Sunday Sermon - 28 October
The healing of Bartimaeus as written in Mark, is Jesus’ last healing miracle before arriving back to Jerusalem. Mark describes this miracle with more detail than most, if not all, of his other healing miracles. This is believed to be because it originates from an actual eyewitness account. What captivates me more than the detail of the account is the words that Jesus says afterward, after he restores Bartimaeus’ sight.
And Jesus said to him “Go; your faith has made you well.”
Your faith has made you well.
We’ve also been reading these past few weeks about the trials of Job and finally today God restores Job to twice as many fortunes he had before his trials. Poor Job, what he went through and why - for God to prove to Satan that Job’s faith wasn’t just because of his blessings in life? That was the debate, wasn’t it? Job was a good, faithful, God-fearing man who was blessed with great wealth, a large family, and good health. Satan challenges God by saying that Job is only faithful because of his good fortune. So God allows Satan to to test Job to show Satan that he is wrong. God is confident in Job’s unwavering faith, and Job suffers, he really, really suffers:
He loses his livestock, his servants, and even his children to marauding bands and natural disasters…and his faith doesn’t waver.
He is afflicted with painful sores from head to toe. He is in such pain even his wife, witnessing his suffering, suggests he curse God and die but Job rebukes her and refuses to curse God. He accepts the torment that is unleashed upon his body…and his faith doesn’t waver.
Job’s friends challenge him by contending that he has some hidden secret sins and say that is why God is tormenting him with such suffering, God is punishing him for wrongdoing. Job refutes these accusations and proclaims his innocence and faith. He calls out to God, in agony, questioning why he is being so tormented….yet his faith doesn’t waver.
Last week we read that God finally responds. Telling Job about the intricacies of creation, he reminds Job of his human limitations and his lack of capacity to understand the complexities of all that is. Job humbly acknowledges and accepts his limited human condition, he repents in recognition of God’s unfathomable wisdom and ultimate divinity. Still, his faith doesn’t waver.
This morning, we read of Job’s restoration. His fortunes are restored two-fold and he lives the rest of his life blessed with the gift of having a family, and living a long enough life to see four generations of offspring, his legacy, live on.
Bartimaeus’s healing - his faith has made him well.
Job’s suffering and ultimate restoration - proving his unwavering faith.
What are we to take from these two accounts this morning? Are we to understand that as long as we are faithful to God, no matter how much suffering we go through, we will be restored? Maybe, but I don’t think that’s really the point.
In 1844, Karl Marx published a work entitled A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right. Marx was challenging a Hegelian philosophy which states that religion provides the moral and ethical framework upon which societal order is established and maintained. Hegel argues that having an understanding of the existence of a Divine Being (in other words, having belief in God) serves as the foundation for us to live an ethical and moral life. Hegel believes that it is our faith that is the cornerstone of maintaining social order.
Marx, in his critique of Hegel, challenged Hegel’s position saying, no, religion doesn’t provide the basis of social order. Rather it is, and I quote, “the opium of the people.” Marx states that social order is maintained because people who suffer, who lack wealth, who are ill, who are tormented in life - much like Job - don’t revolt and rebel, disrupting the social order, not because their faith requires them to abide by a certain moral code but because they are numb and paralyzed by their faith. They believe that their suffering is God’s will and there is nothing they can do about it. People of faith, Marx argues, passively accept their suffering as God’s will and look beyond their torment to their reward in heaven. Like an opiate, their faith keeps their anger and hostility at bay and as ‘good Christians’ they refrain from protesting against their oppressors.
Is religion, is our faith, an opiate for our suffering?
When Bartimaeus was afflicted with blindness, was he quieted by his faith?
When Job maintained his unwavering faith throughout all of his trials, was he numbed and paralyzed as if drugged, failing to act because of his faith?
Not at all. Neither were pacified to an opiate-driven stupor because of their faith. In fact, quite the opposite.
Job did not passively accept his condition. He continued to actively engage with God in prayer and questioning. He confronted his misery head on, speaking directly to God, seeking to understand his woes and God’s purpose for them. His faith was not a numbing opium, his faith was an energy boosting, activating, source of power to push through the challenges of life.
Bartimaeus didn’t just sit there accepting his blindness in faithful obedience, embracing it as God’s will. He recognized Jesus as the divine miracle worker that he was - the “Son of David,” the Messiah who could heal him - and he went for it. He threw off his cloak and rushed toward Jesus and would not be denied his miracle. Once received, he didn’t just walk away. He followed Jesus onward, like a disciple, onward into Jerusalem and we know what happens there.
Neither Job nor Bartimaeus passively accepted their suffering. Religion, or better stated, our faith is not an opiate to keep us complacent with the suffering, painful conditions of life. Rather our religion calls us to action. Not just as it relates to our own challenges and suffering in our individual lives, but for the suffering of others as well.
We, as people of God, fueled by our faith, are invited to question in word and prayer our afflictions and we are called to do something about them if we can. We are called, like Bartimaeus, to follow Jesus and live like Jesus. To take action to care for ourselves and others. We may not be able to cure our ills, but our faith also empowers us to do our utmost to push through, persevere, and seek help when we grow weary from our battle. Our faith tells us to never give up, never lose hope, and to remain steadfast against life’s challenges - even the insurmountable ones.
As Christians, we are not a people to wallow in life’s afflictions. As Christians, we are called to faithful action to help make this world a better place for ourselves and others.
I believe that the only prayer attributed to Jesus in the entire bible is our most important prayer and is our call to action. In it, Jesus isn’t just calling us to action, Jesus also reminds us to call out to God, like Job, to act on our behalf as well.
“Give us today our daily bread” - God, please feed us our portion, no more, no less.
“Forgive us our sins” - God, in humility we know we make mistakes and we ask you to act by forgiving them.
“As we forgive those who sin against us” - God, we know that as Christians we are mandated to forgive others, just as we ask of You to forgive us.
“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil” - God, help us to do better as we navigate the challenges and complexities of our lives.
Christianity is not an opium. Christianity is a healing, life-giving source of blessed energy that motivates us to go into the world and to act. To appease our own suffering and the suffering of others. It is our God-given, faith-driven purpose to make this world a better place, not just for ourselves but for all.
Amen.