5th Sunday of August Healing Service

Andre-Rublev's Saviour

The Healing of Blind Bartimaeus: Mark 10:46-52

⁴⁶ They came to Jericho. As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside. ⁴⁷47 When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’ ⁴⁸48 Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me!’ ⁴⁹49 Jesus stood still and said, ‘Call him here.’ And they called the blind man, saying to him, ‘Take heart; get up, he is calling you.’ ⁵⁰So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. ⁵¹51 Then Jesus said to him, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ The blind man said to him, ‘My teacher,^* let me see again.’ ⁵² Jesus said to him, ‘Go; your faith has made you well.’ Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.” *

It is, I think fair to say that every person will approach passages of scripture from their own perspective.  Some will find depths within the passages, others may not see.  On other occasions, we will get an insight into something we had not thought of before, even though we may know the passage very well.  This is I believe the work, or prompting, of the Holy Spirit.  Each revelation has its own purpose and meaning.  If we listen, the Spirit has a way of speak to us, just the words we need, when we need them.

Today we have a healing service, so remember always, that there is a difference between healing and curing.  We often confuse the two terms.  If we understand that healing is something that affects our spirit, our beings.  We may need healing for a past emotional hurt; or to help us come to accept the existence of an illness, disease or condition that may be with us for the rest of our earthly lives.  To be cured of an illness, disease or condition means that it has been completely removed from our physical bodies.  We can then see curing is something most often performed by the medical profession.  Miracles excepted, of course!  If we use these two terms in this way, then we can see that it is possible to be healed, and not be cured, of the illness, disease or condition we are suffering from.

In Mark’s telling of the healing we know a lot about Bartimaeus.  He was Timaeus’ son.  He was blind.  He was a beggar.  He lived outside Jericho.  He had a loud voice.  He knew who Jesus was.  He was not afraid to call out.  He knew he needed Jesus’ healing touch.

Does this sound like any of us? We have things in common with Bartimaeus.  We are someone’s child, we know who Jesus is, and we are, in some way also needing God’s healing touch.  Bartimaeus sought his healing through God’s mercy.  Do we also seek God’s mercy?  Are we certain that we can attain God’s mercy?  Do we perhaps prefer to listen to ourselves, or those around us who make us feel unloved, rather than seeking God’s love and mercy?

* Scripture is from: ‘New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.’

Do you shrink back from reaching out to God?  Do you think it is safer to be lost in the crowd?  Bartimaeus did not think or do this, nor should we.  Healing comes through seeking God’s mercy, not shrinking from it.  When Bartimaeus knew Jesus was near, and could have mercy on him, he shouted, standing out from the crowd.

Jesus heard Bartimaeus calling out to him and stopped.  Jesus told the crowd to call Bartimaeus forward.  The crowd listened and then encouraged Bartimaeus to go forward.  Perhaps there are times when we call out, but are not so certain that we have been heard.  We expect a response, a reply to our calling out.  When what we expect does not happen, how and when we want it, then we become disillusioned and perhaps even abandon our faith.

Bartimaeus did not know he had been heard.  It was the crowd around him, which told him to take heart.  Moreover, when Bartimaeus was called he went.  There was no hesitation, no delay no question.  He held fast to his faith.

Do we do the same?  Perhaps in love and mercy, God has answered your call for healing and you did not hear it?  Did you delay, question or just simply ignore the reply?  Be attentive for the reply (others may tell you of it) and then be decisive - go and do.  Hold onto your faith.  Remember, Bartimaeus took decisive action when he sought, and heard, God’s mercy.

St Mark tells us a lot about that Bartimaeus’ healing.  He received his sight, after Jesus had told him he was healed.  Jesus spoke the words of healing - Mark does not say Jesus touched Bartimaeus.  Then Bartimaeus followed Jesus along the road.

His faith that Jesus could heal him was all that Bartimaeus needed to be healed.  When we read this, it seems so simple.  Yet we like to make it all a lot more complicated for ourselves, why?  Perhaps we are not certain of our faith.  Perhaps we look for an ‘insurance policy”, a “backup plan.”  Just in case!  Bartimaeus was not content to be healed and then go back to his old place, his back up plan.  He was healed and so he started a new journey.  Is this our experience?  Is this what we do?  Do we follow along the road?

If it was our faith that brought us to God, to seek God’s mercy, love, and healing, surely we can do nothing else but be certain.  To do otherwise is to doubt.  So take heart, start, or re-start your faith journey.  It is a wonderful, mysterious and loving trip.

Remember, it was Bartimaeus’ faith that healed him.

Amen.

Do We Know Who Jesus Is For Us? Demons Do!

 “Moses said to YHWH, “But, never in my life have I been a man of eloquence,

Either before or since you have spoken to your servant.”

 Ex 4:10

4th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B:

4th Sunday after Epiphany Year B

Do We Know Who Jesus Is For Us? 

Demons Do!

 Gospel Mark 1:21-28

This week, the Lectionary calls us to the Book of Deuteronomy (18:15-20), the last book of the Torah.

We read; "Moses said to the people: 'Your God will raise up for you a prophet like myself, from among yourselves ... to him you must listen." As Christians we see these words fulfilled in Christ who came to serve and liberate others from whatever weakness, struggle or bondage they may find themselves in. In the gospel today (Mark 1:21-28) we discover that Jesus is not just a prophet like Moses, but far more than that. Mark tells us that Jesus had an authority in his teaching that went beyond that of the religious leaders, and even beyond Moses. In his power to heal and liberate the demonised man, Jesus reveals his divine authority. It can be tempting to take our experience of Christ and use it for our own ego glory, as if we are somehow better than others because we know Christ. The glory of God that is revealed in Christ is authoritative and powerful, but it is the power to serve, and, an authority to liberate.

Modern people tend not to like this type of story and dismiss it as fabrication or try to psychologise it away. Some will try to defend it and the sceptical reject it. We need to distinguish between the phenomenon and our interpretation of it. Often, I have felt the fear of something mysterious outside my ability to understand. It is not that these things like Jesus exorcising a demon do not happen, they do, but how do we interpreted with our western frame of reference. We have our conditioned prejudices,   that close us to certain truths and open us to others. All this changes the nature of how we read the story. We may not want to admit that our culture defines us, and what we can see. Still, we are able to say something about the events in the synagogue of Capernaum.

There is no question whether this happened. The witness of Mark is that it did happen. Now and then some people believe this, and some people do not. We are called to believe, to trust the report. It is not a question of what or how it happened. within our 20th century bio-medical healing model it is often unclear how healing occurs. In this paradigm we treat symptoms, but the healing is something else. The question we need to ask is; what does it mean? In the social setting of Capernaum and Galilee people are powerless, held in place by culture and convention with little or no opportunity to change. In the synagogue evil sits in the midst of holiness. The scribes have no authority.

Jesus comes with something new. Our experience of catharsis is that it is so often temporary or a violence against others and not real freeing or cleansing. In Jesus we see a real cleansing power that drives out the uncleanness that invades even our holy places. If we are honest all of us, are somehow powerless and enmeshed in the context of our existence. As we worship we have luxury that most of the world cannot afford. We are destroying ourselves environmentally. We often feel powerless, caught in the structure of where we are. Any attempt at change can cause deep pain and fear to arise and excuses to be made as we flee from the truth of the prophet. We need Christ with his new teaching and new authority, to break the bonds which hold us fast. His true healing brings together our many parts into a beautiful wholeness.

Jesus' new teaching is a truth which breaks into the pain and powerlessness of our personal conditioning and cultural structures. It heals our cultural structures and our separation from God and offers to make our social structures a supporting place to be, a place to be at home, rather than a prison of delusion and deception. One kind of "evil spirit" which we discern more easily today is the cry that can burst out of us or others when we are mentally unwell. It alienates us because of the separation and fear it causes us and others. In our culture, we tend to think of mental illness only in bio-medical terms− brain drug levels out of balance. However, much of what is experienced is a rupturing of relationships, a wounding of soul. Often this rupturing (dis-ease) is the key issue for healing. Drugs can sometimes restore the balance very quickly. However, the recovery of self-esteem, the trust of self and others, and the regaining of trust from others, is a much slower and more difficult task; and communal integrity is not so easily restored.

The healing Jesus gave to the demonised man was the weakening of the forces of his isolation. Something has to break into the void between and in us. In Mark, it is Jesus' resurrection. When our sickness is terrifying, and there is deep psychological pain, we need to let go of our security and reach out to an unpredictable other to find resurrection freedom. If we long for God’s reign to be seen in us, and happen through us we will have to let go of having things done “our” way. Yet, when we embody Christ’s liberating grace, by choosing to serve and live Christ's gospel values, the authority of Jesus can be most clearly seen in us.