Job 42:1-6, 10-17; Hebrews 7:23-28; Mark 10:46-52
The Reverend Paul D. Allick, St. George’s Episcopal Church, October 25, 2009

I got my first pair of glasses when I was in second grade. It was winter so it was already dark when mom and I drove home that afternoon. As we drove out of town toward home I saw a great sight. For the first time I saw that the lights in town weren’t just big blurry blobs but tight little sparkles. I just kept staring deeply at them. I could see so clearly. Mom noticed my amazement. Being a person with very bad eyesight herself, she said to me, “It’s pretty neat to see isn’t it?”

Jesus asks Bartimaeus, “What do we want me to do for you?” Well, isn’t it obvious? He’s blind. He wants to see. But there could have been other things. He’s a beggar, he might want food. He is living on the streets he might want shelter. Bartimaeus knows exactly what he wants and he has chased after Jesus to get it. “My teacher let me see again.”

He must have gone blind at some point. In the world of Jesus and Bartimaeus if you had a handicap it was because of sin. If you were born that way you were paying for the sins of your ancestors. If you went blind you must have caused it. For Bartimaeus to ask for a cure took great courage. He saw some kind of mercy present in Jesus. Even if he had done something to cause his blindness, this Teacher was preaching something new. He could be healed.

Jesus says, “Go; your faith has made you well.” Jesus doesn’t touch him, lay hands on him, or rub saliva or mud on his eyes. He doesn’t need to. Bartimaeus had the healing inside of him all along.

It was faith that turned all those blurry globs in his life back into clearly defined sparkles. He had lost his way. He wanted to see the way in which he had seen before at some other point in his life.

“Immediately he regained his sight and followed [Jesus] on the way.” Bartimaeus could have gone on his way. Instead he follows Jesus on the way. Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem toward his passion: his suffering and crucifixion.

Bartimaeus follows him because he knows that what Jesus is up to, the good and wonderful stuff and the difficult and passionate stuff, it’s all leading to seeing the world clearly. Bartimaeus doesn’t just want to see physically, he wants to see clearly the meaning of life and death.

Remember the times when you have basked in clarity. When all of the blurry junk in your life was cleared away. Your life in all of its wonder and difficulty made sense. You have seen yourself and others in a new light. Everything about you and those around you sparkles and shines. Your trust in God is renewed. Remember that when you are feeling blurry. That is the kingdom of God come into your life. The kingdom is on earth as in heaven. The kingdom is among you, within you, and above you. It’s under your feet holding you up on that ground that felt fragile.

Job gains some clarity. He has been through the wringer. He’s lost everything: his possessions, his loved ones and his health. Job has now seen God clearly. He prays, “Therefore I uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know…therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” Job now understands that God was there all along. God could not, would not be manipulated, but He was there all along. We read, “After this Job lived one hundred and forty years, and saw his children and his children’s children, four generations. And Job died, old and full of days.” When Job let go he got everything back double.

Most often we get blurry by our own choice. We get blurry when we try to manipulate God into making our lives the way we want it. We get unclear when we serve what we think about God instead of who God really is. We get misdirected when we serve what we think our religious faith is instead of recognizing its power to transform us. Finding who God really is, and what our religious faith is really about takes our entire life. It takes a life time of prayer, meditation, and study. Clarity comes when we give ourselves over to God not when we try to
take God over.

We prayed in our collect that God would increase in us the gifts of faith, hope and charity. Faith that God does exist and He is doing things in our life right now that we can’t even see. Hope that we can  reach out in the Name of Jesus Christ and understand ourselves, God and others in a new way. In charity we learn how to give love and receive love. We learn how to take it easy on ourselves, on each other and on God.

Right now in this moment, God is calling us up and out of our gloominess and stress. God is calling us up to stand with the eternal priesthood of Jesus. The great high priest who is holy, that is whole, blameless, that is right with God, righteous, undefiled and separated from sinners, that is those who live in and revel in their brokenness. God is calling us not only to heaven where everything will feel good but, indeed, above heaven to the highest realms of understanding and clarity.

And so again today we see. We come to this altar to participate in the one, complete sacrifice of our priest Jesus. No longer are we bound by human thought but are free to go with Jesus on the way. We go on the way through our suffering onto our resurrection. God in Christ is offering this again in this Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist. Christ is broken for us so that we don’t have to live broken anymore.

Come, taste and see.