Readings: Job 42: 1-6, 10-17Mk 10:46-52
Let us pray
May the words of my mouth and the
meditations of our hearts open not just our mind and heart but also our eyes
and ears to your way for us Jesus Christ.
Amen.
‘I have heard of you by the hearing of the
ear – now my eye sees you.’ So says Job
at the end of his trials, acknowledging that he didn’t know all and that God
was more that he, Job, could ever understand.
‘I want to see’ says blind Bartimeus when
asked by Jesus ‘what is it that you want me to do for you?’
I’ve always been fascinated by images, what
we see, how we interpret it, how it changes from one day to the next. On my frequent trips home to Balclutha as a
student in Dunedin, I used to pass the time looking at the landscape and
re-imagining with the eyes of one who was seeing it for the first time. It was interesting how many new things I
spotted using that perspective, how stunning the views and vibrant the life in
it. Likewise I remember the exercise at
Playcentre of intentionally observing the behaviour of the children in a
particular play situation and how much more I saw and how much more complex
were the interactions, causes and consequences than if I was just walking by or
involved in the play. You often only see
a part of the action: it’s a bit like the way the responder to an illegal
action in rugby always seems to be the one to get pinged and not so much the
instigator, although video cameras are helping a bit there!
What we think we see is so often just a
part of what there is to see – and its worth reminding ourselves that whilst we
don’t always have the luxury of video rewind or observation mode or re-imaging
to enable us to see the bigger picture, we also have a tendency to think that
what we see is the whole and complete picture. Job came to that realisation the hard way –he
acknowledged before God that his faith was limited by his inability to see, to
imagine if you like, the wholeness of God.
The understanding that he would never see or know all of God was a
moment of brilliant clarity, of deeply meaningful insight for him.
We have a very physical understanding of
blindness really. It’s really hard to
imagine what it might be like to not have sight, ever, or to lose it when you
have had it. Margaret I stand in awe
beside you, knowing that it has been, and is, really difficult for you but also
absolutely inspired by your attitude and ability within it. In fact it often seems to me that you see
just as much if not more than I do with my still visually functioning eyes and
you bless us every day with your insights into the grace and love of Christ.
Bartimeus, for all his physical blindness,
was also a person who leads us into much needed clarity about the way of faith
and it is this story of faith that I would like to explore a little more
today. It is worth noting that the
Gospel of Mark sandwiches the two stories of the healing of physical blindness
around the three accounts of the blindness of the disciples and their inability
to see the truth when Jesus predicts his suffering and death. Their response is blindness personified:
rebuke by Peter for saying it, ashamed and fearful silence, and a request to
have a position of power when they came into the kingdom. They didn’t get it – at all. But Bartimeus did! The blind man did.
Lets tease out some of the action in this
story of the healing of the blind man and then think about how we might sit
respond to it.
First of all the blind man was
marginalised, on the side of the road, spoken to as of no worth, told to shut
up – but Jesus heard and responded.
Jesus asked Bartimeus a question,
interestingly exactly the same question that he had posed to the disciples in
the reading last week: ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ ‘What do you want me to do for you?’
The disciples had responded with the
request for ‘favourite status’, Bartimeus with a plea to be able to see.
Jesus said: tell him to come to me and
Bartimeus got up and ran towards him – there was action, eagerness in his
response to Jesus call.
And immediately he regained his sight,
Bartimeus followed Jesus on the way.
Some of the thoughts that came to my mind:
How much so we, who think we see the whole
picture, try to both exclude other perspectives and/or impose our thinking on
others. I’m pretty sure all of us have
done this at some time – but what we have to be aware of is that whilst not of
us have the whole picture, all of us have a role to play, a purpose to fill, a
piece of the picture to contribute in following the way of Jesus. And it needs all the perspectives, all the
nuances to help make a bigger, more complete picture of being a community of
faith. That is why we need to embrace
community – so that we can hear other stories, see other ways, be made wiser
through the insight of others, build together a picture of the kingdom as God
knows it to be.
How do we treat those who are marginalised
in our society, how do we treat those in need, pleading for a helping hand, a
word of care, an act of compassion, simply a recognition of worth? Do we step out of our way to respond to those
in need, whoever and wherever they might be?
If our outreach, our mission is not sometimes uncomfortable for us ie if
we don’t have to sometimes step out of our well paved well mapped pathway,
should we be re-examining our understanding of marginalised and mission?
What is our response to Jesus question
“What is it that you want me to do for you?”
Only you can answer that question but it is one worth spending some
serious time on and it is one we should answer from the very depths of our
souls. If our answer is to be that of
Bartimeus – Lord let me see – then what is it that we each need to see more
clearly?
For some it might be learning to express
ourselves, our faith, in words and actions in a better way – words and actions
that open up both the eyes of others and ourselves to the way of Jesus Christ.
Expanding our horizons as well as offering new sight to others.
For others maybe it’s about being better
stewards of our gifts and skills, our life experience and our possessions. Thinking of big picture stuff when we can’t
be bothered recycling a piece of plastic or choosing to not buy into the
consumer society with yet something else that we don’t really need or hasn’t
really broken yet. Maybe it’s about
offering our skills in places where we can’t be sure of the outcome or
venturing into situations where we are the learner not the teacher?
And for all of us, no maybes here – it is
the question of how we can better serve God, community and ourselves in the way
of Christ. For surely this is the core
of the reading we heard today – immediately he regained his sight, he followed
him on the way. Show us, here in this
place, O Christ, your way that we might follow it faithfully, generously and
lovingly, opening not just our eyes but the eyes and ears of all whom we meet,
in Jesus name. Amen
Margaret Garland
No comments:
Post a Comment