Proper 25 :: Jeremiah
31: 7–9; Psalm
126; Hebrews
7: 23–28; Mark
10: 46–52
This is a homily by Fr. Gene Tucker, given
at St. John’s Church, in Huntingdon,
Pennsylvania on Sunday, October 25, 2015.
“NECESSITY IS
THE MOTHER OF FAITH”
(Homily
text: Mark 10: 46 – 52)
“Necessity is
the mother of invention,” the familiar saying goes.
Its
parallel in our walk with God might be:
“Necessity
is the mother of faith.”
In
today’s gospel passage, we read of the healing of blind Bartimaeus, the beggar
who lived on the outskirts of the city of Jericho.
Bartimaeus’
situation was anything but good:
Apparently, he lost his sight at some point in his life, for he asks
Jesus that he might regain his
sight. Even today, a person whose sight
is impaired, or is completely gone, has a rough time just living
day-to-day. In Jesus’ day, it was even
worse, for most occupations involved manual labor of some sort or another. Because he could not see, Bartimaeus was reduced
to begging.
But
another aspect of the culture makes Bartimaeus’ situation worse…that would have
to do with the attitudes of the Jews, who often regarded someone who had a
serious illness or affliction as being under God’s judgment. We can see evidence of this attitude in the
questioning the Jews apply to the man who was born blind in John’s gospel
account, chapter nine. There, the Jews
ask if the reason that the man was born blind is because of some sin he himself
committed, or if it was due to some sin on the part of his parents. So it’s very possible that the residents of
Jericho thought that the reason Bartimaeus was blind was because of some very
serious sin. If we look closely at what
Mark tells us, we notice that Bartimaeus is apparently living on the edge of
town….maybe that was because he had been ostracized from the community for his
condition. Unfortunately, such treatment
was common in Jesus’ day, for people who were infirm or who were diseased in
some way were considered to be unclean, unable to worship in the Temple in
Jerusalem, unable to be a full member of the community.
Bartimaeus
is in deep, deep need. Out of this deep
need, he springs up and makes his way to Jesus, asking that his sight might be
restored. His wish is granted. Jesus’ treatment of Bartimaeus stands in
direct opposition to the treatment he most likely received from most everyone
else: Jesus deliberately seeks
Bartimaeus out. Instead of avoiding him,
instead of treating him like a sinner, Jesus heals him.
Upon
his healing, a new life begins for Bartimaeus:
He leaves Jericho and follows the Lord as the Lord makes His way to
Jerusalem for the Passover festival.
Oftentimes,
a person’s faith comes to life born out of a deep, deep need. A crisis of some sort might be the impetus
that causes a person to ask God for help.
God can use times of stress, sorrow or loss to be the avenue by which
God establishes a relationship.
Sometimes,
when I find myself praying for an individual specifically, and especially when
I know that something is blocking their faith walk with God, I find myself
asking God to use some crisis in the person’s life to be the way for faith to
arise in a person.
We
used to say back in my Army days “There are no atheists in foxholes.” This trite saying affirms the truth that, in
times of danger or loss, God is the one we most often turn to.
But
even if there aren’t any crises in our lives, we should be aware of our
necessity, our neediness, before God, a neediness that exists every day. We acknowledge our dependence on God as we
bring our prayer requests to Him. Doing
so constitutes one of the most important things we can do in our relationship
to God….thanking God for His ongoing presence in our lives, and for blessings
received, also stands as a central part of that relationship.
As
we mature in our faith, perhaps we might cultivate an appreciation of our need
for God in the good times in our lives, just as we have gained an appreciation
of God’s goodness in the difficult times.
AMEN.
