24th October 2021 Pentecost 22
(Twenty Second Sunday after Pentecost)
Title: Eyes of Faith
(Scripture Reading: Job 42:1-6, Mark 10:46-52)
By Heeyoung Lim
Truly we need God’s mercy and grace. & Peace be with you.
God speaks to Job of matters beyond his understanding. Job’s suffering remains an unanswered situation, but the encounter with God transforms and Job moves forward in faith. He now sees with new eyes of faith. He recognized God’s sovereignty and retracted his own sin. In the whirlwind, Job’s faith is wide open as he responds to God. (Job 42) He refocused on God’s intimacy and reaffirmed God’s supremacy.
Job said, “But now I have met you face to face. So now I am ashamed of myself.” He knew he was spiritually poor. Job knew that he didn’t know everything, so he knew he needed God’s grace and mercy. In Job 42:2-5, Job confessed, “I know that you can do all things”, and he confided, “My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you” with deepening repentance. Job had been experienced with a deeper realization of God’s wisdom, power, and care through his suffering and trial. What his eyes had seen of God seems to refer to spiritual insight rather than physical vision. Job’s understanding of God’s awesome character is much greater than before his suffering began.
Job was in agonizing trial, but he was always in God’s providential care at the same time, and his spiritual gain outweighed his temporal and physical loss. Job repents of his arrogance, acknowledges God’s sovereignty, and he renews sight of God.
Is our heart quick to repent when God points out our sin through His words? Today’s text invites us to refocus on a personal and abiding relationship with God and a communion in which we are to grow closer to God. Are we growing in our knowledge of God?
After today’s Old Testament reading, God rebukes Job’s three friends in anger, ordering them to give a burnt sacrifice and directing Job to pray for them. God said to Job’s friends, “My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly.” God restores to Job the great abundance of health, children, and possessions that he had before his tragedy. Broken and humbled Job repents of his view of God and restores his three friends back to God, and he is abundantly blessed by God with more than he had before. May God completely restore and abundantly bless you in your lives.
The cure of two blind men is positioned at the beginning and end of Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem between Mark 8 and 10. The two cures play a symbolic role to overcome the spiritual blindness of the disciples regarding Jesus’ identity and mission.
In Mark 10, Bartimaeus was expressing faith in Jesus and begged for mercy. He began to shout, “Jesus, have mercy on me!” He calls out and comes to Jesus. Some people tried to stop Bartimaeus from seeking Jesus, but he shouted more for Jesus to have mercy on him. He had both hope and persistence. His persistence finds its reward in verse 49, a verse that is not only a story of healing, but also a story of calling. Jesus calls him. “Call him over!” We must not hinder anyone from coming to Christ because of our words or actions, because Jesus is calling us to walk with Him.
In verse 36, Jesus asked James and John: what do you want me to do for you? Where they saw only self-interest, Bartimaeus sees hope in Faith when Jesus asked him the same question. Who is seeking to cure the spiritual blindness of his disciples? The disciples want status and privilege while Bartimaeus sees with the eyes of faith and says, ““Let me see again.” Jesus told him, “Your faith has made you well.” This means, “You may go. Your eyes are healed because of your faith.” The blind man regains eyesight through his faith and Jesus’ healing power, but the story does not end with this healing. In Mark’s story Bartimaeus can see Jesus in a way that others do not. He is willing to immediately follow Jesus on the way with sight restored rather than going away.
When Jesus first asked what he wanted, Bartimaeus did not hesitate to tell Jesus that he wanted to see. He was expressing faith in the one who could help him, the expected Messiah, and he begged for mercy. He had eyes of faith. He has precious inner sight and insight about who Jesus is. Bartimaeus knows what he needs and believes that Jesus is the one who can deliver. What do you want Christ to do for you?
In today’s text, Bartimaeus appears as a disciple that cast away his only valuable belonging. According to a theologian, Luis, ” Whereas the miracle starts with Bartimaeus “sitting on the side of the road” (46), it ends with the new disciple “walking, following Jesus on the road” (52) What do we need to throw aside to follow Jesus with faith wide open? Are we ready to follow Jesus immediately without any hesitation when He asks us to follow?
The thirst for faith and the Word can be expressed as spiritual poverty that gives us the capacity to believe when we cannot see. It is what drives us to search out deeper, hidden truths about God. It turns us into a spiritual beggar. When we do listen to God, we will gain a deeper understanding, an in-sight, and a knowing without seeing.
The man was healed physically and saved spiritually, and he followed Jesus on the way and moved from beggar to disciple. The blind beggar becomes a model of discipleship and faith. Jesus calls us to the new way of life and faith opens our eyes to see Jesus and His work in our lives. In the kingdom of God, even the one is sought out and blessed by Christ. The crowd hurried to help Bartimaeus find his way to Jesus when they knew Jesus’ will. All of you are so precious because you are all Lord’s sheep and the one who has something to shout out just like Bartimaeus.
This story invites us to consider how faith is manifested, growned, and restricted within communities. Christians who know the will of the Lord need to bring others to His side as servants of Christ. When we serve others, we serve Christ. In service to Christ, we will find our true greatness, our true wealth. May we serve Christ through loving and serving others in faith. I believe we have faith that sees who Jesus really is. Faith can make us well. It can open our eyes and ears. May we all have this faith to recognise Jesus, to accept Him, and to follow Him on our faith journey. This is the power of Jesus’ word for salvation. We are all invited to accompany Jesus to our faith journey. May we see Jesus with eyes of faith and hurry to bring others to our Lord.
Thanks be to God! Amen. (Ref. Bible, commentaries, theological books, UCA materials)
