“Restoration” – Oct 28, 2012 Sermon
October 28, 2012
Scripture:
Job 42
After God had spoken, Job responded: “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. You asked, ‘Who are you to disagree with my plans without knowing what you are talking about?’ Yes, I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. You told me, ‘Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you declare to me.’ I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore in regret I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”
After Job prayed for his friends, the Lord restored the fortunes of Job. The Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. Then all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before came to Job, and they ate bread with him in his house; they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the trouble that the Lord had brought upon him; and each of them gave him a piece of money and a gold ring. The Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; and he had thousands of sheep, thousands of camels, a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand donkeys. He also had seven sons and three daughters. In all the land there were no women so beautiful as Job’s daughters; and their father gave them an inheritance along with their brothers. 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.
Mark 10: 46-52 They came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 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.” So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. 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.” Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith has made you well.” Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.
Sermon (notes): Restoration
Rev. Doreen Oughton
Do people here know the story of Job? Our reading this morning is the very last chapter of the book, and to understand what is going on, I think you need to have some idea of what has happened. Do you want to share what you know, or shall I give a summary?….
– Job wants to call on God, and Bartimaeus calls on Jesus. What do we call it when we call on God or Jesus ? (Prayer)
– The people around Job and around Bartimaeus think this is a bad idea. Job’s friends are absolutely steadfast in their belief that Job has done something wrong and he’d better not dare say anything to God except “I’m sorry.”
– The people around Bartimaeus “sternly order him to be quiet.” They scold him. May be a case of them being dense, as the disciples were in trying to keep the children from Jesus, but they also have reason to believe that Jesus would not want to be addressed so loudly and publicly as the Son of David, a way of calling him the rightful King of Israel. Remember what Jesus’ response to Peter’s proclamation of him as the Messiah was – sshhh. Remember how Jesus tells all the demons he exorcised and all the people he healed to be quiet about who and what he is.
– So Job’s friends and the people travelling with Jesus seem to have some ideas about how to call on God or Jesus
– Do we have ideas about there being a right or wrong way to pray? …
– Do we have ideas about what ought to be prayed for? One of my favorite lectionary commentators, Sarah Dylan Breuer, wrote about this idea that Jesus didn’t make any demands on how we ought to pray. Jesus responded to the prayers of Bartimaeus and so many others despite being addressed in a way he didn’t want to be, despite not being believed, despite people not following through on his requests of them, whether to keep quiet or to go.
– A reader of Dylan’s essay responded with the following: I am happy to have found your point of view on coming to God in prayer. I would like to know one thing, what do you feel is selfish prayer? I have been told by some that I can ask God for anything I need, and he will hear me. I have been told by others that if I ask God for a new home and a job, (my home is falling down and I have no means of getting a job or to a job) that this is a selfish prayer. I am desperate to find the answer so I know if my asking for these things are ok to ask, or are angering God. I think they anger him, because I do not have a pure heart like I should, and I never feel his presence. I would like to know also, how does one gain a pure heart so to hear from God? What do I have to do to obtain that? Do I stop asking God for a house, and peace and a job, and only ask him for things for others? I will do whatever is right, but have no idea where to go to find out that information. thank you very much
– (reactions)
– Does a pure heart matter in approaching God? Read the Psalms!
– Is it okay to ask God for things we feel we need or want, or should we only ask God for the strength and wisdom and discernment to want only what God wants for us?
– Are the things we want important to God? How do we know?
– What did Job want? (To have his good name back? Answers?) Did he get that? Yes, and more. God wanted more for Job than he even asked for. God wanted restoration of his name, his community, family through generations, as well as the abundance of material wealth. (God instructing Job to pray for friends) Experienced a sense of humility and awe that opened him up and freed him.
– What did Bartimaeus want (sight restored). What did Jesus want for him (to be heard? community? Demonstrated worth?) What was the effect of restoration of sight? (followed Jesus, became part of something bigger)
– I came across a thoughtful reflection by someone who’d had a conversation with a man who had been blinded at age 5. He had visual memories, what things looked like, and colors, but it had been decades since he had seen anything. He was extremely bright, and earned a PhD in history from Columbia, but in the 1970s no one would hire a blind professor. Ten years later he got a law degree, but no doors opened for him. So he worked as an administrator in the offices for the blind. And he was bitter about that. Not about his blindness, but about the social rejection of his abilities because of his disability. He hated Bible passages about healing the blind, for he said, it wasn’t the blind who needed healing, it was the sighted who kept on insisting that being blind was pitiful, and made normal life impossible.
– I love that Jesus asks Bartimaeus what he would have Jesus do. Jesus is not a genie in a bottle waiting to grant our wishes, but is interested, invested body and soul in the project of restoration, restoration on a grand scale – the whole of Creation. Our desires and wishes and longings give us, and perhaps Jesus, clues about the particulars of restoration to be done.
– In bringing them before God, in being honest with ourselves and Jesus about what we want, we join the restoration project. For even if the desire we express is not fulfilled, we will be heard, our worth will be reflected back to us and shown to others, we are restored into community. May it be so.
