creation.

We can praise Job for his integrity, make a joke about him calling his wife a “foolish woman” and tell everyone that whatever happens in their lives is God’s will.

But somewhere in this congregation, in this community, are folks sitting around scratching their sores.  They are struggling to get through or get by.  Crises upon crises have taken over their life.  They are drowning. To tell them it is ‘God’s will’ is harsh.  It lacks empathy and understanding.  It doesn’t help.  In fact, it makes things worse.

Rather than giving advice, as Job’s friends do, we need sit in the ash pit with them.  Let them be who they need to be at that moment.  Not strong, not full of faith, but hurting and scared and angry. That’s honest. We should just sit with them – not saying a word.  We should try to understand their circumstance – because even if we have been through something similar, it is different.  We don’t know exactly how someone feels.

The story of Job is a bit of a dishonor.  He has been reduced to a stand in for everybody’s illusions about their own righteous aspirations.  He is a stick figure in somebody else’s melodrama.  He has not even been granted the dignity of the truth.  No one is perfectly righteous and upright.  No one but God that is.[5]

And hear this – I firmly believe that God does not cause us to suffer.  He does not cause the muck in our lives to teach us something; to punish us.

Stuff happens because the world is full of sin and horrible stuff happens.  Stuff happens because we make bad decisions and there are consequences. That is not God causing things to happen.  But God is with us in all things.  God weeps with us.  His heart breaks with ours.

God is good.  He created earth and all that is in it; and he created us in his image.  Why would he want bad for us?  Why would he want us to suffer?

So, listen.  All of you.  We don’t need people to be our saints.  To be our perfect examples of godliness.  Perfect examples of a faith that never waivers.  We are all in this mess called life together.

 Your life, my life, our life together is all about a journey – growing in our trust that life together is a continual discovery of God sitting in the ashes beside us.  He’s there in the muck; in the ugliness of us.  He does not wait to be present with us until we have it all together or until we are righteous enough – whatever that is.  To care about us.  To love us. 

What Job 2:1-10 does do is set the stage for the critical issue that drives the book, an issue that is put into play in the question/question exchange of Job and his wife (2:9-10). As he mourns in ashes covered with “loathsome sores” which he itches at (like a dog licking a wound) with a piece of broken pottery, Job’s wife asks him, “Do you still persist in your integrity?” Job responds–after an admittedly snippy crack about his wife’s gender and foolishness (but don’t judge him too harshly, remember, his sores were loathsome)–“Shall we receive the good at the hand of God, and not receive the bad?” In this exchange, the dilemma of faith is articulated.

And I think we learn that integrity; character is important to God. How will we respond to tragedy and hardship when it comes?  Because it will come!  God does not expect us not to struggle.  Not to feel scared and angry and confused.  How will we base our decisions?  Will we continue to trust God no matter what our circumstances are?  Will we maintain our integrity in all things?  That’s the question that Job poses.  That’s the question for us to ask ourselves.  Amen.

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[1] https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-27-2/commentary-on-job-11-21-10-2. Karl Jacobson.
[2] https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-27-2/commentary-on-job-11-21-10-2. Karl Jacobson.
[3] Feasting on the Word.  Year B, Volume 4. Season After Pentecost 2.  Proper 22.  Job 1:1-2:1-10.  Pastoral Perspective. Pg 122.  Thomas Edward Frank. 
[4] Feasting on the Word.  Year B, Volume 4. Season After Pentecost 2.  Proper 22.  Job 1:1-2:1-10.  Pastoral Perspective. Pg 122.  Thomas Edward Frank. 
[5] https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-27-2/commentary-on-job-11-21-10-2. Karl Jacobson.